Note, if you have Outlook rules to move messages to various folders, one of those could still move the message to the Junk E-mail folder or delete it. For instance, if you have a rule to move email with the word "mortgage" in the subject to the Junk E-mail folder and you place John Smith's email address in the "safe senders" list, but email arrives from him with that word in the subject, then it still will get moved to the Junk E-mail folder.
You can check your Outlook rules, if you have created any, by clicking on Tools then Rules and Alerts. Let's suppose your email passes through an antispam application running on your email server, such as SpamAssassin, before Outlook receives it. If SpamAssassin thinks a message is spam, it may change the subject to include the word "Spam" as part of the subject.
Let's also suppose you have a "Spam" rule in Outlook that automatically moves any email with that word in the subject to the Junk E-mail folder. But you've added John Smith's email address to your safe senders list and don't want his email to go in the Junk E-mail folder, even if SpamAssassin has tagged it by adding the word "Spam" to the subject line. You will need to take the following steps in Outlook 2003 to prevent that from happening.
Apply this rule after the message arrives
with SPAM in the subject
move it to the Junk E-mail
except if from jsmith@example.com
Now, even if you had a rule configured in Outlook to move messages with "Spam" in the subject to the Junk E-mail folder, email from jsmith@example.com won't be placed there due to that rule. And Outlook's own junk email filter should not place it there either.
Note, if you have more than one address that you want to add to the exceptions list, separate the addresses with a semicolon, e.g. "jsmith@example.com; mdoe@example.com; sstruthers@somewhere1.com".
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