How to set up and train Spam Assassin

Overview

SpamAssassin is a free spam filter preinstalled in Plesk that help to eliminate unwanted spam emails.

It works by scanning emails before they reach your inbox and scores them in relation to a scale set by you within Control Panel, then either tags or deletes spam, depending on your setting.

There is some trial and error in setting the spam filter sensitivity scale for the right tolerance so that the right emails are getting through and the spam is getting blocked. The following steps outline how to train the filter to your requirements.

Instructions

1. Once you have logged in to Control Panel click on the ” Mail ” tab. Click on the mail box where you’d like to set up Spam Assassin. For this example we’ll use
   
2. Click on Spam Filter.
   
3. Tick “Switch on spam filtering for this email address” then select “Mark Spam messages by adding the following text to message subject” and give a meaningful name in the field.
    
4. Under Advanced settings, set the “Spam filter sensitivity” to a value either 4 or 5 to begin with.
5. You can also add certain email addresses and domain names to the White list (always deliver) and Black list (always block).  In this example, conetix.com.au has been added to the White list so all mail from conetix.com.au will always be delivered. Click “OK”.
6. In the email application on your computer you should see spam emails tagged with the “***SPAM***” tag, and legitimate emails with a normal subject heading. This example is using Microsoft Outlook 2010.
   If you notice that spam is still getting through untagged, or legitimate mail is getting tagged as spam, you’ll need to change the sensitivity accordingly in step 4.
   
7. If you are satisfied that spam is being tagged, and legitimate mail is not, you can opt to log back into the control panel and under the Spam Filter settings change the settings to “Delete all spam messages”.
   

   Now all future mail that would have been tagged as SPAM will be automatically deleted.