Google Apps

Postini

  • Why was good mail quarantined?

Why was good mail quarantined?

Message Security for Google Apps -- the integrated version of Postini -- is no longer available for sale or activation. Existing customers are still being supported, but they will be transitioned during the next few months to the new email management features in the Google Admin console. For more details about the new features and the transition, see the FAQs, the Transition Guide, and Add email settings to an organization.

Symptom: Sometimes a legitimate email message is falsely identified as spam.

Common Causes: Here are some of the most common causes for a legitimate email being filtered as spam:

  • Filter levels are too aggressive: A message might have characteristics that make it look like spam, such as disclaimers, URLs, dollar signs, multiple exclamation points, or little or no body content apart from a link, image, or file attachment. The more such characteristics a message has, the more likely it will be quarantined, depending on the receiving user's filter levels. In particular, aggressive category filters can falsely identify valid messages as spam.
  • Mail from a list server or news group: Since mailing lists and news groups send mail to many recipients at once, they often share characteristics with spam.
  • An automated email service sent a spoofed message: Some servers, including group reservation and auction websites, sometimes send messages that appear spoofed and trigger spam filters.
  • The sender's address was on a Blocked Senders list: Mail from a sender on your Blocked Senders list are quarantined as spam.

Solution: The appropriate solution depends on the problem's source. See below:

  • If the mail comes from a sender who is often quarantined, including a web mail server, or a sender who has quarantined content, add the sender to your organization's Approved Senders list, or have the user add the sender to his or her individual Approved Senders list.
  • For a mailing list where mail comes from many different senders to a single address, ask the user to add an Approved Mailing List. Note that the user should not add his or her own address to the Approved Mailing Lists.
  • If your filters are too aggressive, consider asking your user to reduce filter settings, especially the Special Orders category setting.
  • If the sender is on your Blocked Senders list for the user or organization, remove the sender from the appropriate list.

More Information: For more information, see Troubleshoot False Positives in the Administration Guide.

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