How to use Outlook's spam folder to filter out unwanted messages or stop emails from going to it

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Outlook

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Modern email communication would be virtually impossible without the humble spam folder; many people get more spam each day than legitimate messages, and so automatic spam filtering is a blessing. But occasionally, useful and important email gets sent to spam by mistake, so it can be handy to know how to find the Outlook spam folder and how to stop email from being routed there automatically.

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How to find your Outlook spam folder on desktop

1. Start the Outlook app on your computer desktop.

2. In the navigation pane on the left, scroll to the email account you're interested in.

3. Find and click on the folder labeled Spam. All the emails here have been automatically designated as spam by Outlook's spam filter.

Quick tip: Each email account in Outlook has its own spam folder. Some corporate email accounts do not have a spam folder because all spam is filtered at the server and never gets to your computer.

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How to find your Outlook spam folder on mobile

1. Start the Outlook app on your iPhone or Android.

2. Tap the account icon at the top left of the screen. A pop-out menu will appear.

3. In the navigation pane on the left, tap the account icon you want to see. The menu will close.

4. Tap the account icon at the top left of the screen to get the pop-out menu to appear again.

5. Find and click on the folder labeled Spam. All the emails here have been automatically designated as spam by Outlook's spam filter

Quick tip: For some email accounts, you might find that the spam folder is labeled Junk.

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How to block senders in Outlook

Outlook doesn't give you many tools to manage spam in the mobile app — the best you can do is to move messages out of the spam folder and back to the inbox or some other folder — but you have a lot of options in the desktop app.

1. Start the Outlook app on your computer desktop and select the email account you're interested in.

2. Find an unwanted email in your inbox that should be automatically routed to your spam folder.

3. Make sure your ribbon is set to the Home tab and then click Junk.

4. In the drop-down menu, choose Block Sender. In the future, all messages from that email address will be automatically sent to the spam folder.

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How to mark email as 'not spam' in Outlook

1. Start the Outlook app on your computer desktop and select the email account you're interested in.

2. Find and click on the folder labeled Spam.

3. Click an email that should not be marked as spam.

4. Make sure your ribbon is set to the Home tab and then click Junk.

In the drop-down menu, choose the option that best describes how you want to deal with this message:

dave june

Dave Johnson Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.