I don't know about delimiting between the sections, I only have 12 or so rules. (I use external rules files to hold the search text).

As for external rules files - I don't know if I'd cope only having the one rule.ima and having to update it all the time. Using an external rules file is much easier to update. All you do is add another word to the list, rather than adding a new rules for each word in the rules.ima

As for directing them to different mail boxes (header, body etc.) I do something similar. I have three mail boxes, one for abusive mail, one for spam mail and one for virus mail (inc executables). This works fine. I then use a simple word macro to show what its picked up when sorting messages containing abusive words as necessary.

Yours

Andrew Snowden, ICT Co-ordinator Cheadle Hulme School, UK

---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Scott R. Morgan" <skydiver@srmservices.com> Reply-To: IMail_Forum@list.ipswitch.com Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 23:49:31 -0600

>All right guys, > >I want to preface this with a hearty thanks for all the help so far. I am >slowly adding a few rules a day to start learning all this stuff and to keep >from having to spend my entire day forwarding mail that is erroneously >trapped in my filters. I now have a new question. When should you use each >different element in a search filter? > >For example, when should I search in the Header vs. searching in the Body >vs. searching the From field vs. searching in the To field vs. searching the >Subject, etc.? If I am trying to eliminate messages based on a text search, >wouldn't two rules, one in the body and one in the header take care of all >instances of the search text in all messages regardless of whether the text >was in the subject, the body? If I wanted to eliminate message from one >certain domain or user, wouldn't a single rule in the header perform the >same function as if I used the from field instead? > >I realize that I am lacking some knowledge as to how the messages are >actually formatted and maybe an education in this area would help my >understanding. If someone could point me to a FAQ on this and how Imail >fits into this that would be great. Also, can I add comment lines in the >rules.ima file to delineate each section? >It would be great if we could optionally add a field to a rule that would >create a notation in the log files when a rule was applied. > >The last question is has anyone used external files in the rules setup? Is >there any disadvantage to using external files instead of one huge rules.ima >file? I have though about a different file for each search type (ie. >Header, body etc.) that would forward to individual mail.fwd boxes so that I >could at least narrow down which rule is kicking out the message when it >gets caught in the filter. > >Thanks for the advice. > >Scott R. Morgan >skydiver@srmservices.com >SUPERIOR RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT SERVICES >(512) 443-3979 >(512) 416-9621 (Fax) > >USPA A-29450 >Only a skydiver knows why the birds sing.... >They don't have to repack a parachute every time they land!!! > > > > > > > >