Filters not working when emoji in subject line

Whether you're a MailWasher veteran or complete newbie, all users are welcome to get together. Discussions include usage and possible problems.
attea2d
Rattled Rabbit
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:45 am

Filters not working when emoji in subject line

Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:03 am

I am a sweeper, entering various contests on the web. As you can imagine this generates a lot of junk mail. To keep things manageable I have created a rule which supposedly auto deletes everything that does not have certain words in the subject line...words like win, won sweepstakes etc. There are a few instances where the software does not delete messages without those words but more importantly there have been many instances it auto deletes messages that do. In trying to analyze why those messages are being auto deleted I find that in 99% of the cases there is an emoji in the subject line. The placement of the emoji doesn't appear to make any difference. It would seem to be more than a coincidence. Has anyone else run across this? Is the emoji interfering with the ability to filter? I am still using the trial version and am hesitant to pay for the real deal. It kind of defeats the purpose if I have to then review all of the auto deleted emails to make sure it hasn't deleted a message telling me I have won a prize
User avatar
rusticdog
Firetrust Monkey
Posts: 15864
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:27 pm

Re: Filters not working when emoji in subject line

Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:25 pm

Hi there

Next time you notice one of these messages can you open it in message preview >> top left of the preview click Show Email Info >> click the Source tab >> can you copy/paste back here the Subject line of the message (only from the source, not what displays normally) >> then to go back click Show Email Preview top left.

Will be able to check it out.
attea2d
Rattled Rabbit
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:45 am

Re: Filters not working when emoji in subject line

Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:53 am

I think I have this figured out. Your reply gave me a direction to go in. I redid some of my filters to filter on the entire message and it appears to not be deleting messages that it shouldn't. It does still let through a few messages that I have not been able to figure out why they were not deleted but I would rather deal with that than have it delete messages it shouldn't.
User avatar
rusticdog
Firetrust Monkey
Posts: 15864
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:27 pm

Re: Filters not working when emoji in subject line

Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:40 am

OK great, that's good to hear. It's possible the messages failing to delete have their Subject encoded in UTF8, you would be able to see that by looking at the Source view as above and checking what the Subject field details. It would display as something like
Subject: =?utf-8? <bunch of other stuff>

MailWasher presently runs the custom filters over the emails prior to decoding UTF8, which is something we are wanting to correct in a later version.
User avatar
dearwebby
Student Sheep
Contact:
Location: Black Diamond, Alberta
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:24 pm

Re: Filters not working when emoji in subject line

Sat Mar 10, 2018 11:42 am

Rusticdog, please DON'T mess with UTF8 !
I use a filter to look for "UTF8" and it gets about 30% of the spam!
I don't remember ever seeing good mail falsely flagged because it had UTF8 in the header. That is a safe and simple way to detect unwanted mass mailings.
T7Bit is another handy one. Not as frequent these days, but still recognizes spam quite well.
Have FUN!
DearWebby

Return to “Troubleshooting and Help for MailWasher 5 and 6”