Configuring Outlook Express Message Rules to Block attachments

Email viruses are often contained within attachments. A new feature in Outlook Express 6 SP1 automatically blocks attachments considered to be unsafe. Message rules can also be configured to give you  even more control over attachments.

Here we are going to configure Oulook Express message rules to block attachments first from everyone and then we will modify this rule so that only attachments from unknown senders are blocked.

The procedure requires configuring two message rules and placing them in the correct order. The first rule does the blocking and the second rule allows the messages from our known senders (contacts).

Rule To Block all attachments

1. Open the rules windoe by selecting tools-message rules-mail.
2. In the mail window select new rule.
3. In the new rule window select the following:
Pane 1 Where the message has an attachment
Pane 2 Delete it
Pane 3 Nothing needs entering as it is automatically filled
Pane 4 The rule name here Delete all Attachments

4. This is shown in the following screen shot


5. Click ok until finished.

Rule to Allow all attachments from known users

1. Open the rules windoe by selecting tools-message rules-mail.
2. In the mail window select new rule.
3. In the new rule window select the following:
Pane 1 Where the message has an attachment and where the from line contains people Mom and Dad
Pane 2 Stop processing new rules
Pane 3 The people who are allowed to send attachments are selected here by clicking on people (shown in blue).
Pane 4 The rule name here Allow messages with attachments from known senders
This is shown in the following screen shot



6.Click ok and on the rules screen move the "allow rule" to the top position so that it is processed first. This is shown in the following screen shot.


7.Click ok to finish

Summary of using message rules to block attachments.

The order of the rule execution in the above example is critical if they are reversed so that the block all attachments is first on the list then all attachments will be blocked. Also if blocking by unsafe file type is also enabled then attachments with the unsafe file types will still be blocked from any sender.

Other articles on Outlook Express message rules:

Message Rules To block spam in Outlook Express

How to Configure the Block Senders list in Outlook Express


 

This article/tutorial was written and tested on Outlook Express 6.0. It should also be applicable to Outlook Express 5.5. It may work on previous versions of Outlook Express with minor modifications.