How to Enable Spam Filters in cPanel
EconomicalHost servers include Apache SpamAssassin™, which scores every incoming message for spam likelihood. A few settings get the balance right between catching junk and keeping real mail.
Step-by-step
- Open Email → Spam Filters in cPanel.
- Ensure "Process New Emails and Mark them as Spam" is on. Marked mail gets ***SPAM*** added to the subject and a score header.
- Understand the threshold. Default score 5 suits most businesses. Lower (3–4) is stricter; higher (6–8) more lenient. Change under Spam Threshold Score.
- Decide on auto-delete. "Move New Spam to a Separate Folder (Spam Box)" keeps suspected spam reviewable in a Junk folder — safer than permanent auto-delete. If you do enable Auto-Delete, set its score higher (e.g. 8+) so only blatant spam is removed.
- Whitelist trusted senders. Show Additional Configurations → whitelist_from — add addresses or *@partnerdomain.com that must never be marked.
- Blacklist persistent offenders with blacklist_from the same way.
- Empty the Spam Box periodically — it counts against your mailbox quota.
💡 Good to know
- Check the Junk/Spam folder weekly at first to catch false positives, then relax.
- Combine with email filters for fine-grained rules on top of the score.
- Inbound filtering does not affect your own sending reputation — for that, see SPF and DKIM.