can you define very specific patterns in Outlook 2003 rules?

[PPettit]

I keep getting spam with a subject line of "RE:". Is there a way to filter out these messages using a rule?

I know that I can set up a rule that will catch anything with "RE:" in the subject. My problem is that Outlook's pattern matching system will catch all messages that have "RE:" anywhere in the subject (i.e. "RE: text" or "text RE: text"). I just want to catch messages that have the exact phrase "RE:".

 

[nickpark]

But won't you then delete anyone who replies to your mails?!

 

[nickpark]

You could try adding a rule that says:

apply this rule after the message arrives:
with re: in the subject
move it to the junk folder
except if the subject contains 'a' or 'b' or 'c' or 'd' or ... or 'z'

 

[flapeyre]

Good idean nickpark, but to simplify things, how about just testing for vowels (other than 'e'). Highly unlikely that 'e' would be the only vowel.

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[E1Designs]

PPettit, is this just you at home or work wide? Or?

 

[PPettit]

This is just for me. We don't run our own mail server. We use a hosted POP3 solution that doesn't allow me any real control beyond adding/changing/deleting accounts.

Since I have a "catch-all" email account for our company's domain, I get lots of junk and lately it's all been coming in with a subject line of "R", "E", and a colon (i.e. "RE:").

It's unfortunate that Outlook doesn't appear to allow the use of regular expression pattern matching techniques in rules. I'd have this issue solved already if I could do that.

Nick, your suggestion should probably work. I'll have to give it a try.

 

[smah]

Sometimes, getting to the logic of to make a rule to act the way you want is the hardest part. Here's a thought for you - How many of these "Re: " messages are from people you know? Probably none. Therefore these 2 rules should catch a fair amount of these messages:
[ol][li]For messages from someone in my address book, stop processing more rules[/li]
[li]For all messages, move them to some 'possible junk' folder[/li][/ol]
If you have other rules, these would need to be near the bottom of the list because mail rules are processed in the order listed. The logic is that if the person is in your address book, it's probably a real reply, so don't do anything else. Only if this rule doesn't apply, does it continue on to the following one, which is a move but could be a delete when you are comfortable with it working properly. There are still some potential problems with this though: If it is a valid reply, but the sender is not in your address book, the message will be moved when you don't want it to. So, contining this line of thinking, if someone that's not in your address book is replying to a message that you sent, there's a high probability that your e-mail address is somewhere in the body of the message. Therefore, the above rules could be modified as:
[ol][li]For messages from someone in my address book, stop processing more rules[/li]
[li]For all messages, move them to some 'possible junk' folder, except if my address is in the body[/li][/ol]

There is still a small chance of catching a message that you don't intend, but this should get most. If you have other rules, you may be able to work this concept into what you already have.