How to Block a Sender in Outlook (and Unblock Them)

Blocking a sender in Outlook sends their emails to the Junk Email folder instead of your inbox. You can block a single address or a whole domain, and undo it at any time. Here are Microsoft’s steps for the new Outlook for Windows and classic Outlook.

Block a sender or domain in the new Outlook

1. If you have more than one account in Outlook, select the one to change.
2. Select Settings → Mail → Junk email.
3. To block one address, enter it under Blocked senders and select Add. To block everything from a domain (everything @example.com), enter the domain under Blocked domains and select Add.
4. Select Save.

Unblock: go back to Settings → Mail → Junk email, select the address or domain and select the Remove icon.

Block a sender in classic Outlook

• From an email: right-click a message from the sender and choose Block → Block Sender. Or select the message and, on the Home tab in the Delete group, choose Junk → Block Sender.
• By typing an address or domain: on the Home tab, choose Block → Junk E-mail Options. On the Blocked Senders tab, select Add, enter an address (someone@example.com) or a domain (example.com or @example.com), and select OK.
• Unblock or edit: on the same tab, select the entry and choose Remove or Edit. Import from File and Export to File move a whole list in or out.

What happens to blocked email

• It still arrives — in Junk Email. Blocking doesn’t stop someone sending; Outlook files their mail in the Junk Email folder. In a work account, your administrator may send it to quarantine instead.
• The new Outlook clears Junk after 14 days. Microsoft says email is removed from Junk Email after 14 days and can’t be recovered after that.
• List limit: up to 10,000 addresses and domains across your blocked and safe senders lists. Need more? Block domains instead of single addresses.

When blocking won’t work

• Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud and other accounts added to Outlook: the new Outlook doesn’t support blocking for them — block the sender with that provider instead (for Gmail, see how to block someone in Gmail).
• Colleagues in your own organization: on Exchange accounts, names in your organization’s address book can’t be added to the blocked list.
• Scam and phishing emails: blocking covers only the address you block, so it does little against scams sent from many addresses. Report them instead — see how to report phishing — and check suspicious addresses with the Email Sender Checker.

The opposite: keep someone out of Junk

If wanted emails keep landing in Junk, add the sender to your Safe senders list instead. One catch Microsoft notes for Exchange accounts: changes to Safe senders may not be recognized by the server, so mail can still go to Junk — ask your administrator if that happens.

Want to sort a sender’s mail rather than block it? Use Outlook rules.