cPanel lets you manage filters for each email account in your domain. This can be useful for discarding spam, redirecting mail, or piping messages to a program.

 

• To search for a specific account, type a keyword in the Search box and click Go.
• Click Manage Filters to create or edit a filter for an email account.

 

Add a User Level Filter

It is important to give the filter an appropriate name, as it will make the task of managing existing filters easier in the future.

 

The Edit Filter screen.

 

To create a new filter:

1. Click Create a new Filter.
2. Type a name for the filter in the Filter Name box.
3. Select a message characteristic from the first pull-down menu.
4. Select an operator from the next pull-down menu.
5. Enter the characters or words you wish to use as a filter.
   • Note: This field will accept regular expressions (when you select the matches regex operator), rather than more commonly used wildcard characters (such as * or ?).
6. You can add and subtract rules by clicking the + and - buttons.
7. Select an action from the pull-down menu under the Actions heading. You can add and subtract actions by clicking the + and - buttons.
8. Click Activate to initialize the filter.

A word about operators: When you create a filter using several operators, it may be useful to note that cPanel will always process the "and" operator before the "or" operator. As a result, email filters will be processed as follows:

• A or B and C will be processed as A or (B and C).
• A and B or C will be processed as (A and B) or C.

• (A and C) or (A and D) or (B and C) or (B and D).

 

Test a Custom Filter

Once a filter has been created, it can be tested.

To test your filter:

1. Type a test email message in the text box below the Filter Test heading.
   • Be sure to include the characters or words that you have set your filter to catch.
2. Click Test Filter. When the test is run, the next screen should display a similar result to the screenshot below.

 

Filter Test Results.

This screen summarizes the actions taken by the filter. It is important to read over the data to ensure that the filter produces the desired result.

 

Edit a Custom Filter

You can also modify an existing filter.

To edit an existing filter:

 

1. Click Edit next to the appropriate filter name.
2. You can adjust any of the fields displayed — the message characteristic, operator, term to filter, or resulting action.
3. Click Activate to initialize the filter.

Remove an Existing Filter

To delete a filter:

1. Click Delete.
2. Confirm that the filter should be deleted on the following page.