Setting Up Outclass

Section 1: Overview

NOTE TO POPFILE USERS: While Outclass is based on POPFile's Bayesian classifier, its interface is very different. POPFile users may wonder where their History and Statistics pages have gone (Outclass doesn't use them); on the bright side, they will notice that the re-classifier buttons have now moved directly inside Outlook, making them faster and much more convenient to use. The best advice to you, when migrating from POPFile to Outclass, not to assume too much similarity in how you interact with the two programs; instead of trying to configure Outclass like you would POPFile, read the directions below and set it up as if you were seeing Outclass/POPFile for the first time. In particular, setting up Outclass to sort mail into folders is nothing like setting up POPFile to do the same thing: Outclass doesn't use any kind of filter rules, there is no X-Text-Classifier header, etc. You may find that the migration goes more smoothly if you follow the instructions below from scratch rather than trying to use your POPFile configuration experience as a guide.

Once Outclass is set up, before you attempt to use it you should take a moment to decide how you want to organize your mail. Do you want only spam filtering, which sorts the junk into a junk folder (or Deleted Items), and sends everything else directly into your Inbox? Or do you want to create a more complex system, with different destination folders for mail of different types? The decision you make now isn't final: you can add or remove mail classification categories in Outclass easily at any time. Still, a few moments of advance planning will make your setup simpler, and setting up categories the way you want them right from the start will allow Outclass to learn more quickly and efficiently.

The most effective way to set up Outclass is to work "bottom-up:"

1. First, set up your folders in Outlook

2. Next, start Outclass, and set up your "buckets" (email categories)

3. Next, tell Outclass which Inbox(es) to monitor

4. Finally, associate some or all of your buckets with the Outlook folders you set up in Step 1.

Don't worry if you didn't do things this way the first time you started Outclass: the instructions in Section III will cover how to perform a full setup from scratch at any time you like.

Before we proceed to the instructions, however, it will be useful to know a bit more about how Outclass works; in particular, you should understand what Outclass means by buckets and folders.

Section II: Buckets v. Folders

Outclass classifies mail according to logical categories called buckets. Buckets are categories you set up to match the way you want to sort your mail. Outclass uses a content-based (Bayesian) sorter/classifier, so it makes sense to sort your mail by its contents, "work" v. "personal," for example, or "Project A" v. "Project B". If you just want to sort by sender or subject line, Outclass can do that too, but regular Outlook or Exchange mail filter rules may be more efficient.

The most important distinction between buckets and folders is that buckets are virtual: they have no physical presence in Outlook or Exchange, only inside the Outclass (POPFile) classifier system. Telling Outclass to classify mail into a particular bucket will connect the bucket to the Outclass classifier, allowing it to start learning—but setting up a bucket doesn't automatically accomplish anything in terms of classifying your mail. Instead, after you create a virtual bucket you make it "real" by doing two things:

1. Telling Outclass which emails to sort into that bucket, so that it learns what the bucket is about

2. (optional) Associate the bucket with an Outlook (or Exchange) mail storage folder, so that Outclass can move any messages of that type into the folder you select. You can associate an Outclass bucket with any folder that is visible within your Outlook client, provided you are able to write (save) messages into that folder.

The folder you associate with a bucket doesn't need to have the same name as the bucket—you can direct your ‘junk' bucket to a folder named ‘Sniffles' if you like. Since associating a bucket with a folder is optional, it is also possible to have one or more buckets that are not associated with any particular Outlook/Exchange folder. Any ‘unattached' buckets will simply leave the mail in your regular Inbox. In fact, this is common; for example, by default Outclass sets up an ‘Allowed' category that is not associated with a folder, so that mail you classify as ‘Allowed' will remain in your normal Inbox. For people who only want spam filtering, in fact, ‘Allowed' and ‘Spam' will be the only two Outclass buckets, and their Inbox(es) and a Spam folder will be the only folders with which Outclass works.

Section III: Setting up Outclass, Step-By-Step

Here are the step-by-step instructions for setting up Outclass. If you are a first-time Outclass user, you can proceed directly to the numbered steps. If you are a current Outclass user who wants to ‘start over' in your configuration, you should first do the following:

a. Start Outlook

b. Click Outclass Options on your Outclass Toolbar

c. Delete all of your current Inboxes (note: deleting an Inbox in Outclass doesn't delete any mail: it just deletes the instruction to Outclass to monitor that Inbox). You can delete any Inbox except the default Inbox by highlighting it and clicking ‘delete.' You can't delete a ‘default' Inbox directly, so you need to fool Outclass.

a. Create a new, "dummy" Inbox to monitor, and select any folder as that "Inbox" (any one of your storage folders is fine, but to avoid problems while you're working, don't pick a folder like Deleted Items or Sent Items, where mail might arrive automatically). Don't set up any options for this account—it's just a placeholder.

b. Set your dummy Inbox as the default.

c. Delete your old default Inbox, leaving only the dummy in place

d. Now do the same thing for your buckets: delete every one of them.
NOTE: When you delete a bucket, you are asked if you also want to delete the corpus. You should answer according to what you are trying to do:

a. If you don't want the bucket anymore, or if Outclass is not classifying mail into that bucket reliably, then go ahead and delete the associated corpus.

b. If you plan to recreate the bucket as you continue the setup, then don't delete the corpus, so that you don't throw away everything Outclass has learned.

Now proceed to Step 1.

Step 1. Creating Outlook Folders. As a first step, before you start to configure Outclass you should create in Outlook any folders that you want to use as destinations for your mail. For example, create a ‘Junk' or ‘Spam' folder if you don't have one already—as well as folders for any other Outclass buckets you want to attach to destination folders. Remember that you can direct multiple buckets into a single folder, or into no folder at all, so your folders don't have to exactly mirror your buckets. On the other hand, you cannot split buckets across folders, so if you find yourself wanting to direct one bucket into two folders, you should plan to create two buckets: one for each destination.

You can set up a folder anywhere: inside your Personal Folders; in your IMAP or Exchange mailbox; etc. Outclass can work with subfolders too, so that you could create an ‘Outclass' folder and then create subfolders under ‘Outclass' to serve as destinations for your mail (e.g., ‘Work,' ‘Personal,' etc.). However, doing it this way isn't necessary; in fact, Outclass sets very few restrictions on how you set up your folders—if you can see a folder, and save mail into it, it will work with Outclass. So set up your folders the way you prefer.

NOTE: Microsoft Technical Support officially discourages people from creating subfolders under any Inbox folder, either in Outlook Personal Folders, an IMAP account, or an Exchange Mailbox. Inboxes interact automatically with the mail transport system, and are therefore somewhat fragile: keeping subfolders underneath Inboxes increases that fragility, and is associated statistically with more frequent trouble calls and difficult-to-solve mail problems. Your mileage may vary—but if you want to put all your Outclass destination folders under a common folder, it would seem to be wise to put them under another folder ("Outclass," "Buckets," etc.) rather than under your Inbox.

Step 2. Creating Buckets. The instructions show how to create two buckets—Allowed and Spam—as if you were setting up only junk mail filtering. If you plan more buckets than that, simply repeat Step 2.a. as often as necessary to create all your buckets

a. Create a new bucket by clicking the Add… button under Buckets.

a. Enter a Bucket Name of "spam"

b. Enter a Button Label of "Mark as Spam"

c. Click OK

b. Create another new bucket by clicking the Add… button under Buckets again.

a. Enter a Bucket Name of "allowed"

b. Enter a Button Label of "Mark as Allowed"

c. Click OK

Step 3. "Creating" Inboxes. The phrase is a bit misleading: we're not ‘creating' anything in Outlook; we're just telling Outclass to monitor particular folders for incoming mail to classify. You can tell Outclass to monitor every folder into which you receive mail (your IMAP account Inbox, your Exchange Inbox, your POP3 Inbox in Personal Folders, etc.), provided of course that you want Outclass to classify the mail in that folder.

a. Create a new Inbox by clicking the Add… button under Inboxes.

b. Click the Select Inbox button. By default, your Personal Folders:Inbox should come up selected. Click OK to accept that, or navigate to the particular Inbox you want to monitor and select it, then click OK.

a. You'll notice now that the "For messages delivered to" has changed from N/A to Personal Folders:Inbox (or the Location:Name of the folder you chose).

b. If you are recreating an Outclass configuration and you had to create a ‘dummy' Inbox earlier, now you should delete the dummy Inbox and set this new Inbox as the default.

c. Repeat steps as necessary to monitor additional Inboxes.

Step 4. Assigning Buckets To Inboxes and Folders. Once you've finished setting up Inboxes to monitor, don't close the Create Inbox dialog: it's time to attach buckets to folders. You will notice a series of radio-buttons and a click-button at the bottom of the dialog box. At the moment, they are grayed out: to activate them, you have to highlight one of the buckets in the list. We'll walk through the steps to set up ‘Allowed' and ‘Spam:' just follow the same steps for every bucket you created.

a. In the Buckets list ("If the message belongs to the Bucket:"), click on "allowed"

b. Notice that the bottom section becomes enabled. Select "Move the message to: N/A" (note: you must click this radiobutton to enable moving: just selecting the destination folder alone won't activate the mover.)

c. Click "Select Destination Folder…"

d. Select the same folder that you selected above (Personal Folders:Inbox, or your earlier choice)

e. Click OK

f. Now click the "spam" bucket in the list.

g. Click "Select Destination Folder…"

h. This time, select your "Junk" or "Spam" folder (or, if you're feeling confident and Outclass is already well-trained, your "Deleted Items" folder).

i. Click OK

j. Repeat Steps 4.a-4.e as often as needed to finish assigning all your buckets to folders

k. If you are monitoring more than one Inbox, you need to attach your buckets to each Inbox, so repeat the above steps for each Inbox as well. (note: You don't need to monitor every bucket on every Inbox)

l. Click OK to close the "Monitor a New Inbox" dialog.

m. Click OK to close Outclass Options and save your changes.

Now what have you set up?

o If a message comes into your Inbox on your Personal Folders, it will be analyzed:

§ If the message type is "allowed," move it to Personal Folders:Inbox (in other words, back to itself, i.e., nothing)

§ If the message type is "spam," move it to Personal Folders:Junk (your junk folder that you selected above)

And that's all there is to it. You might be asking why we selected the Inbox as the destination for "allowed" rather than the "Do Nothing" option, since both would appear to produce the same result. The reason is that the "Move To" tells Outclass where the mail belongs no matter where it is sitting at the moment. So if you get a message that is incorrectly identified as spam, and you go to your Junk folder and click "Mark as Allowed" it will automatically get moved back to your Inbox. If you had selected "Do Nothing" however, it would have been marked as allowed (so future messages that look like that would remain in your Inbox) but it would not have been automatically moved back to the Inbox for you.