Overview of the Junk Email Filter
The Outlook Junk Email Filter doesn’t stop delivery of junk email messages, but does the next best thing—it moves suspected spam to the Junk Email folder.
We recommend you regularly review messages in the Junk Email folder to check for legitimate messages that were incorrectly classified as junk. 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:
Click Home > Junk > Not Junk.
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 (see side bar on this page for instructions). 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:
Click Home > Junk > Junk Email 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.
Blocked 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.
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.
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.
Junk Email Filter differences when Cached Exchange Mode is turned on or off
With an Exchange account, you have access to another layer of tools to combat junk email.
• If you use Cached Exchange Mode or download to an Outlook Data File (.pst): The Junk Email Filter Lists are saved on the server and are available from any computer. The filter lists are also used by the server to evaluate messages. This means that if a sender appears in your Blocked Senders List, then messages from that sender are moved to the Junk Email folder on the server, and they aren’t evaluated by Outlook.
• If you work online: The Junk Email Filter Lists are saved on the server. They are available from any computer, but only if you have the Junk Email feature enabled in Outlook Web Access or Outlook Web App. The filter lists are also used by the server to evaluate messages. This means that if a sender appears in your Blocked Senders List, then messages from that sender are moved to the Junk Email folder on the server, and they aren’t evaluated by Outlook.
CHANGE THE LEVEL OF PROTECTION IN THE JUNK EMAIL FILTER
By default, the Junk E-mail Filter protection level is set to No Automatic Filtering. You can make the filter more aggressive so it catches more junk messages. However, the higher you set the protection level, the greater the risk of some legitimate messages being identified as junk and moved to the Junk E-mail folder.
1. Click Home > Junk > Junk E-mail Options.
2. Choose the level of protection you want:
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Safe Lists Only: This is the most restrictive option. Any message that is sent from someone who is not on your Safe Senders List or a mailing list on your Safe Recipients List is classified as junk.
Just delete them!
You can tell Outlook to delete all suspected junk messages instead of moving them to the Junk E-mail folder. This takes away your ability to review messages for possible false positives, so consider the risks of using this option.
1. In Mail, click the Home > Junk > Junk E-mail Options.
2. On the Options tab, check the Permanently delete suspected junk email instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder box.