How do messages get routed to my Junk folder or Newsletter folder?

Overview

When SpamSentinel for Domino is installed, incoming messages are automatically classified and — depending on their classification — may be routed to a specific folder in your mail file such as -Spam or Junk, rather than delivered to your Inbox. If Inbox Genius is also active on your server, this folder routing happens automatically. This article explains how the process works.

Step 1 — SpamSentinel scans and classifies the message

As each inbound message arrives at the Domino server, SpamSentinel intercepts it before it reaches any mail file. SpamSentinel evaluates the message and assigns it to one of three spam categories — Spam B, Spam C, or Spam D — in increasing order of detection certainty. Mail that does not meet the threshold for any spam category is treated as clean and delivered normally.

Depending on how SpamSentinel is configured by your administrator, a message in a given category may be:

• Quarantined or deleted — the message is held in a server-side quarantine database or discarded and never reaches your mail file.
• Tagged and delivered — SpamSentinel marks the message with its classification and passes it along for delivery to your mail file, where it can then be routed to an appropriate folder.

Step 2 — Inbox Genius moves the message to the correct folder

SpamSentinel itself does not move messages into folders within your mail file. That action is performed by Inbox Genius, a companion product installed alongside SpamSentinel on the Domino server.

Inbox Genius monitors your mail file for newly delivered messages that carry a SpamSentinel classification tag. When it finds one, it moves the message into the destination folder configured for that spam category — by default, either the -Spam or Junk folder in your mail file.

What controls which folder a message lands in?

The destination folder is determined in the following priority order:

1. Domino mail rules — Any server-level or user-level Domino mail rules that match properties of the message are applied first and will always take precedence.
2. Your personal sender preferences in Inbox Genius — If you have previously set a preference for how mail from a specific sender should be handled, that is applied next.
3. The SpamSentinel default folder setting — If neither of the above applies, Inbox Genius uses the default destination folder configured in SpamSentinel for that message's spam category.

Note: The default folder names used throughout the system are -Spam and Junk. While it is technically possible for an administrator to configure different folder names in SpamSentinel or Inbox Genius, this is rarely necessary and should not be attempted without guidance from DuoCircle technical support.

What if Inbox Genius is not active?

Inbox Genius is installed by default alongside SpamSentinel, but it is not the only way to achieve folder routing. If Inbox Genius is not active for your mail file, SpamSentinel can still be configured to prepend a tag to the subject line of suspected spam messages. You can then create standard Domino mail rules to route those tagged messages to a folder of your choice based on the subject line tag.

Need to change how your spam is routed?

If you would like to change how your spam is routed, please contact DuoCircle technical support — the right approach will depend on how SpamSentinel and Inbox Genius are configured on your server.