How to set up email filters in webmail on a Plesk server

Kuzma Ivanov

Updated February 26, 2026 07:56

Plesk for Windows kb: how-to Plesk for Linux

Applicable to:

Plesk for Linux
Plesk for Windows

Question

How to set up email filters in webmail?
How to organize emails in folders in webmail?

Answer

Roundcube webmail (Linux)

Log in to webmail.
Go to to Settings > Filters > click Create to create a new filter.

Set the following:

Input a Filter name.
Choose a Scope for the filter to select whether the filter applies to all rules, any rule, or all messages (if no rules are set).
Under Rules, specify the conditions that incoming messages must meet in order for the desired action to be executed
Under Actions, define what happens to emails that match the filter (such as moving them to a folder)

Note: To apply the rules to existing emails, visit this KB article.

Rules for Filters

Rules	Definition
Subject	Subject of the email.
To	Name of recipient.
From	Name of sender.
Body	Body of the email.
Size	Size of the email file. It is possible to define the logical condition in various units: B (bytes), KB (kilobytes), MB (megabytes) and GB (Gigabytes)
Date	Chosen date.
Current Date	Date of email reception.
String	Allows you to filter a string of emails.
Message	Allows you to filter emails that are duplicates or those that are not.

Actions for Filters

Action	Definition
Move message to	Choose the folder in which the incoming email will be stored. The folder must have been created beforehand.
Copy message to	Choose the folder in which the incoming email will be copied (a copy will be kept in the Inbox).
Redirect message to	Define the name of the recipient to whom the incoming email should be automatically redirected.
Send message copy to	Define the name of the recipient to whom the incoming email should be automatically copied.
Discard with message	Enter the reason why the email will be automatically rejected. Caution: use with caution to avoid triggering endless exchanges of self-replying e-mails
Reply with message	Justify an absence and send an automatic reply to the sender of the incoming email.
Delete message	Define the rules that ensure that certain emails are systematically deleted.
Set flags to the message	Define the existing flags to be used for emails from a given filter.
Add flags to the message	List the flags to be added to filtered incoming emails. If a filter was previously applied to the message, the absence of a filter here will not overwrite the previous message.
Remove flags from the message	Set the existing flags to be removed for emails from a given filter.
Set variable	NOTE : The meaning of this action is poorly documented by the designers of Roundcube. Therefore, its definition should be read with the usual caveats. Define a filter variable that obeys certain rules. Give it a name and the value of the variable, specifying the modifiers. For example, here, the variable called “Shift” checks whether the subject of an incoming message has an uppercase T as its first character and, if this is the case, the message is moved to Folder 1.
Send notification	Define, in the notification target, the email of the person who should receive the notification when filtered emails are received.
Keep message in inbox	Direct an incoming message to the inbox if an already defined rule could have potentially directed it elsewhere.
Stop evaluating rules	Interrupt the consultation of the rules.

MailEnable Webmail (Windows Server)

Setting up filters in MailEnable webmail is only available in MailEnable Enterprise edition. Plesk ships Standard edition by default, so this functionality is not available out of the box.