When did GoldMine get a built-in spam filter? Well actually, it’s been there for a very long time. The key is knowing “how” to use it. Those of you who are accustomed to some of the conventional spam filtering software… GoldMine takes a different approach. Instead of using complex algorithms to scan for content, format, etc., GoldMine comes at it from an “opt-in”-like approach. GoldMine can be configured to only grab mail from addresses it recognizes. Here’s how to set that up.
Warning to all of you who are faint-of-heart… this solution requires discipline, and initially, a little patience.
1. Tools | Options (for SE and CE, use Edit | Preferences…)
2. E-Mail tab (for older versions of GoldMine use the Internet tab)
3. More Options… button
4. Retrieval tab
5. Add a checkmark next to “Skip messages from contacts not on file”
6. Click OK, then OK again
GoldMine will now only download e-mail from addresses it recognizes. In the example above, GoldMine is looking for new mail every 10min. However, what about the legitimate e-mail that it skips because that address is NOT in GoldMine? Well, here is where the discipline comes in. We teach users to check the online folder for non-downloaded messages when they are responding to new mail. For example, you pause to deal with e-mail, answered the 5 new messages that auto-downloaded, now simply click the Online folder and see what else is out there. You then delete the junk/spam without downloading it, and grab any valuable mail. If the message is really valuable, you can choose to add the address to GoldMine. Now little by little, you are actually improving the accuracy and quality of your database.
Other benefits include reduced risk of viruses, fewer interruptions (you have mail!), and a cleaner database for improving future marketing efforts.
Another approach is to use email rules. If an email is from an address not on file, move it to a different inbox folder. This has the advantage of being visible (which reduces the discipline requirement of the above approach)
BTW – Actually, we use K9 for spam filtering, so what we *really* do is delete emails flagged by K9, unless the email is from an address on file – this keeps us from deleting things we shouldn’t have, and gives us an opportunity to train K9 when it makes mistakes.