Add an Email Disclaimer to All External Emails
In this first example, I’ll create an email disclaimer rule that applies to all emails received from an external sender (outside the organization). This data is taken from this link
1.Sign into Exchange Admin Centre
Go to https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com and sign in.
2. Add Mail Flow Rule
Go to Mail Flow, then Rules. Click on Add a Rule then Create a new rule.
3. Set Rule Conditions
Name – Give the rule a descriptive name. For example, Add disclaimer to external emails.
Apply this rule if – select The Sender and then is external/internal and select Outside the organization. The sender is located will show NotInOrganization.
Do the following – select apply a disclaimer to the message and then select prepend a disclaimer. Click on enter text.
We are going to use simple HTML code to add color and change the font on the message to make it stand out from the rest of the text in the email.
You can copy and paste the HTML code below:
<p><div style="background-color:#FFD700; width:100%; border-style: solid; border-color:#800000; border- width:1pt; padding:2pt; font-size:10pt; line-height:12pt; font-family:'Arial'; color:Black; text-align: left;"> <span style="color:#A52A2A"; <b><strong>CAUTION:</span> This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or on clicking links from unknown senders.</div><br></p>
Where it says Select one if the disclaimer can’t be inserted, you are going to choose wrap.
Your rule should look like the below picture:
Click Next.
4. Set Rule Settings
The Rule Settings. Place in the priority that you want it to be in your transport rules list. The Rule mode should be Enforce. Make sure you don’t choose to stop processing more rules.
Click Next
Verify your settings and then click Finish. It will say Transport rule created successfully when complete. Click Done
5.Enable Rule
Now you will need to enable your rule. Click on the rule you just created. Toggle the rule to Enabled.
It could take a couple of hours for the rule to start showing at the top of emails.
The text will show at the top of user emails like below.
Append Disclaimer to All Outgoing Emails
For this example, we are going to apply a simple legal disclaimer on ALL outgoing messages. Appending a disclaimer will put it at the bottom of the email like the picture below.
These steps are very similar to the first example. I’m only going to show the differences, refer to the first example if you need complete steps.
Apply this rule if – The recipient is external/internal and select “NotinOrganization”. Add an additional rule and select the sender is external/internal and select “InOrganization.
Do the following – Select apply a disclaimer to the message and select append a disclaimer.
Here is the HTML code for the append disclaimer.
<html><body style='font-size: small;text-align:justify;'><p><u>DISCLAIMER:</u><br />The contents of this e-mail and any attachment(s) are confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. It shall not attach any liability to the originator or ITCybertek or its affiliates. Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of ITCybertek or its affiliates. Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and / or publication of this message without the prior written consent of the author of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error please delete it and notify the sender immediately. Before opening any mail and attachments please check them for viruses and defects. </p></body></html>
Now we want to add a condition so that the disclaimer isn’t applied to messages that already have it, such as when you are replying to someone. Under Except if, choose The subject or body and then select subject or body matches these text patterns. Click on Enter words.
Put a phrase from your disclaimer. In my case, I am going to add Legal Notice as the words since that is in my disclaimer. Enter the words and click Add and then save at the bottom.
Your rule should look similar to this:
Once you have configured your rule, click Next.
Review rule settings and click next. Then click finish.
Enable the rule by clicking on the rule and then toggle to enabled.
Add Email Disclaimer to Emails With Specific Words
To expand on the basic rule above, you can apply this rule to certain emails based on the wording of the email. For example, if you only want to apply a disclaimer to emails that have specific words, you can add another condition by clicking the + sign to the right of the Apply this rule if*.
Under the And, select The subject or body and then select subject or body matches these text patterns. As an example, we are going to apply this rule if we get a lot of phishing emails that say “Update your password”. To specify this, click on Enter words.
Enter the words update your password and click add. Then click Save.
Now your rule would look like below. This will apply the disclaimer to all emails sent from outside the organization that has the phrase update your password but will not apply the Tag when sending to the domain trustthisdomain.com.
