New IMF Tune v5 Advanced SCL Rule Conditions/Exceptions

IMF Tune v5 introduces two new condition/exception types. In this article we discuss how these can be employed in order to construct better filtering rules.

Note that in Advanced SCL Rules, the list of conditions is identical to the list of exceptions. A rule is satisfied if all conditions are matched without matching any exceptions. Because of this symmetry, we will mainly discuss the Conditions list. However do keep in mind that the new functionality is also available at the Exceptions list.

Attachment name is exactly/matches filename

The first condition type we will discuss is:
Attachment name is exactly/matches filename

This condition type is consistent with the newly introduced Attachment white/black lists. It allows us to match filenames either exactly or with the help of the * wildcard. This wildcard can only be used at the beginning. Here are some examples of valid entries:
FullFilename.exe
*.vbs
*_something.bat

Since the * wildcard can only be used at the beginning, the following are of course invalid and the UI will disallow them:
something_*.exe
filename.*

It is worth noting that IMF Tune already supported an attachment filtering condition/exception:
Attachment name contains words

Indeed this is still available, both for backwards compatibility and because the new rule does not fully replace it. The old attachment condition performs a keyword matching operation just like we do in case of email subjects and other headers. So if at the old condition we enter:
file.exe

This would match any of these names:
file.exe
something_file.exe
something_file.exe.zip

Being a keyword expression, we could also make use of the double quotes and logical operators. For example we could specify:
"one.exe " AND two

This would match all filenames containing both keywords such as:
Two_one.exe

For a detailed discussion on keyword expression syntax please refer to the User Manual. What is worth appreciating here is that the power of keyword expressions may be too complex and less appropriate when matching exact filenames or just the file extension. This is the void the new condition is intended to fill.

Total number of recipients is within range

Another condition/exception type introduced in IMF Tune v5 is:
Total number of recipients is within range

The usefulness of this condition type is probably less intuitive. The condition tests the number of recipients the email is addressed to. Here are some examples of how this condition could be employed:

1. Use the condition to block emails that have too many recipients.

2. Let say you would like to apply a Rule when this is only addressed to a specific recipient, for example ronald@windeveloper.com . However you don't want the Rule to apply if the email is addressed to multiple recipients. In this case you would use these conditions together:

   • Sent to recipient addresses or domains
   • Total number of recipients is within range

   The first condition would be configured to match ronald@windeveloper.com, and the second matches 1.

3. This condition could also come handy in case of dedicated mailboxes. For example we have a mailbox that receives notifications from an online form. This mailbox is not used for any other purpose thus we know that legitimate emails will always contain a single recipient. In this case we again combine the above two conditions such that to block emails addressed to two or more recipients.

Version Information

This information applies to IMF Tune v5.0 build number 5.0.101.08. If IMF Tune is already installed you can verify the current build number from the configuration.

In IMF Tune v3 and earlier the build number is available under the WinDeveloper category.

In IMF Tune v4 and v5 the build number is available under the Miscellaneous category.