Incoming Rules

Incoming Rules are a set of conditions based on which administrators can decide which emails get to reach a user's mailbox. The rules can be associated with a specific user, a set of users or for the entire organization. Once a rule is enabled, emails get validated against the conditions specified in the rule before getting delivered to the intended recipient's mailbox.

Note:

It is mandatory to enable Organization Rules from the Spam Processing section in the Admin Console.
The Incoming Rules feature will be rolled out in a phased manner and be available only for organizations that use one of our paid plans.
If you want the option enabled for your organization, please reach out to us at support@zohomail.com.

Create Incoming Rule
Filter
Rule processing and priority
Modify incoming rule
Enable or Disable a rule
Remove rules from the list

Create Incoming Rule

Follow these steps to create an Incoming Rule:

Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select Security & Compliance on the left pane.
Navigate to Rules and select Incoming Rules.
Click the Create now button to add the first rule or click +Create button to add a new incoming rule.
Provide a rule name and a description for the rule. If the entered rule name is already in use, "Name already exists" warning is shown.
If required, set an Expiry Date by selecting the Set expiry date checkbox.
Select either of the Condition Type from the below options:
- Apply for matching conditions - When chosen, all the emails will be checked for the conditions mentioned.
- No Conditions. Apply to all emails. - When chosen, all the emails you receive will go through the preferred action.
Select one or more Conditions, the Operating parameter and the corresponding Action.
Click +Add values under Conditions to enter multiple values separated by a delimiter which you can choose from Choose delimiter drop-down. Select Custom from the drop-down, to add your own custom delimiter for the values and select Update.
Choose the users whom you want to select or exclude from the rule under the Apply To section:
- All users - The rule will be applied to all the users in your organization.
- Selected Users - The rule will be applied to the specific set of users you add.
- Selected Groups - The rule will be applied only to the users who are members of the specified groups.
- Excluded Users - The rule will not be applied to the selected list of users.
- Excluded Groups - The rule will not be applied to the users who are members of the selected groups.
Skip to this step if you chose All users.
Select the users you want to add to the list and click Submit. You can also remove a user from the list by clicking the Delete icon next to the user.
Select the Reset to default button when you have to clear all the selected conditions and provide a different criteria.
Review your rule and do one of the following:
- Create and enable rule - Your rule will not only be created but also be enabled automatically to start processing emails with respect to its conditions and actions.
- Create rule - Your rule will only be created and not enabled. That means if you want the rule to be applied to the emails you receive, you will have to manually activate it.
  13. Click Yes in the Confirm Action! dialog box.
  14. Select either Done or Go to created rule or Add more rules depending on your requirement once the rule is created successfully.
  Note:
  The new rule created will be highlighted in the list of rules section under Incoming Rules page.
Hover over a rule in the list to rearrange it using the drag and drop icon. You can only drag and drop rules created within the same rule type indicated by your theme colored bar towards the left pane.
Alternatively, you can select the rule to be rearranged, and click the Reorder button on the top pane. Now select Move up or Move down from the list.
Rearranging them automatically changes the rule processing priority based on the order they are currently listed.

Note:
The maximum number of Incoming Rules that can be configured for an organization is 500.

Available Conditions

Zoho Mail provides multiple conditions based on which you can filter incoming emails. There can be more than one condition for a single rule depending on your organization's requirement. The various conditions are listed in the tables that follow:

**Sender / From**
Parameter	Description	Value
Is external sender	Checks if the sender is not part of the organization	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Is authenticated sender	Validates whether the sender's identity is authenticated	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
New sender	Checks if the email is received for the first time from the sender	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Reply-to email address	The reply-to address of an incoming email	Click Add email addresses, enter the desired email address and click Add.
Return path domain	The reverse-path/ bounce address's domain	Click Add domains, enter one or more domain names and click Add.
Return path email address	The reverse-path/ bounce address of an incoming email	Click Add email addresses, enter the desired email address and click Add.
Sender display name	The display name of the sender	Click Add values, enter the user's display name and click Add.
Sender DNS	The DNS address of the sender	Click Add values, provide the sender DNS and click Add.
Sender domain	The domain address of the email sender	Click Add domains, enter the sender domain name and click Add.
Sender email address	The 'from' address of the email sender	Click Add email addresses, enter the desired email address and click Add.
Sender IP address	The IP address of the email sender	Enter the sender's IP address that you wish to validate.

**Recipient / To / Cc**
Parameter	Description	Value
Recipient count	Validates the number of recipients in the email	Provide a value between 1 to 100.
Recipient domain	Validates the domain address of the recipient	Click Add domains, enter one or more domain names and click Add.
Recipient's email policy	The email policy associated with the recipients	Select the email policy from the drop-down.
Recipient's group	The groups that the user is part of	Select the preferred group from the drop-down.
To/CC email address	The email address in the To/CC field	Click Add email addresses, enter the desired email address and click Add.

**Email Header**
Parameter	Description	Value
MIME Message ID*	The ID that can be gathered from a MIME email's header	Click Add values, enter the desired MIME value and click Add.
MIME size (in MB)	The size of the non-text attachment specified in MB	Enter a value between 1 to 40.
Subject	The subject of the email	Click Add values, enter the desired subject and click Add.
X-Mailer*	The desktop client from which the email was sent	Click Add values, enter the X-Mailer you wish to validate and click Add.
Header	The email header that needs to be verified for the provided values	Enter the Header Name and Header Value.

Note:

MIME message* - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions supports non-text email attachments. A MIME header is added to the original email header from where you can gather the unique content ID/message ID used to identify the message.
X-Mailer* - Specifies which desktop client (For example, Apple client, Thunderbird, etc) was used to draft or send the email. Can be found in the email header.

**Email Content**
Parameter	Description	Value
Content	The content of the email	Click Add values, enter the content to be validated and click Add.
Email language	The language in which the email was composed	Click Select languages, add the desired languages and click Add.
Originating country	The country from which the email was sent	Click Select countries, add the desired countries and click Add.
URL domain in content	The domain names of the URLs available in email content	Click Add domains, enter one or more domain names and click Add.
URL in content	The existence of specified URLs in the email content	Click Add values, provide the URL content to be validated and click Add.

**Attachment**
Parameter	Description	Value
Attachments	To check the malware content in the email attachment.	Select any one of the values given below: Known malware Encrypted attachment Unknown malware
Has attachment	Checks if any file is attached	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Attachment size (in MB)	The size of the attached file in MB	Enter a value between 1 to 40.
Attachment type	The type of attached file	Click Select attachments, add the attachment types and click Add. You can also enable the Show add & import options toggle button ON to add any custom attachment type or import from CSV file.

**Domain Validations**
Parameter	Description	Value
SPF verification	The result of SPF verification	Select the desired authentication result from the available list: Pass Soft fail Neutral Fail None
DKIM verification	The result of DKIM verification	Select the desired authentication result from the available list: Pass Neutral Fail
DMARC verification	The result of DMARC verification	Select the desired authentication result from the available list: Pass Fail

**Spam Validations**
Parameter	Description	Value
Has web bugs	The existence of web bugs in incoming email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has JavaScript content	The existence of javascript content in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has macros	The existence of macros in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Is bulk email	Validates if the email received is a bulk email	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has frame tags	The existence of iframe tags in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has object tags	The existence of object tags in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has embed tags	The existence of embed tags in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has form tags	The existence of form tags in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has shortened URL	The existence of shortened URLs in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.
Has suspicious macros	The existence of suspicious macros in the email content	Select Yes or No from the drop-down.

Once you select the desired conditions, proceed to this step to complete setting up the rule.

**Operating Parameters**
Operators	Description
is	The respective parameter in the incoming email should exactly match the given criteria value.
is not	The respective parameter in the incoming email should not match the given criteria value.
contains	The respective parameter in the incoming email doesn't have to be an exact match but will pass even if it contains the given criteria value.
does not contain	The respective parameter in the incoming email doesn't have to be an exact match but will pass if it does not contain the given criteria value.
begins with	The respective parameter in the incoming email should begin with the given criteria value.
ends with	The respective parameter in the incoming email should end with the given criteria value.
is empty	The respective parameter in the incoming email should be empty.
is not empty	The respective parameter in the incoming email should not be empty.
matches	The respective parameter in the incoming email should match the regular expression pattern.
does not match	The respective parameter in the incoming email should not match the regular expression pattern.

After selecting the Conditions and the Operating parameters, provide the values with respect to the chosen conditions that need to be verified against. Once done, proceed to select the Actions that needs to be performed for the emails with the chosen conditions by selecting the +icon. This will list the corresponding actions pertaining to the primary one selected.

Note:
You can add a maximum of 5 actions to the specified conditions.

Multiple actions

The emails that match the specified conditions will be processed as per the actions defined in the rule. Select the necessary action and, if required, provide a value as given in the table that follows:

Spam marking

**Available Actions**
Action	Description	Value
Move to spam	All the emails that satisfy the given condition/s will be moved to the spam folder of the recipient's inbox.	N/A
Move to spam & Add custom header	Emails will be moved to spam folder along with the custom header value	Click Add header details, provide the header name and value and click Add.
Move to spam & Append text to subject	Emails will be moved to spam folder along with a text appended to the subject	Click Add subject, enter the text which you want to be appended to the subject and click Add.
Move to spam & Show warning message	Emails will be moved to spam folder along with a warning message	Click Add warning message, enter the warning text and click Add.

**Not Spam marking**
Action	Description	Value
Allow email to Mailbox	No action will be taken for the emails that satisfy the given condition/s.	N/A

**Email rejection**
Action	Description	Value
Permanent Reject	All the emails that satisfy the given condition/s will not be accepted by our servers and will be rejected permanently removing the chances of delivery retries	Click Add message (optional), enter the custom error message you want to include and click Add.
Reject without sending bounce email	Email gets rejected, but no bounce email will be sent to the sender	N/A

**Quarantine**
Action	Description	Value
Move to quarantine	Moves the email to Quarantine	N/A

**Email modifiers**
Action	Description	Value
Add custom header	Adds a custom value in the header	Click Add header details, provide the header name and value and click Add.
Append text to subject	Appends a text in the subject	Click Add subject, enter the text which you want to be appended to the subject and click Add.

**Email forwarding**
Action	Description	Value
Add BCC and deliver to recipient	Adds the BCC email address and delivers the email	Click Add BCC addresses, select the desired users to whom you wish to send a copy and click Add.
Forward the email	Forwards a copy of the email to the specified email address	Click Add forward addresses, select the desired users to whom you wish to forward the email and click Add.

Filter

Once the rules are created, they are listed under Incoming Rules home page. You can view and filter the rules based on their status/action. Follow the below steps to perform the filter operation:

Select Filter button on the Incoming Rules home page.
Click the desired status/action from the drop-down. The types of rules based on the status are:
Active Rules - Lists all the rules where the status is marked active.
Inactive Rules - Lists all the rules where the status is marked inactive.
Expired Rules - Lists all the rules where the set expiry date of the specific rule has been lapsed. However, you can modify the expiry date of a rule by hovering over the status and selecting a different date.
Select Action from the Filter drop-down to filter rules based on the available actions.

Rule Processing and Priority

The incoming rules are created to apply specific filters to the incoming emails. These emails are handled based on one or more filters. In such cases, the multiple filters applied are processed according to their priority such that the filters with high importance gets applied before the others for better handling of emails. The types of priority available are:

Filter level priority
Apply To priority

Filter level priority

You can add any number of Incoming Rules to process different types of incoming emails. When there are multiple filters, the sequence of processing will be based on the priority of filters. The filter with the highest priority (1) will take precedence over the filters with lower priority (2). You can drag and drop the rules created in the rules list page to change the order of their execution. Rules are processed based on the following levels:

Reception Level are set to filter all the emails at the authentication level, thereby avoiding incoming volume of traffic.
Content Level are set to filter all the emails based on the content such as email language, or attachment type.
Forwarding Level are based on the email forwarding options that are set as the action for the condition given.

However, you cannot change the order of filter levels, i.e, any rules applied specific to Forwarding Level(Priority 3) cannot be swapped with Reception Level(Priority 1) or Content Level (Priority2). They will always be listed according to their order of levels. Once an email matches the conditions of a particular rule, the actions specified in the rule will be applied to the email. The same email will not be scrutinized against the subsequent rules in the list.

Apply To priority

When an incoming rule is created, you can decide the application/exclusion of the rule to a specific user/group as per your requirement. You need to provide the following applicable details under the Apply To section for the same:

All Users
- Selected users (priority 2)
- Selected groups (priority 4)
Exclude users or groups
- Exclude users (priority 1)
- Exclude groups (priority 3)

However, the application of the selected/excluded users and groups are processed based on their priority. Consider the below cases:

Case 1: If a user is added under Exclude users category, the particular rule is not applicable for this user even when the group he/she is a part of is included under Selected groups. This is because Exclude users has higher priority and is processed first.

Case 2: If a user's group is added under Exclude groups, but the particular user is added to Selected users under All users category, the corresponding incoming rule is still applicable to this user, as the Selected users precedes over Exclude groups in priority.

Case 3: When a user is added to Exclude users category, and no other selection is made under All users, the incoming rule created will still be applicable to all users by default, apart from the one selected under Exclude users.

Modify Incoming Rule

You can modify the existing incoming rules based on your requirements. Follow these steps to edit a rule:

Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select Security & Compliance on the left pane.
Navigate to Rules and select Incoming Rules.
Select the desired rule and click Edit from the top right corner.
Make the desired changes and click Update.

Additionally, you can search and edit the incoming rules based on the rule name, or associated users. Navigate to the search bar on the top right corner and select the contains or applicable to parameters from the listing as per your requirements. Type in a rule name, or select a specific user from the list and press enter. All the incoming rules satisfying the search will be displayed. You can then select the rules from the list and make the required changes.

User-specific incoming rules can be viewed by selecting Users on the left pane of Admin Console. Under Anti-Spam Settings, select Incoming Rules to view the list of incoming rules applicable for that user.

user-rule

Enable or Disable a Rule

To enable or disable a rule, follow these instructions:

Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select Security & Compliance on the left pane.
Navigate to Rules and select Incoming Rules.
Toggle the status button to ON or OFF in order to enable or disable a rule.

Remove Rules

There can be situations where you no longer require a rule or a rule might have expired. In such scenarios, you can remove them using the delete option. Follow these steps to delete a rule:

Log in to Zoho Mail Admin Console and select Security & Compliance on the left pane.
Navigate to Rules and select Incoming Rules.
To remove a rule:
1. Hover over an existing or expired rule and click the delete icon.
2. Alternatively, you can select the desired rules, click Delete on the top menu and choose the required option:
  - Delete selected rules
  - Delete all expired rules
  - Delete all rules
3. Click Delete in the confirmation dialog that appears.

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