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How do the discard filters function on mailboxes?

Environment:

Mailboxes, Incoming Email

Resolution:

For mailboxes configured for Incoming Email there are options to discard emails.  These options include the ability to discard based on:

1. Addresses
2. Headers
3. Subject
4. Body
5. Mime Type
6. File Types

To locate these options, select Configuration > Site Configuration > Mailboxes. Open a mailbox for edit and select Incoming Email from the top ribbon. 

The matching logic for these 4 elements differs.  The match logic for Addresses utilizes exact match or wildcard match with the exception of character case.  The other 3 elements (Headers, Subject, Body) utilize text/string match; meaning if a defined string/text is found within the respective element it will be discarded.  Provided below are some examples of how these filters function:

Addresses example 1:

• filter is:  domain.com
• incoming email address is:  test.person@domain.com

Result:  The incoming email is NOT discarded as the incoming email address of "test.person@domain.com" does NOT equal the filter value of "domain.com".

Addresses example 2:

• filter is:  test.person@domain.com
• incoming email 1 has an address of:  test.person@domain.com
• incoming email 2 has an address of:  thistest.person@domain.com

Result:  Incoming email 1 IS discarded as the incoming email address of "test.person@domain.com" equals the filter value of "test.person@domain.com".  Incoming email 2 is NOT discarded as the incoming email address of "thistest.person@domain.com" does not equal the filter value of "test.person@domain.com".

Addresses example 3:

• filter is:  *domain.com
• incoming email 1 has an address of:  test.person@domain.com
• incoming email 2 has an address of:  thistest.person@domain.com

Result:  Incoming email 1 and 2 ARE discarded as they equal the filter value of "*domain.com" where the wildcard (*) matches any value preceding "domain.com"

Headers/Subject/Body example 1:

• filter is:  is
• incoming email 1 has an element of:  is
• incoming email 2 has an element of:  history
• incoming email 3 has an element of:  I need permission to access my incidents
• incoming email 4 has an element of:  This email is spam

Result:  All 4 emails are discard as the string/text value of "is" is found in the element of each email.

Headers/Subject/Body example 2:

• filter is:  email is spam
• incoming email 1 has an element of:  is
• incoming email 2 has an element of:  history
• incoming email 3 has an element of:  I need permission to access my incidents
• incoming email 4 has an element of:  This email is spam

Result:  Only email 4 IS discarded because it has the only element "email is spam" that matches the filter value of "email is spam".

Headers/Subject/Body example 3:

• filter is:  free pair
• incoming email 1 has an element of:  You won a free pair of shoes!
• incoming email 2 has an element of:  Inquiry regarding the free pair of shoes promotion

Result:  Both emails ARE discarded as they both contain the text/string "free pair".

Mime Type example:

To exclude MPEG video attachments, GIF images, and all audio formats, type:
video/mpeg, image/gif, audio/*

Note: This filter blocks only matching file attachments. The remaining contents of the email continue to process.

File Type example:

To exclude all executable files, screen savers, and any script titled worm.vbs, type:
*.exe, *.scr, worm.vbs

Note: This filter blocks only matching file attachments. The remaining contents of the email continue to process.

Note: 

At times the Discard Filters on mailboxes may provide false-positive results.  It may be useful in these cases to remove the Discard Filter logic from the mailbox and create a corresponding rule that utilizes a regular expression.  Regular expressions provide more granular logic and can help to alleviate false-positive scenarios.  For more information regarding the use of rules and regular expressions, refer to the 'Business Rule Management' and 'Regular Expressions' sections in online documentation for the version your site is running. 

For additional information on mailbox configurations, refer to the 'Adding and editing mailboxes' section.  To access Oracle B2C Service manuals and documentation online, refer to the Documentation for Oracle B2C Service Products.