SpamAssassin is an anti-spam tool which helps filter out unwanted messages. SpamAssassin scans the contents of each message before it reaches your Inbox, searching for words, phrases and formats common to Spammers.
SpamAssassin works for all of the email accounts in your cPanel. It can be set to mark spam messages so they are easy to notice. You can also choose to configure SpamAssassin to automatically delete any emails marked as spam.
Hostingbay recommends activating SpamAssassin as soon as you create an email account or log in cPanel for the first time.
Enabling SpamAssassin
The first step to enabling SpamAssassin is to log into cPanel. Once logged into cPanel, look for the icon called "SpamAssassin" under the Mail section.
Since SpamAssassin is disabled by default you will need to enable it. To do so, click on the "Enable Spam Assassin" link.
Spam Score Limit
SpamAssassin scans each incoming email message and scores it based on its spam characteristics. By default, SpamAssassin considers messages with a score of 5 to be spam; however, you can adjust the spam score limit according to your preference. Simply select the desired spam score limit from the Score drop-down menu in the Filters section. The lower the score, the more restrictive the filter will be:
- 0 means everything incoming will be marked as spam.
- 5 is the default setting (and works well for typical users).
- 10 means that any message with a score of 10 or less will not be marked as spam.
Note: Changing these settings affects all email accounts in your cPanel.
Email Filtering with SpamAssassin
You can use Spam Box or email filtering to move spam from your inbox to another folder.
Spam Box
When Spam Box is enabled, a spam folder is created. Spam is then delivered directly to this folder, allowing you to review all mail marked as spam before it is deleted. To enable Spam Box, simply click Enable Spam Box in the Spam Box section.
Accessing Your Spam Folder
Spam is delivered to your spam folder when you have Spam Box enabled. However, you will need to subscribe to the spam folder in your mail client in order to view or process spam messages held there.
If you've configured your cPanel hosting account to use the Spam Box feature of SpamAssassin, mail identified as spam will be placed in a spam folder; however, you will not immediately see the spam folder in webmail if you have not created or subscribed to it.
Note: The SpamAssassin feature SpamBox recognizes the folder name 'spam' in all lowercase, and not 'Spam'. If the folder name is 'Spam', the intended mail will not be delivered to the correct folder.
Auto-Delete Spam
The auto-delete function automatically deletes messages which meet or exceed the spam score limit. Auto-delete can be enabled in the Filters section by clicking Auto-Delete Spam; it can be disabled by clicking Disable Auto-Delete Spam.
SpamAssassin Configuration
Used to specify addresses that are often tagged incorrectly as spam or non-spam.
whitelist_from - Allows email from the specified address or domain.
blacklist_from - Denies email from the specified address or domain.
User Level Filtering
The settings you choose for SpamAssassin are applied to all email accounts in your cPanel. You can also use filtering for each individual email account to direct spam appropriately for that account.
Note: SpamAssassin must be enabled to set up the following filter.
To filter an individual email account:
- Log into your webmail.
- Create a folder called spam. (Use all lower case letters to name this folder.)
- Exit webmail.
- In the Mail section of cPanel, select the Email Filters icon.
- Click Manage Filters next to the appropriate user.
- Click Create a New Filter. You will be taken to a new page.
- In the Filter Name field, enter a name for the filter (such as Jason's filter or whatever desired).
- Under Rules, select Spam Status from the first drop-down menu.
Note: If this option is not available, check to make sure that Spam Assassin is enabled.
- In the adjacent drop-down menu, select begins with.
- In the large, blank box below the drop down menus, type the word Yes.
- Under Actions, select Deliver to folder from the drop-down menu.
- Click Browse and select the "spam" folder.
- When finished, click Create.
Now you can log back into your mail client and subscribe to the new spam folder.