Source: https://help.spamfoo.com/guides/corrections Last updated: 2026-10-08 *** # How Corrections Are Used A correction is what happens when someone tells SpamFoo it got a message wrong. This page explains what SpamFoo does with a correction on your server and what it sends to SpamFoo's servers. ## Kinds of Corrections - **Spam corrections:** Marking a message as spam or phishing, or rescuing a message from spam. Phishing can only be reported from the SpamFoo dashboard. See [Correct a Wrong Result](https://help.spamfoo.com/guides/correct-result). - **Classification corrections:** Moving a message to a different Email Classification, such as from Primary to Updates. See [Correct a Wrong Result](https://help.spamfoo.com/guides/correct-result). ## How Corrections Reach SpamFoo - **SmarterMail:** When users mark spam, rescue mail, or move messages between classifications, SmarterMail sends the correction to SpamFoo for them. See [SmarterMail Overview](https://help.spamfoo.com/integrations/smartermail). - **Other mail servers and custom software:** The software must send each correction to SpamFoo Client. See [Send Corrections Back](https://help.spamfoo.com/integrations/send-corrections). - **The SpamFoo dashboard:** You can report a message from its details. In the dashboard, a correction is called a report. ## What Happens on Your Server - SpamFoo adds the correction to that user's pattern memory, and it takes effect immediately. - The correction only affects the user who made it. - This works even when SpamFoo's online services can't be reached. See [How Personalization Works](https://help.spamfoo.com/guides/personalization) for how pattern memory decides future mail. ## What Is Sent to SpamFoo Corrections also help train the models that ship to every SpamFoo installation. SpamFoo only reports a correction when its own models got the message wrong. It doesn't report one when: - The user's own past corrections already decided the message. - The message was already classified the way the user chose. A **Phishing** report from the SpamFoo dashboard is sent even when SpamFoo's models already marked the message as spam, because it tells SpamFoo something new. ### Sent by Default By default, a reported correction contains mathematical data about the message, not the message itself: - A fingerprint of the message: a list of numbers that captures what it is about. The words can't be read back from it. - Signals SpamFoo measured, such as sender check results, link counts, and whether there were attachments. - What SpamFoo decided, what the user chose instead, whether the user reported it as phishing, and how sure the models were. - The sender's domain and the IP address of the server that sent the message. - A hashed form of the mailbox address that made the correction. Hashing turns the address into a fixed code instead of readable text. The subject, the message text, and the sender's full address aren't included. ### Sharing Message Content An administrator or the owner of the mailbox can choose to also share a sanitized copy of the message text with corrections. This helps train the models better than the mathematical data alone. - **Off by default.** Nothing beyond the mathematical data is sent until someone turns it on. - **Corrections from SmarterMail or other software:** The mail server decides, for each correction, whether the user agreed to share content. If it doesn't say, SpamFoo treats the answer as no. - **Reports from the SpamFoo dashboard:** A system administrator controls this for the whole server with **Share Correction Content** in the **Message Content** card of **System > Settings**. It only works while **Store Message Content** is on. The first time a system administrator reports a message, SpamFoo asks whether to share. - **Sanitizing:** Before sending, SpamFoo replaces email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and common names with placeholders, and scrambles other numbers. Unusual details, such as a name SpamFoo doesn't recognize, may still get through. > **Warning** Do not turn on content sharing for users who have not agreed to it. ### Automatic Training Reports An administrator can also turn on automatic training reports when starting SpamFoo Client. SmarterMail turns them on when its own setting for reporting to SpamFoo is on. - SpamFoo then sends the same kind of mathematical data for some messages it was unsure about, and for a small random sample of ordinary mail. - These reports never include message text. - They are off unless turned on. ## When SpamFoo's Servers Can't Be Reached - The correction still takes effect on your server right away. - The report waits in a queue on your server and is retried for a while. If it still can't be delivered, it is dropped. - Mail delivery isn't affected. ## What to Expect - **Spam Rules** are exact. A rule for a sender always applies, unless a stronger rule from an administrator matches. See [Manage Your Rules](https://help.spamfoo.com/guides/my-rules). - **Pattern memory** works by similarity. One correction is often enough for the same sender. For mail from many different senders, several corrections of similar messages work better than one. - **Model updates** improve results for every user, including users who never send corrections. They arrive with regular model updates. See [Update and Back Up](https://help.spamfoo.com/guides/updates).