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Outlook Clients Junk Email Filter FAQ
- How does Outlook 2010/2013's Junk Email Filter work?
- How do I set my junk email options?
- How can I filter spam messages?
- Email from my legitimate contacts is being filtered as Junk email. How can I fix this and avoid it in the future?
- How do I add an email sender, domain, or mailing list to the Safe Senders List?
- How do I add an email sender’s domain to the Blocked Senders List?
- How do I delete email from the Junk email folder?
- How can I create a Rule to Filter Email in Outlook 2010?
- Can I report spam directly to Microsoft?
How does Outlook 2010/2013's Junk Email Filter work?
The Junk Email Filter default setting in Outlook 2010/2013 is turned on and set to low to catch the most obvious spam message. User can change the level of protection to make it more or less aggressive. Here are the available options:
- Safe Senders List – Email addresses and domain names in this list are never treated as junk. All names and addresses in the global address list (GAL) in a Microsoft Exchange Server account are automatically considered safe.
- Safe Recipients List – Users can add the mailing lists and distribution lists that they are part of to this list so that they will never be marked as spam.
- Blocked Senders List – Once users add an email address or domain to this list, messages from that source are automatically sent to the Junk Email folder.
- Blocked Top-Level Domains List – To block messages from another country or region, users can add country/region codes to this list.
- Blocked Encodings List – To block messages that contain another character set or alphabet, users can add encodings to this list.
How do I set my junk email options?
- open Outlook and select Mail at the bottom of navigation p
- on the Home tab, click Junk button
- select Junk Email Options…
The Junk Email Options screen displays:
- select the protection level that you want.
- No Automatic Filtering. Mail from blocked senders is still moved to the Junk Email folder Outlook will not apply any automatic filtering. Only messages sent from your Blocked Senders list will be sent to your Junk Email folder.
- Low: Move the most obvious junk email to the Junk Email folder. This feature will be selected by default. Outlook will use a built in filter that will send incoming messages that have a high likelihood of being spam to your Junk Email folder.
- High: Most junk email is caught, but some regular mail may be caught as well. Check your Junk Email folder often. This feature uses an automatic filter that will send most incoming messages that appear to be spam to the Junk Email folder. This filter offers higher protection from spam but may accidentally move legitimate email messages to the Junk Email Folder.
- Safe List Only: Only mail from people or domains on your Safe Senders List or Safe Recipients List will be delivered to you Inbox This is the strictest automatic filter that Outlook offers. Outlook will send incoming email from every sender to your Junk Email folder unless the user has specified otherwise on their Safe Senders or Safe Recipients list.
Within the Options tab, there are additional options to increase the level of junk email protection. The Disable links in phishing messages and Warn me about suspicious domains names options should be selected.
- select your desired options for junk email filtering
Note: Email messages detected by the Junk Email Filter are moved to the Junk Email folder. - click OK to accept all changes
Managing Junk E-mail Folder in Outlook (PDF)
How can I filter spam messages?
Outlook has options to quickly filter selected spam messages.
To manually filter a selected message:
- open Outlook and select Mail at the bottom of navigation pane
- right-click on spam message
- select Junk from short-cut menu
The shortcut menu displays a list of options for quick junk filtering.
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| Tabs | Description |
|---|---|
| Block Sender | Selected message is moved to the junk email folder and will be added to your blocked senders list. |
| Never Block Sender | Selected message is added to your Safe Senders List and will never be treated as Junk Email. |
| Never Block Sender’s Domain | Selected message from sender’s domain (e.g., @nercomp.org, @staples.com), will not be filtered as Junk Email. |
| Never Block this Group or Mailing List | Messages that use a distribution list may have the email address in the To, Cc or Bcc fields of the email you receive. In this case you would add them to the Never Block this Group or Mailing List to ensure that messages are not filtered as junk Email |
- click a filtering option from short-cut menu
Managing Junk E-mail Folder in Outlook (PDF)
Email from my legitimate contacts is being filtered as Junk email. How can I fix this and avoid it in the future?
- click your Junk Email folder
- right-click any messages that you want marked as not junk.
- select Junk and click Not Junk from shortcut menu
Messages marked as not junk are moved to your Inbox or to the folder they were previously in. If you have more than one email account, the message will be moved to the Inbox or folder of the active email account.
How do I add an email sender, domain, or mailing list to the Safe Senders List?
- right-click email message to be added to the Safe Senders List
- select Junk and click either Never Block Sender, Never Block Sender’s Domain or Never Block this Group or Mailing List
Managing Junk E-mail Folder in Outlook (PDF)
How do I add an email sender to the Blocked Senders List?
- right-click email message to be added to the blocked Senders List
- select Junk and click Block Sender
Managing Junk E-mail Folder in Outlook (PDF)
How do I delete email from the Junk email folder?
- click your Junk Email folder
- right-click Junk Email folder and click Empty Folder
Emptying the Junk Email folder or deleting an item moves the item to the Deleted Items folder. You can permanently delete an item by selecting the item and then pressing SHIFT+DELETE.
How can I create a Rule to Filter Email in Outlook 2010?
Rules in Outlook allow you to manage the email arriving in your Inbox. You can create a Rule to have Outlook automatically place all incoming email from a distribution list or person into a specific folder.
Managing Junk E-mail Folder in Outlook (PDF)
Can I report spam directly to Microsoft?
The Microsoft Junk Email Reporting Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook lets you report junk email directly to Microsoft.
To Report spam messages:
- open Outlook and select Mail at the bottom of navigation pane
- right-click on spam message
- select Junk from short-cut menu
- click Report Junk
The Microsoft Junk Email Reporting Add-in dialog box displays:
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- click Yes
The selected spam messages will be submitted to Microsoft for analysis. You will receive an automated reply for your spam submission from the Microsoft Forefront Online Security, Spam Analysis Department.