Outlook: Junk Mail Filter

The Outlook Junk Email Filter doesn’t stop delivery of junk email messages, but does the next best thing—it moves potential spam to the Junk Email folder. Check out some of the tutorials we have for managing your junk e-mail.

  • Moving Junk Mail Back to your Inbox

    If you find a message that isn’t junk, drag it back to the Inbox or any folder. You can also mark the item as not junk by doing the following:

    1. Click Home
    2. Select Junk or select the Junk icon.
    3. Click Not Junk.

    Select Not Junk Mail

  • Setting the Automatic Filtering

    By default, the Junk Email Filter is turned on and the protection level is set to No Automatic Filtering. You can make the filter more aggressive by changing the level of protection that it provides. The Junk Email Filter evaluates each incoming message based on several factors. These can include the time when the message was sent and the content of the message.

    To change the options for the Junk Email Filter, do the following:

    1. Click Home
    2. Select Junk or select the Junk icon.
    3. Click Junk Mail Options.

    Select Junk Mail Options

    In the Junk Mail options,

    1. Choose the level of protection you want.
      1. No Automatic Filtering: Although this turns off the automatic Junk E-mail Filter, messages are still evaluated by using the domain names and email addresses in your Blocked Senders List. (Note: If you want to turn off the Junk E-mail Filter, you must also remove names form the Junk E-mail Filter lists.)
      2. Low: If you don't receive many junk messages, or want to filter only the messages that are the most obvious junk, select this option.
      3. High: If you receive lots of junk messages, but don’t want to restrict messages from senders on your safe lists, select this option. We recommend you occasionally check the Junk E-mail: folder to make sure that a message you wanted isn’t moved in error.
      4. Safe Lists Only: This is the most restrictive option. Any message that is sent neither from someone on your Safe Senders List or to a mailing list on your Safe Recipients List, is classified as junk.
    2. Select Apply if the level of protection was changed.
    3. Select OK.

    Junk Mail Options

  • Junk Email Filter Lists

    While the Junk Email Filter checks your incoming messages automatically, Junk Email Filter Lists let you control what is considered spam. You can add names, email addresses and domains to these lists so the filter doesn’t check messages from sources you trust, or blocks messages that arrive from specific email addresses and domains you don't know or trust.

    Safe Senders List
    Email addresses and domain names in the Safe Senders List are never treated as junk email, regardless of the content of the message. You can add your Contacts and other correspondents to this list. If you use a Microsoft Exchange Server account, all names and addresses in the global address list (GAL) are automatically considered safe.

    Safe Recipients List
    If you belong to a mailing list or a distribution list, you can add the list sender to the Safe Recipients List. Messages sent to these email addresses or domain names are never treated as junk, regardless of the content of the message.

    Block Senders List
    You can easily block messages from particular senders by adding their email addresses or domain names to the Blocked Senders List. When you add a name or email address to this list, Outlook moves any incoming message from that source to the Junk Email folder. Messages from people or domain names that appear in this list are always classified as junk, regardless of the content of the message.

    International Blocked Top-Level Domains List
    To block unwanted email messages from another country/region, you can add country/region codes to the Blocked Top-Level Domains List. For example, checking the CA [Canada], US [United States], and MX [Mexico] boxes in the list blocks messages from email addresses that end in .ca, .us, and .mx.

    International Blocked Encodings List
    To block unwanted email messages that appear in another character set or alphabet, you can add encodings to the Blocked Encodings List.