How do I “block” an email address on MobileMe?

Q:How do I block an email address on MobileMe?

A: Ok, so what I’m going to describe isn’t really blocking in the truest sense of the word. Technically, we are using a server side rule to perform this function and you wouldn’t want to use something like this for a large amount of emails. For that we would recommend a good bayesian Junk mail filter like SpamSeive. But this is an explanation of how to make certain that emails from your ex- (boss, boyfriend, girlfriend, assistant) don’t reach your inbox.

For this example, as mentioned, we are going to be setting up a server side rule to filter a given email address from your Inbox to your Trash folder. This doesn’t delete the message, but it makes it so that it isn’t notifying you of its presence like other new messages. In addition, you can perform a similar function with most email clients, however, as more people are carrying around multiple devices that are accessing their email, it is becoming more important to set up rules like this on servers so that your first line of defense (your mail server, in this case MobileMe) is handling the filtering rather than a later line of defense like a Mail client. In addition, this filter will run independent of your devices so that it isn’t contingent on having your laptop or desktop on to filter your content.

We get requests like this a lot and we are slowly going to be posting how to do things like this which will hopefully empower our users (and clients). However, as always, if you should need assistance, never hesitate to ASK.

Requirements:
  • MobileMe account
  • Email address of the individual you would like to block
  • Pretty much any web browser…

    NOTE: We’ve found some issues with Chrome, but have verified that this procedure works with Firefox and Safari.

Procedure:
  1. Click THIS LINK to access the MobileMe website.
  2. Login using your MobileMe username and password.
  3. Access the webmail application by clicking the “Cloud” icon and selecting the “Mail” icon.
    MobileMe Cloud - Mail Application
  4. Click the “Preferences” icon in the upper-right corner of the Webmail application and select “Rules” from the pull-down menu.
    MobileMe Preferences Menu
  5. The “Rules” Preference panel will appear.
    MobileMe Webmail Rules Preference Panel
  6. Select “Move messages to the trash” in the “Add a Rule…” pull-down menu.
    MobileMe Webmail Move messages to the trash
  7. A new line item will appear in the “Rules” preference panel stating that it will “Move messages from” a given address “to the Trash.” Simply fill in the desired address and click the “Save” button at the end of the line.
    MobileMe Webmail move messages from address to the trash.
  8. Continue to add additional rules for additional addresses. Click the “Done” button when finished adding addresses.
  9. Note that any message coming into your account that matches the rules entered by the user now go directly to the “Trash” folder as prescribed and don’t clutter up your Inbox.
    MobileMe Webmail Inbox/Trash post rule
  10. That’s it. If you have problems with this procedure and it isn’t working correctly make sure you check to make certain there weren’t any typographical errors with the email address entered into the rule.