How to Block Junk Mail

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: March 28, 2019 References

Junk mail (or "spam") is an inevitable component in any email service. While modern-day internet data collection makes it impossible to completely eliminate spam from your email provider, you can quickly classify and delete junk mail--and block the senders thereof--on most popular email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Blocking Junk Mail on Gmail

1
Open Gmail.
2
Log into Gmail if you aren't already signed in. You will need a preexisting Gmail account.^{[1]
X
Research source}

Advertisement
3
Consider blocking your junk emails' sender. If you've tried marking emails as spam but continue to receive them from one persistent source, you can block the sender to filter any future emails from them.
4
Select the email whose author you wish to block.
5
Click the downward-facing arrow next to the "Reply" button. This will prompt a drop-down menu.
- On Android platforms, the downward-facing arrow is replaced by three dots in a vertical line.
6
Click "Block [Sender]" in the drop-down menu. This will prevent that specific email address from sending you anything in the future.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- The word "Sender" will be replaced by the email's author.
7
Return to your inbox. You can further prevent junk mail by marking it as spam.
8
Click the box in the far left side of any email you consider "junk". This will select the email. If you are selecting multiple emails, make sure they've all stayed selected before proceeding.
9
Click the "Report Spam" button. This button resembles an octagon with an exclamation mark in the center.
10
Click the "Spam" tab. This is in the same menu as your Inbox tab. You may have to click "More Labels" at the bottom of the Inbox menu to show the Spam option.
11
Click the "Select" box in the upper left-hand corner of your inbox. This will select all junk email in your Spam folder.
12
Click "Delete Forever" to remove all spam emails.
13
Return to your inbox. You have successfully blocked junk mail on Gmail!

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Blocking Junk Mail on Yahoo

1
Open Yahoo.
2
Log into Yahoo if you aren't already signed in. You will need a preexisting Yahoo account.^{[3]
X
Research source}
3
Consider blocking the emails' sender. If you've tried marking emails as spam but continue to receive them from one persistent source, you can block the sender to filter any future emails from them.
4
Select the email whose author you wish to block. If you have multiple emails from the same sender, you need only select one.
5
Click the "More" option in the toolbar above your email window. This will prompt a drop-down window.
6
Click "Block" in the drop-down window. A pop-up window asking for confirmation should appear.
7
Check "Send all future emails to spam" and "delete all existing emails" in the confirmation window. This ensures that all future emails from this sender will be filtered for your convenience.
8
Click "OK". This completes the blocking process.
9
Return to your inbox. You can further prevent junk mail by marking it as spam.
10
Click the box in the far left side of any email you consider "junk". This will select the email. If you are selecting multiple emails, make sure they've all stayed selected before proceeding.
11
Click the "Spam" button to mark your selections as spam. This will move them to the "Spam" folder, which is in the same menu as your "Inbox" folder. You can also click the arrow next to the Spam button and select the type of spam (in this case, "phishing" or "hacked account") or mark the mail as improperly delivered.^{[4]
X
Research source}
12
Click the "Spam" option to open your Spam folder.
13
Select the contents of your spam folder. If you have several spam emails, you can select all of them by clicking the box in the upper left-hand corner of your email window.
14
Click "Delete" to delete all spam messages in the Spam folder. You have successfully blocked junk mail on Yahoo!

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Blocking Junk Mail on Outlook

1
Open Outlook.
2
Log into Outlook if you aren't already signed in. You will need a preexisting Outlook account.
3
Click the box in the far left side of any email you consider "junk". This will select the email. If you are selecting multiple emails, make sure they've all stayed selected before proceeding.
4
Click the "Junk" button to mark your selections as junk. This will move them to the "Junk" folder. You can also click the arrow next to the "Junk" button to report the type of junk ("phishing" or "hacked account").
5
Click the "Junk Email" option to open your junk folder. This is located directly under your "Inbox" folder in the menu on the left-hand side of your screen.
6
Select the contents of your junk folder by clicking the box next to "Junk Email".
7
Click "Delete" to delete all junk messages in the Junk Email folder. You have successfully blocked junk mail on Outlook!
- You can also block senders from the Junk Email folder by selecting an email and clicking "Block" in the toolbar. Outlook will ask for confirmation before blocking senders.^{[5]
  X
  Research source}

Community Q&A

Question

I receive up to 40 junk mail messages from the same company except they are all different addresses. No matter how many times I block these senders, the emails still keep coming. How can I stop them?

R2_d2000

Top Answerer

Flag each email as junk or spam. This will "train" the email system to detect these future emails and move them to the spam folder. If that does not work, then you may have to change your email address.

Warnings

Some spam emails can infect your computer with a virus upon opening. If you don't recognize the subject matter or sender at all (e.g., it isn't from a known spam site or advertiser), don't open the email--just mark it as spam and delete it.

⧼thumbs_response⧽
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1