[Update]: This article was first published on September 7, 2015. It was updated to reflect the current UI of the program and the latest developments in Exchange Server.
While some people think that emoji are a must in everyday email communication, others see them as unprofessional and juvenile. Consequently, some companies want to get rid of emoticons to retain a more formal style. Unfortunately, Exchange Server does not provide sufficient tools to filter out or replace unwanted strings of characters. The only way through is to use a third-party solution.
CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro is a centrally managed tool that allows you to control email flow on on-premises Exchange. Its main service is deployed directly on the server’s communication pipeline and requires only a few touches from an administrator to be configured and start working. This feature-rich toolbox allows users to swiftly modify incoming and outgoing messages by simply setting up appropriate rules. Creating a rule to eliminate emoji from your Exchange email is a piece of cake.
1) After launching the program, the main view appears. Click the Add button below LIST OF RULES. There are several out-of-the-box presets for the most common rules used by administrators, but this time let’s click New rule (clean).
2) On the General tab, name your rule and optionally enter some comments.
3) Since you want to remove emojis from each and every email, skip the Conditions and Exceptions tabs without configuring any rules, and jump straight to the Actions tab.
4) Now, it’s time to set up the action that will remove emoji from emails. Click the Add button in the List of actions area and choose Remove keywords from the provided set of options.
5) On the right-hand side, in the Action definition – Remove keywords area, click the Add button, and the Add keyword window will pop up. In the Keyword/phrase text field, type characters that make up a given emoticon, making sure that the Remove from: Body and subject option is selected. Click OK to confirm and add the first emoji to be removed from all emails to the list.
6) By repeating step 5, you can add as many emoticons as you want. You can also use the Win + ; key combination to add “modern” emoji, like 😁 or 💩.
7) Once you’ve added all the items you desire to eliminate from email communication, click Submit changes in the top left-hand corner of the program’s window to save all the changes.
Managing customized rules for your Exchange Server’s mail flow is one of the many features CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro is equipped with. The program offers a wide range of possibilities which include personalization of email signatures and disclaimers, adding marketing banners and images to emails, managing attachments, scanning for sensitive content, adding an unsubscribe mechanism, and much more.
