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Global Email Filters apply to every mailbox on your cPanel account. Mail is checked against these rules before being delivered to a specific mailbox. They’re useful for blanket policies you want enforced regardless of which address mail is sent to. Open it from cPanel home → Email → Global Email Filters.
Global Email Filters page with rule list and Create button

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When to use global vs per-mailbox

Use Global filters whenUse Email Filters when
You want the rule to apply to every address on the accountThe rule applies to one mailbox only
You’re blocking obvious spam patterns (subject lines, senders)You’re sorting your inbox into folders
You’re enforcing organization-wide policyThe owner of the mailbox sets their own rules
A common pattern: a global filter discards mail from a known-bad domain across the whole account, while individual mailboxes have their own filters for personal sorting.

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Create a rule

1

Click Create a New Filter

Top of the page.
2

Name the filter

Helps you identify it later. Something like “Discard newsletter from old vendor”.
3

Build the condition

Pick a header (From, Subject, To, Body, etc.), a comparison (contains, matches regex, begins with), and the value to match.Add multiple conditions if needed. Combine them with And (all must match) or Or (any can match).
4

Pick the action

Common actions:
  • Discard message — silently drop the mail. Sender doesn’t know.
  • Redirect to email — forward to another address.
  • Fail with message — bounce with a custom error.
  • Deliver to folder — drop into a specific IMAP folder (e.g. INBOX.Spam).
  • Pipe to a program — hand off to a script (advanced).
5

Save and test

Use the Filter Test field below the filter list to paste an example message and verify the rule matches before relying on it in production.

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Tips

  • Test before you trust. A wrong condition can silently discard legitimate mail. The Filter Test box on the same page lets you paste a real message and check what would happen.
  • Order matters. Filters are evaluated top-down. Use the up/down arrows to reorder when one rule depends on another (e.g. a “tag as spam” rule before a “discard if tagged” rule).
  • Regex carefully. Filter rules support regex on headers and body. Powerful, but easy to over-match. Prefer “contains” or “begins with” when you can.

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