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Document ID: 5114
Subject: How to make your email server learn from junk messages received in your inbox
Creation date: 1/15/17 8:51 AM
Last modified on: 3/7/22 11:16 AM


Improving Xeams filtering with spam learner

Starting from build 5899, users can forward junk messages received in their Inbox to a special email address to make Xeams learn from its mistakes.

Enabling this feature

  • Login as admin
  • Click Server Configuration and select the Advanced tab
  • Specify an email address for Spam Learner Address field
  • When a user gets a junk message into their Inbox, they can optionally forward this message to the email address you specified above. Xeams will automatically mark the original message as junk

Important Points

  • The domain name of this email does not matter. Therefore, if you decide to use junk.learner@yourdomain.com, users can forward their emails to junk.learner@subdomain.yourdomain.com OR junk.learner@someotherdomain.com.
  • Make sure the forwarded email eventually is routed to Xeams. For example, if you're using MS Exchange as your actual server, configure it so out-bound emails are sent through Xeams.

What happens in the background?

When Xeams receives a forwarded email, it tries to find the original email and updates the Bayesian database. It does NOT blacklist the sender. Black listing a sender is not a good idea because spammers often forge this value and it is very unlikely a blacklisted email address will receive another junk message.

What if you're not using Xeams for out-bound

First, we strongly recommend you use Xeams for outbound because it learns from what goes out.

Use the following steps to still use this feature without routing every outbound email through Xeams.
  • Assume you're using MS Exchange as your primary email server.
  • Create a new DNS entry for a subdomain. For example, learner.yourdomain.com and makes its MX record point to Xeams
  • DO NOT add learner.yourdomain.com as a local domain in either Exchange or Xeams.
  • Since the MX points to Xeams, sender (Your Exchange Server) will sent that message to Xeams.


User comments

Posted by C R on 1/17/17 8:33 AM

It would be nice to have Xeams simply check an email address on my normal email server as an option to this setup as I really do not want to have my outbound email flow through Xeams. With the description above it seems that unless I have my outbound email flowing through Xeams, this option will not work for me.

Posted by Michael on 1/17/17 10:27 AM

The problem with this is that while one user may decide an email is junk, another user may decide its not. For example, we have some users that want overstock email's and some that don't, so how can you allow anyone to mark an email as junk for everyone.


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