Colorado State University

On occasion, CNSIT receives questions regarding the possibility of a message being caught by an incoming e-mail filter.  The symptom for the end user is usually that a message they have expected hasn’t been delivered.  Typically, there are 3 options for the message’s absence.

Junk Folder on the Client

The first place to check is in a Junk/Clutter folder on the E-mail Client program in use.  Clients include (but are not limited to) MS Outlook, Thunderbird, and Mac Mail.  Each has slightly different ways of handling mail it determines as junk, but often act in a similar fashion by dropping these messages in a “Junk” folder.  Check there first!

O365 Quarantine

The next possibility is the O365 Quarantine, which can catch suspicious e-mail before it ever reaches your inbox and e-mail client.  ACNS has created the following page with instructions on releasing quarantined e-mail.  Often, you will also want to add these false positives to your safe sender, and luckily directions for doing so are also listed below:

http://help.mail.colostate.edu/tt_o365_release-quarantine.aspx

Check with Sender

The next option is that the sender simply sent the message to the wrong e-mail address.  If an message is undeliverable, the sender should receive a “bounce” message indicating the issue, along with the reason it was undeliverable.  It may be useful to have a copy of this forwarded to IT staff on either end to help diagnose the issue.

If all else fails…

If the messages are still unaccounted for, we can ask the ACNS E-mail team on campus to look into this using their administrative tools.  They can be reached by e-mailing help@colostate.edu with a full description of the problem, along with all steps taken (checked junk/quarantine, confirmed correct address etc).