Managing Junk Email: Outlook Client on Macs

Introduction

Microsoft Outlook provides several options to help manage junk emails. End-users are able to mark/report specific emails as junk and automatically move future messages from the same sender to the Junk Email folder. End-users can also mark/report legitimate emails as not junk, if they are inadvertently blocked and sent to the Junk Email folder. This ensures that future messages from the same sender are received in the Inbox folder. In addition, end-users can create lists of safe senders and blocked senders, and even create inbox rules to further refine their email filtering.

To review general best practices, see the Preventing/Reducing Junk Email: Tips and Best Practices article. Follow the steps below to manage your inbox and reduce the amount of junk email you receive.

This article is divided into different sections. Please click on the desired link to jump to that section:

• Marking/Reporting Email as Junk
• Marking/Reporting Email as Not Junk
• Adding Blocked Senders and Safe Senders
• Adding Inbox Rules to Filter Out Unwanted Emails

Instructions

Marking/Reporting Email as Junk

Marking an email as junk in the Inbox will move it to the Junk Email folder. The email will also be added to your Blocked Senders list to block future occurrences. Reporting an email as junk will do the same but will also send a copy of the email to Microsoft, which helps them to strengthen their filtering algorithm. Junk email is retained for 30 days before it is automatically deleted.

1. Open the Outlook client for Mac and go to the Mailbox of the account
   
2. Select the email and from the top toolbar click on Report Message > Junk
   
   • Note: The ellipses icon in also available in the toolbar which will provide the same options.
     

Note: The reported junk email message is then moved to the Junk Email folder.
 

Marking/Reporting Email as Not Junk

Email marked as junk is retained for 30 days before it is automatically deleted. Therefore, it is recommended that you check the Junk Email folder periodically for any emails that may have inadvertently been marked as junk to ensure you’re not missing important messages. For any legitimate email you see in the Junk Email folder, follow the steps below to mark it as not junk.

1. Open the Outlook client for Mac and go to the Mailbox of the account
   
2. Go to Junk Email folder, and select the email you want to report as not junk
   
3. Click on Report Message > Not Junk
   • Note: The ellipses icon in also available in the toolbar which will provide the same options.
     

Note: The email message is moved to the Inbox folder.
 

Adding Blocked Senders and Safe Senders

Outlook lets you maintain a list of blocked senders and safe senders. You can add up to a combined 1,024 email addresses (e.g. john.doe@something.com) or domains (e.g. something.com). It is common for senders or companies to use different email addresses, so blocking one email address will not block other emails from the same domain. For this reason, it is a good practice to add the domain instead of each individual email address. This would also allow you add more blocked and safe sender entries and help you stay within your limit. All pace.edu accounts are automatically considered safe and cannot be added to the Blocked Senders list.

What is the difference between the Safe Sender and Safe Recipients tab?
Safe senders are domains and people you always want to receive email messages from.  Safe recipients are recipients that you don't want to block, usually email lists of groups that you’re a member of.  Messages received from any email address or domain in your Safe Senders and Recipients list are never sent to your Junk Email folder.

Select from the list of topics for Outlook Client:

• Blocked Senders
• Safe Senders
   

Blocked Senders

The Blocked Senders list contains blocked email addresses and domains which are automatically sent to the Junk Email folder.

1. Open the Outlook client for Mac
   
2. Click on Tools > Junk Email Preferences
   
3. Type the email address or domain and click on the + icon at the bottom to add blocked senders
   

Note: the Plus and Minus icons allow to add and remove block senders
 

Safe Senders

The Safe Senders list contains trusted email addresses and domains that are never sent to the Junk Email folder.

1. Open the Outlook client for Mac and go to the Mailbox of the account
   
2. Select and Control-Click (or right-click) the email from a sender you trust
3. Select Sender > Add to Contacts
   

Note: Adding contacts to your contact list does not classify the senders emails as junk.
 

Adding Inbox Rules to Filter Out Unwanted Emails

Inbox rules allow you to automate routing of incoming emails based on criteria you set and provide additional functionality for managing unwanted emails. For example, you can create a rule that checks incoming emails for certain keywords in the subject or body and, if there's a match, it will automatically move that email to a specified folder (e.g., Junk Email).

Please click on the desired link to jump to that section of the topic:

• Rule to Block Emails from a Specified Domain
• Rule to Block Emails with Specified Text
   

Rule to Block Emails from a Specified Domain

1. Click on Tools > Rules...
   
2. A new tab will open, Click on New Rule
   
3. After giving a name to the rule, Click Select a Condition and select From
   
4. Enter Enter all or a part of an address and press Enter on the keyboard
   
5. Click Select an action and select Mark as Junk
   
6. Click Save
   
    

Rule to Block Emails with Specified Text

1. Click on Tools > Rules...
   
    
2. A new tab will open, Click on New Rule
   
3. After giving a name to the rule,Click Select a Condition and Select Subject or body includes
   
4.  Enter the words to look for, and Press Enter
   
    
5. Click Select an action and Select Mark as Junk
   
   
   Note: Select an action, will direct the file with the key word to an specific file, in this example we chose Junk but Its possible to chose to delete the email as well
    
6. Click Save