Exposing SCL (Spam Confidence Level) in Outlook

When making decisions on what SCL levels to set in the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) configuration, it’s useful to see what SCL is stamped on particular mail.  The deployment doc describes how to expose the SCL through an x-scl header when archiving messages in Chapter 6, “Storing the SCL Rating with Archived Messages”.  This allows you to determine the correct settings to set for the Archive directory.  But the SCL property isn’t exposed to the end user when they try to determine why either a non-UCE message was in the junk mail folder, or why a large number of UCE messages aren’t being blocked before they arrive in the Junk-Mail folder.  Just because the property isn’t exposed, doesn’t mean it can’t be though!

The following is an Outlook configuration file provided by Paul Bowden that will allow you to configure Outlook to expose the SCL property.  Copy the SCL.CFG text and save it as SCL.CFG (in the same location as the .ICO files, usually program files\...\office 11\forms\language ID), then follow the instructions below to install it.

SCL.CFG:

;**********The CFG file**********
[Description]
MessageClass=IPM.Note
CLSID={00020D31-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
DisplayName=SCL Extension Form
Category=Standard
Subcategory=Form
Comment=This forms allows the SCL to be viewed as a column
LargeIcon=IPML.ico
SmallIcon=IPMS.ico
Version=1.0
Locale=enu
Hidden=1
Owner=Microsoft Corporation
Contact=Your Name
[Platforms]
Platform1=Win16
Platform2=NTx86
Platform9=Win95
[Platform.Win16]
CPU=ix86
OSVersion=Win3.1
[Platform.NTx86]
CPU=ix86
OSVersion=WinNT3.5
[Platform.Win95]
CPU=ix86
OSVersion=Win95
[Properties]
Property01=SCL
[Property.SCL]
Type=3
NmidInteger=0x4076
DisplayName=SCL
[Verbs]
Verb1=1
[Verb.1]
DisplayName=&Open
Code=0
Flags=0
Attribs=2
[Extensions]
Extensions1=1
[Extension.1]
Type=30
NmidPropset={00020D0C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
NmidInteger=1
Value=1000000000000000
;**********END CFG

1. Go into Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | Custom Forms | Manage Forms
2. Hit the Install button, and choose SCL.CFG …install into your Personal Forms Library
3. Hit OK several times to return to the main Outlook screen
4. Right-click on the Column headings in your Inbox (other any other folder) and choose "Field Chooser"
5. Pull-down the scroll-bar and choose "Forms…"
6. Set focus to your Personal Forms, choose the SCL Extension Form, then click Add
7. Drag and drop the SCL property into your column headings …and voila!

- James Webster