Search <book_title>...

Enterprise Vault™ Setting up Exchange Server Archiving

Last Published: 2020-11-13

Product(s): Enterprise Vault (14.0)

Message author and recipients filters for custom filtering

To match message sender ("From" address) and recipient addresses ("To", "cc", "Bcc" and "Undisclosed" addresses), you can use the message attributes <AUTHOR> </AUTHOR> and <RECIPIENTS></RECIPIENTS>; in the ruleset file outline, message attributes are shown as:

<message_attribute>...</message_attribute>

Note:

Matching attribute values is case-insensitive.

You can specify the actual addresses to match as SMTP email addresses, display names or SMTP domains using the following XML elements (these are represented by the <attribute_value> lines in the ruleset file outline):

<EA>name@domain</EA>
This form can be used to specify SMTP addresses. The value specified must be the complete SMTP email address; if the value specified here is only part of an address, the message will not match. Wildcard characters cannot be used.
If the ampersand character (&) is included in an SMTP address, the character must be replaced with
```
&amp;
```
because & is a special character in XML. For example, the SMTP address admin&finance@ourcompany.com should be specified in the XML file as:
```
admin&amp;finance@ourcompany.com
```
<DISPN>display name</DISPN>
This form can be used to specify display names. As with the SMTP address, the value must be the full display name, without wildcard characters. As display names can take many different forms, it is advisable to include a filter for the associated SMTP address.
An example display name for Exchange Server messages is
```
<DISPN>John Doe</DISPN>
```
<DOMAIN>exampledomain.com</DOMAIN>
This form can be used to specify SMTP domains. The value specified can be the full domain or a subdomain. For example, if the following domain value is specified:
```
<DOMAIN>ourcompany.com</DOMAIN>
```
The following addresses will match:
- john.doe@ourcompany.com
- jack.doe@hq.ourcompany.com
- jane.doe@uk.hq.ourcompany.com
but the following address will not match:
- john.doe@hqourcompany.com
<DL>distribution list name</DL>
Use this form when you want to match messages that have been sent to any members of the specified distribution list or group. For example, if a rule contains the following line:
```
<DL>ALL SALES</DL>
```
Then messages sent to any member of the distribution list or group called ALL SALES will match, irrespective of whether the member's name is shown as the Display Name or SMTP address on the message.
Note:
Custom filtering cannot match against distribution lists that are hidden from the Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2010 Global Address List.

The following example shows how you can specify a simple rule to archive and set the retention category "Legal" on any messages sent from anyone in the domain, ourcompany.com, with legal@ourcompany.com or the Notes user, Greg Court, in the recipient list:

<RULE ... ACTION='ARCHIVE_ITEM' RETENTION='legal'>
  <AUTHOR>
    <DOMAIN>ourcompany.com</DOMAIN>
  </AUTHOR>
  <RECIPIENTS>
    <EA>legal@ourcompany.com</EA>
    <DISPN>Greg Court/ourorg</DISPN>
  </RECIPIENTS>
</RULE>

The attribute value operators, INCLUDES= and ALLOWOTHERS=, enable you to define complex filters.

Note the following:

There are situations where messages may not have an SMTP address; for example, messages imported into a mailbox from a PST file and Exchange Server addresses set up for internal messaging only. For this reason you may want to include both the display name and the email address in a rule (provided you are not using the INCLUDES="ALL" operator).
Be aware that display names do not have to be unique; an external sender, for example, could have the same display name as an internal sender.
If changes to your Microsoft Exchange Server Global Address List (or Global Address Catalog in Active Directory) affect users or distribution lists included in custom filters, you may have to update your custom filter rules accordingly. For example, if you are filtering on the display name of a distribution list and then change the display name, you will need to update the appropriate ruleset file entry.
Changes made to the Microsoft Exchange Server Global Address List will not become effective until the next scheduled GAL update. If, for example, a user's address has been changed to their married name, and you have set up a filter that includes the new address as AUTHOR, there may be a delay before messages are matched.
To ensure that Bcc and Undisclosed recipients are available when filtering on the Exchange Server journal mailbox, Envelope Journaling must be enabled on your Microsoft Exchange Server.

More Information

About distribution lists in attribute values with custom filtering

About creating complex filters using the INCLUDES and ALLOWOTHERS operators