Spam Folder: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:49, 11 June 2025

When connecting to our email service over IMAP we will create a special folder named spam (lowercase). If you delete the spam folder it will be re-created next time you log in.

Some email clients recognise this folder as being 'special' and may call it something else, e.g. our webmail calls it Junk

The service will then move messages that have been classified as spam into this folder (unless you are doing your own Sieve filtering). This helps keep your inbox free of spam and you should keep an eye on this folder in case there are messages that are not spam.

Some email clients (e.g. K-9 Mail for Android) refuse to notify the user of new mail in the Spam folder. This behaviour can be corrected by declaring (e.g. in the account's folder settings) that there is no special Spam folder.

Disabling the spam folder

To stop the mail system from putting spam (or any) messages then you can create an allow list for your address on the Control Pages.

If you use POP3, see: https://support.aa.net.uk/POP3_Tips

Spam 'learning'

Our spam checking system performs many checks on a message to decide whether it is spam or not. One of the checks it can do, is to compare the message with previous messages -this is called Bayesian Learning.

Checking the learning

If you view the 'headers' of a message, you should see the spam report, and a line looking like:

 -3.0 BAYES_00               BODY: Bayes spam probability is 0 to 1%

or perhaps

 0.8 BAYES_50               BODY: Bayes spam probability is 40 to 60%

Here you can see the 'Bayes spam probability' as a percentage. In the first example the Bayes really thinks the message is not spam - it says 0-1%. The second example is less sure about it.

Teaching the system

If the 'Bayes spam probability' is incorrect, then it can be taught about messages that it has got wrong in the following ways:

Move a message OUT of the spam folder to tell the system it is NOT spam
Move a message IN to the spam folder to tell the system it IS spam

If you make a mistake, just move the message back.

The process of learning doesn't guarantee that the system will be correct next time a similar message is received, but it should help and you should see a change in the 'probability' in the headers.

Legacy folders

In the past we used to have a system that used folders called learnham and learnspam - this system is no longer used. These folders can be removed.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+<indicator name="Faults">[[File:Menu-emailadd.svg|link=:Category:Email_Features|30px|Back up to the Email Features Category]]</indicator>
-You can create some special folders manually to help with dealing with spam. (We used to create these automatically, but do not at the moment.)
+When connecting to our email service over IMAP we will create a special folder named <code>spam</code> (lowercase). If you delete the spam folder it will be re-created next time you log in.
-*spam
-*learnspam
-*learnham
+Some email clients recognise this folder as being 'special' and may call it something else, e.g. our webmail calls it <code>Junk</code>
-===spam===
-Messages which the system has marked as spam will be placed
-in to the spam folder rather than your inbox. -this helps
-keep your inbox free of spam.
+The service will then move messages that have been classified as spam into this folder (unless you are doing your own Sieve filtering). This helps
-You should keep an eye on this folder in case there are messages
+keep your inbox free of spam and you should keep an eye on this folder in case there are messages
-that are not spam. -if you do find such messages, then move then
+that are not spam.
-to the learnham folder which is in your Inbox.
+Some email clients (e.g. K-9 Mail for Android) refuse to notify the user of new mail in the Spam folder.  This behaviour can be corrected by declaring (e.g. in the account's folder settings) that there is no special Spam folder.
-If you delete the spam folder, then spam messages will go to
-your Inbox folder instead.
+==Disabling the spam folder ==
-===learnspam and learnham===
+To stop the mail system from putting spam (or any) messages then you can create an allow list for your address on the Control Pages.
+If you use POP3, see: https://support.aa.net.uk/POP3_Tips
-The special spam folders leanspam  and
-are folders that you can move messages in to so as to help
-the Bayesian system deal with your email.
+==Spam 'learning'==
-TEACHING A MESSAGE AS SPAM:
-If you have a message which is spam, but the system
-has not marked as spam, then you can move the message to
-your spam folder. This will get learnt as it's moved.
+Our spam checking system performs many checks on a
-You can also move the message in to the learnspam folder
+message to decide whether it is spam or not. One of the
-for it to get learnt overnight, it will then be moved
+checks it can do, is to compare the message with previous
-back to your spam folder once learnt.
+messages -this is called Bayesian Learning.
+==Checking the learning==
+If you view the '[[Email_Viewing_Headers|headers]]' of a message, you should see the spam report, and a line looking like:
+  -3.0 BAYES_00               BODY: Bayes spam probability is 0 to 1%
+or perhaps
+.8 BAYES_50               BODY: Bayes spam probability is 40 to 60%
+Here you can see the 'Bayes spam probability' as a percentage.
+In the first example the Bayes really thinks the message is not spam - it says 0-1%. The second example is less sure about it.
+==Teaching the system==
-TEACHING A MESSAGE AS NOT-SPAM (HAM):
+If the 'Bayes spam probability' is incorrect, then it can be taught about messages that it has got wrong in the following ways:
-If you have a message that has been marked as spam, but
-is  not a spam message, then you can do move it out
-of the spam folder and in to your Inbox and it will be
-learnt as it's moved.
+*Move a message '''OUT''' of the spam folder to tell the system it is '''NOT spam'''
+*Move a message '''IN''' to the spam folder to tell the system it '''IS spam'''
+If you make a mistake, just move the message back.
+The process of learning doesn't guarantee that the system will be correct next time a similar message is received, but it should help
-Here is how the look in webmail:
+and you should see a change in the 'probability' in the headers.
-[[File:Email-default-folders.png]]
-(The 'Junk; folder is actually called 'spam', but in this case, Roundcube displays the folder as 'Junk' instead of 'spam'.)
+==Legacy folders==
+In the past we used to have a system that used folders called <code>learnham</code> and <code>learnspam</code> - this system is no longer used. These
+folders can be removed.
 [[Category:Email Features]]
+[[Category:Email How to]]