Emails Going to Junk in Outlook or Office365

If important emails are being delivered to your Junk Email, Outlook may be incorrectly filtering them. This article walks you through the steps you can take to prevent this and ensure trusted messages are delivered to your Inbox.

Mark the Email as “Not Junk”

When you mark an email as Not Junk, you are informing Microsoft that the message is legitimate and should be delivered to your Inbox. This also helps improve spam filtering for future messages.

How to mark an email as Not Junk (Outlook on the web):

1. Sign in to Outlook on the web at outlook.office.com.
2. Open your Junk Email folder.
3. Select the message that was incorrectly marked as junk.
4. Select Not junk from the toolbar (or use the Report menu and choose Not Junk).
5. The message will be moved back to your Inbox.

For additional details, see Microsoft’s documentation: Report Junk Email and Phishing Scams in Outlook

Add the Sender to Your Safe Senders List

Adding an email address or domain to your Safe Senders list ensures that messages from that sender are never treated as junk.

How to add a sender to the Safe Senders list:

1. Select Settings (gear icon) in Outlook on the web.
2. Navigate to Mail → Junk email.
3. Under Safe senders and domains, select Add.
4. Enter the email address (for example, name@example.com) or domain (for example, example.com).
5. Select Save.

Emails from addresses on the Safe Senders list will always be delivered to your Inbox.

Learn more here: Add Recipients to the Safe Senders List in Outlook

Create an Inbox Rule (Optional)

Inbox rules provide additional control by automatically handling messages from specific senders.

How to create an inbox rule in Outlook on the web:

1. Open Settings → Mail → Rules.
2. Select Add new rule.
3. Enter a name for the rule (for example, “Always allow emails from Admissions”).
4. Define a condition, such as messages from a specific sender.
5. Choose an action, such as Move to Inbox.
6. Save the rule.

Inbox rules are especially useful for recurring messages, newsletters, or automated notifications.

Additional information is available here: Manage Email Messages by Using Rules in Outlook

If the Issue Persists

If emails from a trusted sender continue to go to Junk after completing the steps above:

• Confirm the sender’s email address or domain was entered correctly.
• Consider adding the entire domain to the Safe Senders list.
• Review existing inbox rules to ensure messages are not being redirected.
• Contact ILT Support for further assistance at help@overlake.org