Viewing and managing filter lists
Applies to: Forefront Protection for Exchange
After you create a filter list (see Configuring filtering), it is added to the Filters – Filter Lists pane. In the Filters – Filter Lists pane, filter lists by default are sorted by the order in which they were created (from oldest to newest). Listed next to each filter list are the scan job types and whether the filter list is enabled, disabled, or not supported for that type.
When you select a filter list, the settings of the filter list are shown on the Settings tab in the Preview pane. When you select multiple filter lists, the Preview pane displays no data.
Editing or deleting filter lists
To edit or delete selected filter lists, perform the following procedure.
To edit or delete filter lists
In the Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server Administrator Console, click Policy Management and then and then under the Filters section, click Filter Lists.
In the Filters – Filter Lists pane, select the filter lists you want to edit or delete.
Select one of the following options:
To delete the selected filter lists, click the Delete button. When you are asked to confirm your decision, click Yes.
To edit the selected filter lists, click the Edit button. Depending on what kind of filter you selected, the settings that appear are the same as those described in one of the following topics:
Creating an allowed senders filter list
Creating a keyword filter list
Creating a sender-domain filter list
Creating a subject line filter list
Note
In order to edit more than one filter list, they must all be of the same type.
After editing or deleting the filter lists, click Save.
Sorting filter lists
You can change the order in which your filter lists are displayed by sorting them in different ways. Clicking any of the columns (Filter Type, List Name, Mailbox Realtime, Mailbox Scheduled, Mailbox On-Demand, and Hub/Edge Transport) causes the filter lists to be sorted alphabetically by the values in that column. Sorting the filter lists in this manner has no effect on the order in which the filter lists are run. However, you can change the run order of file filter lists.
Changing the run order of file filter lists
File filter lists run in order. The default is to have them run in the order that you created them (from oldest to newest), but you can change the run order of file filter lists for each scan job.
To change the run order of file filter lists
In the Filters - Filter Lists pane, click Change File Filter List Order. This button is unavailable if you have fewer than two file filter lists.
In the Change File Filter List Order dialog box, select a scan job (Realtime Scan, Scheduled Scan, On-Demand Scan, or Transport Scan).
Select one of the file filter lists and then, using the Up and Down buttons, move the file filter list to the desired position. Repeat this step in order to move additional file filter lists for this scan job.
Optionally, select another scan job and when you are finished making your changes, click Apply and Close in order to return to the Filters - Filter Lists pane.
Click Save.
Searching the Filter Lists pane
If you have many filter lists, you can search for specific items on the Filters – Filter Lists pane in order to only view those items. This only has an effect on which records are currently being displayed.
To search the Filter Lists pane
At the top of the Filters – Filter Lists pane, in the Search Filter Lists box, enter the name of the filter type or filter list name you want to find.
Note
Searches are not case-sensitive, even though the names of filter lists are. If you enter "Filter" as a search query, the search would return "Filter1" and "filter1" (which would be different filter lists).
To find a single filter list, enter its full name
To find all filter lists that share part of a name, enter text that appears in the name of all the filter lists you are trying to locate. All filter lists with that text anywhere in the name are returned.
To run the search, click the search icon (represented by a magnifying glass).
You can re-click the search icon (now accompanied by an X icon) to cancel the results of the search and display all your filter lists.
Examples:
To find FileFilter17, enter: filefilter17.
To find all filter lists beginning with the string "File", enter: file.
To find all filter lists containing the string "bad", enter: bad
Only the filter lists (if any) that match the entered string are returned.
Disabling filtering
You can enable or disable all filters of a specific type for a specific scan job. By default, all available filtering is enabled for each scan job.
If you do not want to use a specific filter type for a specific scan job, you can disable that filter type. In this case, any filter lists that are enabled remain enabled but are not functional. If you re-enable filtering, any filter lists that are enabled resume their function; any filter lists that are disabled, continue to be disabled.
To disable all filters of a specific type for specific scan jobs
In the Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server Administrator Console, click Policy Management, and then under the Filters section, click Filter Options.
In the Filters - Filter Options pane, for each scan job type, specify the filters you want to disable by performing the following steps:
In the Realtime Filtering Options section, clear the Enable file filters or Enable header filters (subject line and sender-domain) check boxes.
In the Scheduled Filtering Options section, clear the Enable file filters or Enable header filters (subject line and sender-domain) check boxes.
In the On-Demand Filtering Options section, clear the Enable file filters or Enable header filters (subject line and sender-domain) check boxes.
In the Transport Filtering Options section, clear the Enable file filters, Enable keyword filters, or Enable header filters (subject line and sender-domain) check boxes.
Click Save.
See Also
Concepts
Creating an allowed senders filter list
Creating a file filter list
Creating a keyword filter list
Creating a sender-domain filter list
Creating a subject line filter list