Restricting Students from Emailing Each Other

[Gongalong]

Hi Folks,

 

We’ve got a small group of students that are timewasting over their school email accounts and I’ve been asked to look specifically at blocking them from sending to each other.

 

All I can think to do is setup rules in Mail Flow (we use Microsoft 365) that moderate any emails they send. Not ideal though, because then someone has to moderate the emails, although I expect the students will get the message quickly.

 

Is there a better way to do it?

 

Thanks

[Boredguy]

Depending on how your student e-mail accounts are formatted, you can setup a rule in Exchange so that any messages from and to internal recipients that match a certain name format are deleted, but it's a classroom management type issue more than IT.

 

I can think of lots of our staff that seem to waste time sending rubbish via e-mail, nevermind the kids.

[TechMonkey]

You can create a mail flow rule to not allow a group to send to a group. We have done this between two separate groups in our AD structure. You would probably have to test whether it allows blocking to itself but I wouldn't see a reason it wouldn't work.

 

EDIT:

Edited January 29, 2021 by TechMonkey

[Gongalong]

@TechMonkey So just to double check, essentially if they're a member of that group (and in our case they will then be sending to a member of the same group), you just block with the message?

[TechMonkey]

Yep. My example uses two different groups but I would think it should work with the same group.

[Gongalong]

Thanks. I've set it up, and will see what happens!

[gabororsi]

Hi,

I tested it with same group. It's working.

[Gongalong]

Seems to be working here also. After all the fuss, surprisingly little traffic.