Emails going to spam is a never-ending problem for many users. This issue risks missing out on something important if emails that should be kept from spam end up in the junk folder. Luckily, there are fixes to prevent emails from going to the spam folder.
Although emails here and there that aren’t spam may end up in the junk, you can overcome this problem with a few simple clicks. This article will share insightful tips on how to stop emails from going to spam. Read on to know how you can ensure only spam emails go to junk.
Why Legitimate Emails Might Be Going to Spam
Regardless of the email provider, there are spam filters that automatically flag emails containing certain details. This can be an email with repetitive words for discounts and deals or the spam filter flagging the sender’s email address or domain.
While most emails that spam filters flag aren’t legitimate, the chances of genuine emails going to spam increase if you mark emails as spam regularly. Spam filtering protocols learn about your preferences as you mark emails as spam, and they move similar emails to the junk folder.
That said, anything suspicious for your unique spam filtering protocol will make emails go to spam. Even when the email seems legitimate, it will move to spam if it includes anything that matches previously flagged emails.
How to Prevent Emails From Going to Spam?
Below, you’ll find various ways to prevent emails from going to spam. Doing these will ensure future emails don’t automatically end up in the junk.
Mark as Not Spam
First and foremost, mark the emails that shouldn’t be in your junk folder as ‘Not Spam’ and move them to your inbox. It may seem simple, but it’s an effective way to prevent similar emails from getting moved to the spam folder.
Just as how you train your spam filter protection to move emails to the junk, you’ll retrain it not to move emails from chosen senders or emails containing specific details. Doing this alone won’t stop emails going to spam, but it goes a long way.
Unblock the Sender
Another common reason emails automatically go to spam is due to a blocked sender. If you’ve accidentally blocked a sender or no longer want a sender’s emails to go to spam, you can unblock them. Follow your email provider’s guidelines for blocking/unblocking senders so their emails don’t automatically go to spam.
For example, here’s how you can unblock senders on Gmail.
- Go to Settings > See All Settings.
- Click Filters and Block Addresses from the top menu.
- Check the box next to the senders you want to unblock.
- Click Unblock Selected Addresses.
In Outlook, blocked email addresses are under ‘blocked senders and domains’ in the settings. You’ll find the blocked senders in the security and privacy settings in Yahoo Mail.
Adjust Spam Filter Settings
Our last tip on stopping emails from going to spam is adjusting your spam filter settings to have more control over what emails go to spam. For example, Outlook has four levels of spam filtering: none, low, high, and safe lists only. If all emails go to junk, you can set it to the lowest and move spam emails to the junk folder yourself.
However, this may fill your inbox with spam emails if you’re getting a lot of unwanted emails. It’s best to keep it low to ensure spam emails other users have already flagged don’t bother you.
Although spam filter settings are more about the number of spam emails you receive, these settings can help you prevent legitimate emails from going to spam. Check your email provider’s settings for spam protection and adjust it to a lower setting to allow more emails to reach your inbox.
Keeping Your Inbox Protected
Now that you know how to stop emails from going to spam, you’ll need to take some actions to prevent spam emails from appearing in your inbox. Consider unsubscribing from mailing lists rather than marking every unwanted email as spam.
This will save your preferences and teach spam filtering what emails should go to spam better, as you would want to avoid every email ending up in the junk folder.
If you can’t tell if an email is spam, you can use an email lookup tool to learn more about the sender. Doing this will let you know whether their email is spam and prevent important emails sent from the same email address from going to spam without a reason.