How to determine why the Sender Policy Framework spam filter blocked or allowed a message

Answer

If you are questioning why an email was blocked or allowed by the Sender Policy Framework spam filter and would like more information, you can find further details in the log file for that filter. Use the following procedure to find the log and information regarding your message within it, and then use the examples below to interpret why the message was either blocked or allowed:

1. Find the message ID of the email in question by either gathering it from the headers of the message itself, or by looking for it in the MailEssentials Dashboard > Logs > Details tab
2. Open the ase_spf.gfi_log file in notepad from  ..\GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\DebugLogs
   • This log is for the Sender Policy Framework Filter Module and corresponds to the Configuration > Anti-Spam > Anti Spam Filters > Sender Policy Framework in the interface
3. Do a search for the Message ID from the dashboard or the email headers
   • Note: The Message IDs have been removed from the example log files below
   • Note: The bolded lines are the important ones in the log files for determine what has happened and why

Email was allowed by the module:
 

• The Received-SPF will change depending on what is found in the SPF record
• If an email shows as whitelisted, remove it from the Exclusions list in the SPF Filter. All other issues must be resolved by the sender updating the SPF record.

Email was blocked by the module:
 

Module is disabled: