Domino Server Mail Rules: Catching Mail Before It Reaches the Inbox

Oct 28, 2026 904 words

Some messages you don’t want landing in a user’s inbox at all: block anything with a certain attachment, divert mail sent to a departed account, keep a copy of a category for the record. You don’t need an agent for this — Domino’s server mail rules apply while the message is still sitting in MAIL.BOX, as the router handles it. They’re a different thing from the rules a user sets in their own mailbox: one is server-side, before the inbox; the other is client-side, after it.

TL;DR

Where to set them: Domino Administrator → Configuration → Messaging → Configurations, edit the Configuration Settings document, go to Router/SMTP → Restrictions and Controls → Rules. The rules live in that Configuration Settings document.
When they run: as the message lands in MAIL.BOX (not at the mailbox), and each message is evaluated only once. That’s the difference from the client-side rules a user sets in a Notes mailbox, which run after the message is in the inbox.
Conditions: pick an item (Sender, Subject, Body, attachment name, Size…) and an operator (contains / does not contain / is / is not / is less than / is greater than); chain with AND/OR, one exception per condition; no wildcards (use contains with a search string, not *); text matching is case-insensitive.
Six actions (one per rule): Journal (copy it, keep routing), Move to database (quarantine it), Don’t accept (reject outright), Don’t deliver (silently delete, or send an NDR), Change routing state (mark HOLD, stuck in MAIL.BOX until an admin acts), Stop processing (skip this message’s later rules).
Two things to know: when a rule blocks a message, Domino doesn’t notify the sender or recipient by default; and HCL says plainly that mail rules are not an anti-virus solution.

Where they live, and when they run

Server mail rules are configured in the Configuration Settings document (official: setting server mail rules): Configuration → Messaging → Configurations, edit the document, go to Router/SMTP → Restrictions and Controls → Rules, and click New Rule. (The same Restrictions and Controls area holds other delivery-layer knobs too, like the maximum message size in delivery controls — mail rules are the “route by rule” piece of it.)

The key is the timing: rules are evaluated as the message is deposited in MAIL.BOX by the router — that is, before it’s delivered to anyone’s inbox. And HCL states “Each message is evaluated only once.” This is the biggest difference from client-side rules:

Server mail rules: server-side, in MAIL.BOX, before the inbox, over all mail that passes through.
Client rules: in a user’s mailbox, after the inbox, only for that one mailbox.

Changing a rule doesn’t take effect immediately — the server has to reload them: automatically about every five minutes, or right away with set rules at the console.

How conditions work

A rule is one or more conditions. Each condition picks a message item (Sender, Subject, Body, attachment name, Size…) and an operator:

Text: contains / does not contain / is / is not.
Numeric (e.g. Size): is less than / is greater than (enter the number as a numeral).

A few practical notes: conditions can be chained with AND / OR, each condition can have one exception; there are no wildcards — HCL’s “Text fields do not support wildcard values,” so use contains with a search string instead of *; and text matching is case-insensitive.

The six actions (one per rule)

When the conditions match, a single action runs (one per rule):

Journal this message: send a copy to the journaling database, then keep routing it normally (a record, no effect on delivery; journaling has to be enabled separately under Router/SMTP → Advanced → Journaling).
Move to database: remove the message from MAIL.BOX and quarantine it in another database (which must already exist) — the classic “drop suspicious mail in a graveyard database.”
Don’t accept message: reject it, with no delivery-failure report from Domino.
Don’t deliver message: the server accepts it but doesn’t deliver — either silently delete, or send an NDR (nondelivery report) back to the sender.
Change routing state: mark the message HOLD, so it stays in MAIL.BOX until an administrator acts. (This is one source of the held mail the mail-routing piece describes — a mail rule setting the routing state to Held.)
Stop processing: skip any of this message’s remaining rules (rules after this one don’t run).

Two things to know first

No notification by default: when a rule blocks a message, HCL is explicit — “Domino does not notify the sender or recipient if a rule prevents a message from reaching its destination” — unless the action itself sends one (e.g. Don’t deliver → Send NDR). So silently blocking mail with a rule leaves both ends unaware.
Not anti-virus: HCL also says plainly, “Mail rules are not intended to serve as an anti-virus solution.” Rules are great for routing by rule, keeping records, quarantining, and blocking specific patterns — but virus protection belongs to a dedicated scanning solution, not mail rules.

Wrap-up

Where: the Configuration Settings document → Router/SMTP → Restrictions and Controls → Rules.
When: as mail lands in MAIL.BOX, each message evaluated once (server-side, before the inbox) — versus client-side mailbox rules.
Conditions: item + operator (contains/is/is less than…), no wildcards (use contains), AND/OR, one exception, case-insensitive.
Actions (one per rule): Journal / Move to database / Don’t accept / Don’t deliver (silently delete or NDR) / Change routing state = HOLD / Stop processing.
Know: no notification to sender/recipient by default; mail rules aren’t anti-virus. Reload a changed rule with set rules or wait ~five minutes.

Sources

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