Set allowed and blocked sender lists

You can approve or block from specific domains, email, or IP addresses by adding them to the allow or blocklists.

The allow/blocklists are maintained at four levels:

  • global
  • company
  • domain
  • user

When adding addresses and domains to the allow and block lists, you can add up to 1000 entries in each list, and you can use up to five wildcard characters to represent parts of the entry that you wish to add.  To block all addresses from a domain, use the format *@domain.tld. 

Allow/blocklist hierarchy

The allow or block list added at the user level has the highest priority over the domain level allow or block list. The domain-level settings take precedence over the company level and company over the global list.

Addresses that are in the user's personal address book are considered to be in the safe sender's list for that user by default, even though the address book entries are not displayed in the user's allow list. If an address book entry is added to the block senders list, the address will always be blocked since the user's block senders list takes precedence over the address book.

IP address blocks on any level take precedence over any level of the allow list. IPs can only be added via the MAC interface on the domain or company level and are not currently available in the Reseller Control Panel. To add a range of IP addresses, simply use the CIDR notation for the range you'd like to block.

The global list is set and maintained by OpenSRS and used primarily in emergencies, such as an attack, to ensure that the entire system is protected. Under normal operating parameters, the global lists are usually empty. The company, domain, and account/user lists can be set and maintained using the Reseller Control Panel or the MAC. The end-user can also access the account/user lists in their Webmail interface.

Allow/blocklist hierarchy overview

  • IP address block list
  • User allow list
  • User block list
    • Domain allow list
    • Domain block list
      • Company allow list
      • Company block list
        • Global allow list
        • Global block list
          • Address book

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Creating user-level safe senders and block senders

Reseller Control Panel

  1. Navigate to the email domain for the user in the Email section of the Reseller Control Panel.
    RCP_Email_Domain_Selection.jpg
  2. Select the email address to open the user's settings page.
    RCP_Domain_Level_Settings.JPG
  3. In the Spam filtering section, click Edit.
    RCP_Email_User_Spam_Edit.jpg
  4. Click the + button below safe senders or block senders to display a text field, and enter an email address or domain name. Press Save.
    RCP_Spam_Blocklist.JPG

MAC

  1. Log in to the Mail Administration Console (MAC)
    MAC_Login_page.JPG
  2. Locate the user that you want to edit and select the user name.
  3. In the Spam settings section, add the addresses or domains to the appropriate text box to allow or block.
    Note: List each entry on a separate line.
    MAC_User_Spam_Settings.JPG
  4. Click Update.

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Creating domain-level safe senders and block senders

Reseller Control Panel

  1. In the Email section of the Reseller Control Panel, click the Email domains tab.
    RCP_Email_Domains_Tab.jpg
  2. Select the domain that you want to modify, then click the Settings tab.
    RCP_Email_Domains_Settings_Tab.jpg
  3. Choose Edit from the spam filtering section.
    RCP_Email_Domain_Spam_Settings.JPG
  4. Click the plus sign below the safe senders or block senders heading to display a text field and enter an email address or domain name. Press Save
    RCP_Email_spam_settings_edit.JPG

MAC

  1. Log in to the Mail Administration Console (MAC).
    MAC_Login_page.JPG
  2. Navigate to the domain that you want to modify. 
  3. Add the addresses or domains to the appropriate list box: allow, block or IP block.
    MAC_Blacklist.JPG
  4. Click Update.

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Creating company-level safe senders and block senders

Reseller Control Panel

  1. Select the Settings tab in the Email section of the Reseller Control Panel  
    RCP_Email_Settings_Tab.JPG
  2. Choose Edit from the spam filtering section.
    RCP_Email_Domain_Spam_Settings.JPG
  3. Click the plus sign below the safe senders or block senders heading to display a text field and enter an email address or domain name.  Press Save.
    RCP_Email_spam_settings_edit.JPG

MAC

  1. Log in to the Mail Administration Console (MAC)
    MAC_Login_page.JPG
  2. In the left navigation pane, click your company name.
  3. Add the email addresses or domain names to the appropriate text box: allow, block or IP block. Note: List each entry on a separate line.
    MAC_Blacklist.JPG
  4. Click Update.

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Marking an inbox email as spam

Marking an email as spam reports various elements of the email like the sender, email headers, email contents, etc. to the email server. The spam filter will incorporate these elements and filter out future emails that are similar.

Reporting legitimate marketing emails as spam will be ineffective since they are considered a trusted sender. Unsubscribing from their mailing list will prevent future marketing emails.

Note: Marking an email as not spam will teach the spam filter which kinds of emails are considered safe.

  1. Mark the email as Spam.
    Hosted_email_mark_spam_email.png
  2. Press Accept to confirm the selected email as spam.
    Important: If you confirm to share your data with our Spam partner, the pop-up will go away and you will not be prompted to make a selection going forward. Should you choose to decline, when you mark an email as Spam, the pop-up will appear each time.
    hosted_email_spam_consent.png

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