Docs / Obsidian Mail Client / Privacy & security
Spam, junk and the Quarantine
The app has its own spam filter. It runs entirely on this computer: your mail is never sent anywhere to be checked.
How it works
Every new message in your Inbox is checked against your allowed and blocked senders, a set of content rules, and a filter that learns from the mail you release or mark as spam. Spam is moved to a Quarantine folder in that account, on the server, so you can look it over. Messages the filter isn't sure about stay in your Inbox.
Mail from senders on your allow list always reaches your Inbox; mail from blocked senders is always quarantined.
Look through the Quarantine
Open the account's Quarantine folder. For a message that isn't spam:
- Not spam moves it back to your Inbox, and the filter learns from it.
- Not spam, always allow the sender does the same and puts the sender on your allow list.
For one that is spam, Confirm spam teaches the filter that it was right.
You'll find these buttons above the message, on Home > Junk, and when you right-click the message.
To clear the Quarantine for good, use Folder > Empty Folder. The app asks first; this can't be undone.
Mark mail as spam
For spam that got through to your Inbox (or any other folder):
- Mark as spam moves it to the Quarantine, and the filter learns from it.
- Mark as spam and block the sender also puts the sender on your blocked list.
Use Home > Junk, the Spam button above the message, or right-click the message.
How strict the filter is
In File > Options > Junk Email, set Spam sensitivity to Relaxed, Balanced or Strict. Strict catches more spam but may also catch more good mail; Relaxed lets more through.
Allowed and blocked senders
File > Options > Safe & Blocked Senders has three lists:
- Allowed senders: always reach your Inbox.
- Blocked senders: always go to the Quarantine.
- Always load remote images from: senders whose pictures load without asking.
An entry can be an address ([email protected]) or a whole domain (example.com). A sender can be on only one of the first two lists: adding them to one takes them off the other.
Auto-allow people I send mail to (on by default) puts everyone you write to on your allow list, learned from your Sent folder. Even then, a message from them that fails DMARC (a sign the sender is forged) is still checked.
Sender Screener
The Screener holds back the first message from someone new until you decide about them.
To turn it on, check Screen first-time senders (Sender Screener) in File > Options > Junk Email. Only mail that arrives after you turn it on is screened.
From then on, mail from someone you've never had mail from, never written to, and who isn't in your contacts waits in a Screener folder. Above such a message:
- Let in puts the sender on your allow list and their mail in your Inbox. Let in everyone at lets in their whole domain.
- Screen out sends everything from them, now and later, to a Screened Out folder. Nothing is deleted. Screen out the domain works the same for the whole domain.
People you know are never screened. Password resets from a new site wait in the Screener too, so check it when you're expecting one.
Pause the filter
To stop filtering for a while, use Send / Receive > Pause Filtering, or right-click the tray icon and choose Pause filtering. The tray icon changes while it's paused. Use the same command to resume.
Phishing and impersonation
Beyond spam, the app warns about messages that try to trick you: deceptive links, look-alike domains, fake brand names and senders pretending to be someone you know. See Reading mail.