How You Can Activate The Spam Filter In Thunderbird And Thus Ban Annoying Junk Mail From Your Mailbox

Junk mails are always a boring task to remove from the mailbox as it not only occupies space but also feels like a 100 kg weight on the head. In this article, we are going to explain how you can activate a spam filter in one of the most popular mail add "Thunderbird".

1. Check whether the spam filter is active

There are several lines of defense in the fight against unwanted messages, known as spam or junk mail. One of them is the self-learning spam filter built into Mozilla's mail client. For this, there are global and account-dependent settings in different places.

It is advisable to first check whether the spam filter is activated for your respective e-mail account. To do this, right-click the account name in the left column in Thunderbird. Now select the Settings entry from the context menu.

2. Activate junk filter

Thunderbird then opens a new tab in which your account is already marked on the top level. Below that you will find several indented categories. Switch to Junk Filters. If there is no tick in front of Activate junk filter for this account in the right pane, do so now.

3. Define settings

In this dialog, you can define further settings, for example, whether messages from senders in your address book should be excluded from the spam check. You can also determine to which folder the filter should move new junk mail.

In addition to the account-specific, there are also general options for the spam filter. You can find this when you open the three-line menu in the upper right corner of Thunderbird and select Settings. Then navigate to Privacy & Security. In the Junk section on the right, you should definitely check the Enable Junk Log for Self-Learning Filter box. With the help of this log, you can control the activities of the spam filter and thus track down errors.

4. Train spam filter

So that Thunderbird can identify junk mail as such, it is now necessary to train the spam filter in order to achieve the highest possible hit rate. On the one hand, this means that you have to manually mark unwanted messages that have landed in your inbox as junk. On the other hand, you have to mistakenly mark emails marked as junk as wanted messages.

To send a junk mail that has slipped through the filter as a Spamto sort them out, select them and click the Junk button in the message area of ​​the preview. The e-mail then goes to the junk folder of the account.

You should also inspect this junk folder regularly to see whether the spam filter has inadvertently moved desired emails there. If so, select the message in question and click the "No Junk" button.

In the course of time, the spam filter receives enough data in this way to be able to filter your e-mails correctly.