---
sourceDocument: Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Administration
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/platform-administration

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Administration

ft:clusterId :

    - platadm

bundleId :

    - platadm

workflow :

    - Platform


---

# Email filters

# Email filters {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read
Summarize  
![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI  
This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.  

## Summary of Email Filters

Email filters enable you to manage inbound emails by specifying which emails to ignore or redirect to specific mailboxes.
Ignored emails are stored in your instance but are not processed, allowing you to access them via the Email \[sysemail\] record.
Show full answer Show less  

## Key Features

* **Default Email Filters:** The following filters are pre-configured and accessible via System Mailboxes \> Administration \> Filters:
  * **Ignore VCAL:** Disregards emails with vCalendar requests, preventing unnecessary incident creation from responses.
  * **Ignore Header:** Filters out emails with specific headers, overriding the glide.pop3.ignoreheaders property.
  * **Junk Email - Sender Equals Recipient:** Moves emails sent by the same user as the SMTP user to the Junk folder.
  * **Ignore Subject:** Ignores emails with specified phrases in the subject, overriding the glide.pop3.ignoresubjects property.
  * **Move Spam to Junk Folder:** Transfers emails marked as spam (identified by X-ServiceNow-Spam-Status:Yes) to the Junk folder.
* **Filter Actions:** When configuring filters, you can choose how the system should respond, such as marking emails as ignored or moving them to the Junk folder.
* **Email Filter Script Include:** The EmailUtils script includes functions to determine the presence of vCalendar in response emails.
* **Spam Scoring and Virus Scanning:** Emails are assessed for spam likelihood and infected attachments, with appropriate headers assigned for filtering.

## Key Outcomes

By using email filters, you can effectively manage your inbox, minimize noise from unwanted emails, and enhance your instance's efficiency. Spam scoring and virus scanning mechanisms help ensure that your email environment remains secure and functional. For further customization, you can create custom email filters tailored to your organization's specific needs.  
Specify which inbound emails to ignore or move to a particular mailbox.
When an email is ignored, the email is saved to your instance but is not
processed. You can access an ignored email by viewing its Email \[sys_email\] record.

The Email Filters (com.glide.email_filter) plugin is active by default for releases after
Kingston, for releases before Kingston, it needs to be activated, for more information see
[Activate email filters](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/PYLWVZEPWZAqE_wLkJj97w "Administrators can activate the Email Filters plugin (com.glide.email_filter).").

## Default email filters

By default, the following filters are available from the System MailboxesAdministrationFilters module:  
{#c_EmailFilters__table_q4w_5vt_jq__entry__2}

| Filter | Description |
|-|-|
| Ignore VCAL | Ignores all email containing vCalendar requests. This filter prevents [inbound email actions](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/jgDDyP_KVTlRQFYHIoH46g "Define an inbound email action to script how the system responds to an inbound email.") from creating unnecessary incident records when the instance receives a response to sent email. vCalendar requests in email responses are identified by the EmailUtils script include. |
| Ignore header | Ignores email that contains specific headers. This filter overrides the glide.pop3.ignore_headers property. |
| Junk email - sender equals recipient | Filters out emails that are from the same user as the SMTP user to the Junk folder. |
| Ignore subject | Ignores email with specific terms or phrases in the subject line. This filter overrides the glide.pop3.ignore_subjects property. This filter might not apply to emails arriving from unknown users. Unknown users can be locked out. |
| Move spam to junk folder | Moves email identified as spam to the Junk folder. This filter checks for the value of the ServiceNow spam header. If the header is `X-ServiceNow-Spam-Status:Yes`, the filter moves the email to the Junk folder |
[Table 1. Default email filters]

{#c_EmailFilters__table_q4w_5vt_jq}  
Note:  
Filter action should be configured to indicate how the system should react when the conditions of this filter evaluate to true. The two choices in the base system are: Mark as Ignored and Move to Junk. You can use the Action script to perform additional email tasks.

To learn more about enabling spam scoring and filtering, see [Email spam scoring and filtering
(instance security hardening)](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=sc-email-spam-scoring-and-filtering&version=australia&pubname=australia-platform-security&ft:locale=en-US) in Instance Security Hardening
Settings.

## Email filter script include

Email filters use a script include called `EmailUtils` that contains a simple
utility function to determine if `vCalendar` is in the body of the response
email. The results of this query are used in a condition script in the Ignore VCAL email filter.

## Spam scoring and virus scanning

Every message sent through email servers is assessed for the likelihood of being spam. Based
on this assessment, the instance adds headers to each message that can be used for filtering
within the customer instance using the Email Filters plugin.

The system also adds the `X-ServiceNow-Virus:INFECTED` header to an email
that contains one or more virus-infected attachments. The system ignores the email.

Spam scoring and virus scanning are available only for instances that use the ServiceNow
email infrastructure. For more information on spam scoring and filtering, see [KB0549426](https://support.servicenow.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0549426).
* **[Create an email filter](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/DYUuF1irMH9rABgSYNlI9w)**   
  You can create email filters to apply a custom action script or filter actions when email matches your filter's conditions.

**Related tasks**   

* [Create an email filter](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/DYUuF1irMH9rABgSYNlI9w "You can create email filters to apply a custom action script or filter actions when email matches your filter's conditions.")

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