How do I stop emails going to junk in Outlook?
Rescue the email with Not junk, then add the sender to Safe senders so future mail stays out of Junk. Microsoft's page on mail going to Junk by mistake gives both steps for Outlook.com, and its Safe Senders page says the list stops messages from known addresses or domains being moved to your Junk Email folder. The buttons differ by app (all from Microsoft Support and Microsoft Learn, checked 4 Nov 2026):
| Outlook app | Rescue this email | Keep the sender out of Junk |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook.com | Junk Email folder, select the message, It's not junk | Safe Senders settings, Add safe sender, OK, Save |
| New Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web | On a work account: select it in Junk Email, Report, Not junk | Settings, Mail, Junk email, Safe senders and domains, Add safe sender |
| Classic Outlook for Windows | Home tab, Junk, Not Junk | Home tab, Block, Never Block Sender |
| Outlook for iPhone and Android | Open the message, More actions, Move to Inbox | Microsoft's mobile page covers moving only, so add the safe sender on the web |
| Microsoft 365 quarantine | security.microsoft.com/quarantine, Release | Allow sender, which adds them to your Safe Senders list |
What are the exact steps in each Outlook app?
Outlook.com
Open your Junk Email folder, select the messages you want to keep, and select It's not junk. Then open your Safe Senders settings: under Safe senders and domains, select Add safe sender, enter the address or domain, then select OK. For a newsletter, use Add safe mailing list on the same page. Then select Save.
New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web
Microsoft's junk filtering page for new Outlook and Outlook on the web says: select Settings, then Mail, then Junk email. Under Safe senders and domains, select Add safe sender, enter the address or domain, select OK, then Save. Microsoft's block and unblock page notes that new Outlook doesn't support blocking senders for third-party accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud; manage those with the provider.
Classic Outlook for Windows
Microsoft's junk-review page for classic Outlook says: open Junk Email, click the message, then on the Home tab click Junk, then Not Junk. The message goes back to the folder it came from, usually the Inbox, and you might be asked whether to add the sender to Safe Senders. You can only mark one message at a time. Microsoft's newer block page calls the same Home tab button Block, so use whichever your ribbon shows. To add a sender with no message, go to Home, Block, Junk E-mail Options, then the Safe Senders tab, and click Add. Two boxes on that tab help: Also trust e-mail from my Contacts, and Automatically add people I e-mail to the Safe Senders List.
Outlook for iPhone and Android
Microsoft's mobile page gives two ways: open the message, tap More actions, then Move to Inbox; or select messages in the list, tap Move and pick a folder. On a Microsoft 365 work account, Outlook for iOS 4.2511 or later and Outlook for Android 4.2446 or later have the built-in Report button, which includes Not junk, if your admin has turned on user reporting with the built-in Report button.
Don't leave mail in Junk for long. Microsoft's pages give different windows: the block page says email is removed from Junk Email after 14 days in Outlook.com and new Outlook, the junk-by-mistake page says between 10 and 30 days, and the junk filtering page says 30 days. Checking more often than every 10 days covers all three.
How do I remove an address from junk mail?
Take it off your Blocked senders list. Microsoft's page on the built-in Report button says that when you report a message as junk with that button, the sender is automatically added to your Blocked Senders list. The block page says mail from addresses or domains on that list goes directly to your Junk Email folder.
- Outlook.com, Outlook on the web and new Outlook: Settings, Mail, Junk email, then select the address or domain in the blocked list and select the delete icon.
- Classic Outlook: Home, Block, Junk E-mail Options, the Blocked Senders tab, then select the name and click Remove.
Then add the sender to Safe senders, the order Outlook.com's junk-by-mistake page gives. The block page says the blocked and safe senders lists can hold up to 10,000 addresses or domains, and suggests blocking domains rather than single addresses if you need more.
How do I release spam emails in Outlook?
Release it from quarantine in the Microsoft Defender portal. On Microsoft 365 work and school mailboxes, some spam is held in quarantine rather than Junk. Microsoft's quarantine guide for users (last updated 10 Aug 2026) gives these steps:
- Go to security.microsoft.com/quarantine, or Email & collaboration, Review, Quarantine, then the Email tab.
- Select the message, then Release (or Release email in the details flyout).
- In the flyout, tick Report message as having no threats if that applies, then select Release message.
If Release is greyed out, Microsoft says that's expected: your organisation's quarantine policy may only let you request release, which an admin approves or denies. By default, messages quarantined as high confidence phishing, as malware or by mail flow rules are visible only to admins. Messages are deleted after the date in the Expires column and can't be recovered after that. A released message arrives with the re-delivery time as its timestamp, so look for it at the top of your Inbox. The Allow sender action on the same page adds the sender to your mailbox's Safe Senders list.
Why doesn't Safe Senders always work?
Because the mail server can filter before your list counts. Microsoft's Outlook Web App junk settings page warns that the server hosting your mailbox may have junk filtering settings that block messages before they reach your mailbox. Microsoft's pages list these cases:
| Situation | What Microsoft's pages say | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Outlook on an Exchange or Exchange Online mailbox | Changes to the Safe Senders list "will not be recognized by Exchange or Exchange Online" (block page) | Contact your admin, as the page suggests |
| The anti-spam policy action is quarantine | Safe Senders domain entries aren't honoured; email address entries are, unless the message is malware or high confidence phishing (allowlists page) | Add the exact address, not the domain |
| Malware or high confidence phishing | Always quarantined, whatever allowlist you use | An admin reviews it; the sender fixes the cause |
| The sender is also on your Blocked senders list | Blocked entries are honoured and those messages go to Junk Email | Remove the block first |
For admins, the same allowlists page ranks allow entries in the Tenant Allow/Block List first and Outlook Safe Senders third, and warns that Safe Senders create a high risk of attackers delivering mail that would otherwise be filtered. Microsoft's Tenant Allow/Block List page offers two routes: submit the blocked message on the Submissions page as I've confirmed it's clean and select Allow this message (required to override malware and high confidence phishing verdicts), or add the address on the Domains & addresses tab. By default, allow entries are removed 45 days after the filters determine the sender is clean.
Why does my email go to junk in Outlook?
Read the recipient's copy of the message headers: they record why Microsoft filtered it. To get them, a recipient selects More actions, then View, then View message details in new Outlook, Outlook on the web or Outlook.com; in classic Outlook they open the message and click File, then Properties, per Microsoft's message headers page.
If a guide tells you to read the SCL number, skip it. Microsoft's anti-spam headers page says that in cloud organisations it "doesn't determine whether the message is identified as spam or the action taken on it", and to use the CAT and DIR values instead. What to look for in the X-Forefront-Antispam-Report and Authentication-Results lines:
| Header value | What it means | Sender's fix |
|---|---|---|
| SFV:SPM with CAT:SPM | Spam verdict; delivered to Junk Email by default (false-positive guide) | Fix authentication and complaint sources; ask the recipient to report Not junk |
| CAT:HSPM | High confidence spam; quarantined by default | Same fixes; the recipient may need to release it |
| CAT:BULK, or BCL 7 to 9 | Likely caught by the bulk threshold, which defaults to 7 | Send fewer bulk-style messages; the recipient's admin can raise the threshold |
| SFV:BLK | The sender is on the recipient's Blocked Senders list | Ask them to remove you (steps above) |
| compauth=fail, reason 001 | No authentication records published, or weak ones (SPF ~all or ?all, or DMARC p=none) | Publish SPF and DKIM for your domain, then DMARC |
| compauth=fail, reason 000 | DMARC failed and your policy is quarantine or reject | Find the service sending as you that fails DMARC |
| SFV:SFE | The recipient's Safe Senders list let it through | Nothing to fix |
What should senders fix first for Outlook?
On Microsoft 365, switch on DKIM for your own domain. Microsoft's DKIM setup page says no DKIM signing currently happens for outbound mail from custom domains until you configure it; only the onmicrosoft.com domain is signed automatically. In the Defender portal, open the Email authentication settings page (security.microsoft.com/authentication), then the DKIM tab. Try the toggle for your domain, note the two CNAME records the domain's details flyout shows, create them at your registrar, then turn on Sign messages for this domain with DKIM signatures. Our DKIM checker tries selector1 and selector2, the common Microsoft 365 selectors.
For Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live recipients, Microsoft's postmaster troubleshooting page names the junk email complaint rate as one of the principal factors driving down a sender's reputation. Its services page lists the free Junk Email Reporting Program, with feedback typically from as little as 72 hours after enrolling, and SNDS for data on your IP space. Its policies page bans namespace mining, which it defines as verifying addresses without sending email to them, so check how your list-cleaning tool works. Domains sending more than 5,000 emails a day to Outlook.com accounts must also meet Outlook.com's authentication rules; our post on Outlook sending limits for 2026 covers them. For pace and list quality, see our cold email spam fix list.
Clients on Gmail need different steps; our Gmail version of this guide has them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get an email out of Outlook quarantine?
Open the Quarantine page in the Microsoft Defender portal at security.microsoft.com, select the message and choose Release. If the button is greyed out, your quarantine policy may let you choose Request release instead, and an admin decides. Some quarantined messages, such as high confidence phishing, are visible only to admins by default. Quarantined mail is deleted after its Expires date, so don't leave it for long.
Why does Outlook put everything in junk?
Check three settings. In classic Outlook, the Junk Email Filter can be set to a stricter protection level. In older Outlook Web App, an option treats all email as junk unless the sender is in Safe Senders and Recipients or a local sender. And check Blocked senders and domains under Settings, Mail, Junk email: Microsoft's block page says mail from any address or domain on that list goes directly to your Junk Email folder.
Why do my emails go to spam on Gmail?
Gmail gives clues of its own. On a computer, the recipient can click the Down arrow below your name: Google says an authenticated message shows a Mailed by line and a Signed by line, and a question mark next to the sender's name means it isn't authenticated. Google's sender guidelines also say marking your own team's internal messages as spam can hurt your domain's reputation.
Does Outlook have a whitelist for senders?
For your own mailbox, yes: the Safe Senders list; Microsoft says the blocked and safe senders lists can hold up to 10,000 addresses or domains. Microsoft 365 admins also have allow entries in the Tenant Allow/Block List. For senders hoping to get on a list at Outlook.com itself, Microsoft's postmaster troubleshooting page says Outlook.com doesn't operate an allow list, and points to Validity's Sender Certification program instead.
Does marking an email Not junk teach Outlook?
Microsoft says marking email as Not junk in Outlook.com helps improve its service, and work accounts using the Report button send Not junk reports to Microsoft, a reporting mailbox or both. Neither page promises future mail from that sender will skip Junk, so add the sender to Safe senders as well.
Sources
- Microsoft Support: Mail goes to the Junk folder by mistake (Outlook.com) (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: Safe Senders in Outlook.com (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: Block or unblock senders in Outlook (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: Review email messages identified as junk (classic Outlook) (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: How do I remove emails from the Spam folder? (Outlook for iOS and Android) (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: View internet message headers in Outlook (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Report phishing and suspicious emails in Outlook for admins (dated 3 Jul 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Manage quarantined messages and files as a user (last updated 10 Aug 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Create allowlists (dated 24 Jul 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Allow or block email using the Tenant Allow/Block List (dated 3 Aug 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Anti-spam message headers in cloud organizations (dated 27 Jul 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Resolve email false positives in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (last updated 12 Aug 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Set up DKIM to sign mail from your cloud domain (dated 3 Jul 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: Block or allow (junk email settings), Outlook Web App (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Outlook.com Postmaster: Troubleshooting (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Outlook.com Postmaster: Services for Senders and ISPs (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Outlook.com Postmaster: Policies, Practices, and Guidelines (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft Support: Filter junk email and spam in Outlook (new Outlook, Outlook on the web) (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Gmail Help: Check if your Gmail message is authenticated (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Gmail Help: Email sender guidelines (checked 5 Nov 2026)