Set Up SmarterMail

This page shows how to turn on SpamFoo spam checking and Email Classifications in SmarterMail, and how to follow the progress as mailboxes are classified.

Before You Start

  • Sign in to SmarterMail as a system administrator.
  • Go to Settings > Licensing and find the SpamFoo Antispam and SpamFoo Classification cards. Spam checking needs SpamFoo Antispam. Email Classifications need SpamFoo Classification.
  • Make sure the SpamFoo service is running. Go to Manage > Troubleshooting > Services and check the SpamFoo row. It runs by default. If someone stopped it, select it and click Start.

Turn On Spam Checking

  1. Go to Settings > Antispam.
  2. Open the Spam Checks tab.
  3. Click the SpamFoo row.
  4. Turn on Enable Spool Filtering.
  5. Set Spam Weight. SmarterMail adds this weight when SpamFoo says a message is spam. The default is 20.
  6. Set Not Spam Weight. SmarterMail adds this weight when SpamFoo says a message is not spam. The default is 0, and a negative number lowers the total.
  7. Click Save.

SmarterMail adds the SpamFoo weight to the weights from its other spam checks, then applies your spam filtering actions to the total. Pick a Spam Weight that, together with your other checks, reaches the spam level you want SpamFoo to trigger.

SmarterMail starts SpamFoo Client when you save. The first time, it also downloads the client and the client downloads its models, so the first messages can arrive before SpamFoo is ready. Those messages are delivered without a SpamFoo result.

Turn On Email Classifications

Email Classifications are controlled in two places:

  • The domain's mode decides whether the domain uses Classifications and whether users are asked first.
  • Each mailbox's Email Classification switch decides whether that mailbox is classified. It is on by default.

Choose a Mode for a Domain

  1. Go to Manage > Domains and click the domain.
  2. Open the Options tab.
  3. In the Email Classification card, choose a mode from the Email Classification list.
  4. Set Automatic Classification Inbox Message Limit. Mailboxes whose Inbox holds more messages than this are not classified automatically. The default is 20,000.
  5. Click Save.
Mode What Happens
Disabled No mailbox in the domain is classified. Changing a domain to Disabled stops any classification in progress for it.
Enabled for All Mailboxes Every mailbox with its Email Classification switch on is queued for classification. Mailboxes over the Inbox message limit are skipped, and when SmarterMail queues the domain it turns their switch off.
Enabled and Offered to Users Each user is asked once, when they sign in to webmail, whether to turn on Classifications. Only mailboxes of users who accept are queued. If you switch from Enabled for All Mailboxes, mailboxes that already have Classifications on stay on and their users are not asked.

Set the Default for New Domains

  1. Go to Manage > Domain Defaults.
  2. In the Email Classification card, choose the mode and set Automatic Classification Inbox Message Limit.
  3. Click Save.
  4. To apply the same settings to existing domains, click Propagate, select the Email Classification settings under Settings to Propagate, and click Propagate.

Turn Classifications On or Off for One Mailbox

  1. Go to Manage > Domains and click the domain.
  2. Open the Accounts tab and click the user.
  3. In the Webmail card, turn Email Classification on or off.
  4. Click Save.

When the domain uses Enabled and Offered to Users, changing this switch answers the offer for the user, and they are not asked at sign-in.

Change the Default for a Domain's Mailboxes

  1. Go to Manage > Domains and click the domain.
  2. Open the User Defaults tab.
  3. In the Webmail card, turn Email Classification on or off.
  4. Click Save.
  5. To apply the change to existing users, click Propagate, select Email Classification under Settings to Propagate, choose All Users or Specific Users under Push to, and click Propagate.

Watch Classification Progress

When a mailbox is turned on, SmarterMail queues it and classifies the messages already in its Inbox. New mail is classified as it arrives. Users see the Classifications in webmail only after their mailbox finishes.

  1. Go to Manage > Troubleshooting.
  2. Open the Mailbox Processing tab.
  3. Find the rows with the Classification type.
  • Status shows Queued, Message Processing, or Completed.
  • Progress shows how many Inbox messages are done out of the total.
  • SmarterMail processes the mailboxes with the smallest Inbox first, so small mailboxes finish quickly even when large ones are waiting.
  • SmarterMail also checks once a day for mailboxes that have Classifications on and are within the Inbox message limit, and queues them.

Reclassify a Mailbox

Reclassify clears the Classification of every message in a mailbox's Inbox and queues the mailbox again, even if its Inbox is over the Inbox message limit. Only mailboxes with Email Classifications on are processed.

  1. Go to Manage > Domains and click the domain.
  2. Open the Accounts tab.
  3. Select the users.
  4. Open the Actions menu (three dots) and click Reclassify.
  5. Click Reclassify to confirm.

Reclassifying a large Inbox can take a long time. Users don't see their Classifications until it finishes.

Use Classification Only

To keep another antispam product for spam detection and use SpamFoo only for Email Classifications:

  1. Leave Enable Spool Filtering off for SpamFoo in Settings > Antispam > Spam Checks.
  2. Turn on Email Classifications for your domains as shown above.

In this mode SmarterMail asks SpamFoo only for a Classification. SpamFoo adds no spam weight, and your other spam checks work as before. SmarterMail also runs this way when your license includes SpamFoo Classification but not SpamFoo Antispam. In that case the SpamFoo row in Spam Checks shows (Classification Only).

Control Correction Sharing

The Send classification and spam corrections to SpamFoo switch is in Settings > Antispam > Options. It is on by default.

  • On: SmarterMail sends users' spam and not spam reports to SpamFoo as corrections, users can choose to share a sanitized copy of the message text, and SpamFoo Client may send automatic training reports.
  • Off: Spam and not spam reports are not sent to SpamFoo Client, so SpamFoo doesn't learn from them. No message text is shared, and users can't turn on sharing. Classification changes still personalize each user's mailbox.

Changing this switch restarts SpamFoo Client, if it's running, so the new setting takes effect. See How Corrections Are Used.

Use SpamFoo Client on Another Server

By default, SmarterMail runs SpamFoo Client on the mail server itself. You can instead connect SmarterMail to a SpamFoo Client you installed on another server with the Linux package or Docker.

  1. Install SpamFoo Client on the other server and add its license key. See Install SpamFoo Client.
  2. Let the mail server reach it. See Accept Mail From Other Servers for Docker.
  3. On the other server, print its connection string with the address SmarterMail uses to reach it: 
    sudo spamfoo-client connection-string --url=http://spamfoo.example.com:16253

    You can also copy it from the Connection string card on System > Status in that server's dashboard. See Print the Connection String.

  4. In SmarterMail, paste the value into the setup card for SpamFoo.

SpamFoo Client on the other server runs on its own. You install updates and manage its license key there, as described in Update and Back Up.

Warning The connection string contains the proxy secret. Treat it like a password.

Next Steps