Apple 10.6 manual Training the junk mail filter without user interaction

Training the junk mail filter without user interaction:

You can also train the junk mail filter by giving it known junk and good mail messages. Accurate training requires a large sample, so a minimum of 200 messages of each type is advised.

1Choose a mailbox of 200 messages made of only junk mail.

2Use Terminal and the filter’s command-line training tool to analyze and remember junk mail using the following command:

sa-learn -- showdots -- spam sample junk mail directory/*

3Choose a mailbox of 200 messages made of only good mail.

4Use Terminal and the filter’s command-line training tool to analyze and remember good mail using the following command:

sa-learn --showdots --ham sample good mail directory/*

If the junk mail filter fails to identify a junk mail message, train it again so it can do better next time. Use sa-learnagain with the --spamargument on the mislabeled message. Likewise, if you get a false positive (a good message marked as junk mail), use sa-learnagain with the --hamargument to further train the filter.

Filtering Mail by Language and Locale

You can filter incoming mail based on locales or languages. Mail messages composed in foreign text encodings are often erroneously marked as junk mail. You can configure your mail server to not mark messages from designated originating countries or languages as junk mail.

To allow mail by language and locale:

1In Server Admin, select a computer in the Servers list, then select Mail.

2Click Settings.

3Select the Filters tab.

4Select Scan Email for Junk Mail.

5Click the Edit (/) button next to Accepted Languages to change the list, select the language encodings to allow as non-junk mail, and click OK.

6Click the Edit (/) button next to Accepted Locales to change the list, select the country codes to allow as non-junk mail, and click OK.

7Click Save.

Chapter 2    Mail Service Setup

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