How to Block a Sender in Outlook

To block a sender in new Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web or Outlook.com, select Settings (the gear icon) > Mail > Junk email, open the Blocked senders and domains tab, select Add blocked sender, type the address and select Save. In classic Outlook, select a message from the sender, then go to Home > Block > Block Sender (older versions label the button Junk). In the Outlook phone app, open the message, tap ⋮ > Report Junk > Block Sender.

Applies to: New Outlook for Windows, classic Outlook for Windows (Microsoft 365, Outlook 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016), Outlook on the web for work or school accounts, Outlook.com, and the Outlook app for iPhone and Android. The steps follow Microsoft’s block or unblock senders page.

What blocking a sender actually does

Blocking in Outlook is a filter on your side, not a wall at the sender’s side. It’s worth knowing exactly what happens before you start:

• Messages still arrive, but in Junk Email. When an address or domain is on your blocked senders list, Outlook moves its messages straight to the Junk Email folder instead of your inbox. Work or school accounts may send them to a quarantine instead if your administrator has turned that on.
• The sender isn’t told. Outlook doesn’t send a bounce or a “you’ve been blocked” notice. From the sender’s side, the email looks delivered.
• Junk mail is deleted automatically. In new Outlook and Outlook.com, email in the Junk Email folder is removed after 14 days and can’t be recovered after that. For Outlook on the web with work or school accounts, Microsoft’s junk email page for Outlook on the web gives 30 days. Either way, don’t block someone if you might need their messages later.
• The list has a size limit. You can have up to 10,000 addresses or domains across your blocked senders and safe senders lists. If you run out of room, block domains instead of single addresses.
• Your work contacts can’t be blocked in classic Outlook. With a Microsoft Exchange account, everyone in your organization’s address book (the Global Address List) is treated as safe and can’t be added to the blocked list.
• It can affect Teams search. With a work account, a blocked person won’t show up in Teams people search unless you’ve already interacted with them in Teams. You can still reach them by typing their full email address.

Blocking works best against one specific person or company that keeps writing to you from the same address. For random spam that changes addresses every day, reporting it as junk usually helps more. The comparison table later in this guide explains when to use each tool.

Which Outlook do you have?

The steps depend on the version, so check this first:

• Classic Outlook: you see a File tab in the top-left corner and a ribbon with Home, Send / Receive and View tabs.
• New Outlook for Windows: there’s no File tab, and a gear-shaped Settings icon sits in the top-right corner. It looks almost the same as the web version.
• Outlook on the web: you open it in a browser, at outlook.office.com for a work or school account or outlook.com for a personal Microsoft account (including Hotmail and Live addresses).
• Outlook mobile: the Outlook app from the App Store or Google Play.

Blocked senders for Microsoft accounts and Microsoft 365 work accounts are stored with your mailbox, so a block you add in one place generally carries over to your other Outlook apps that use the same account. Still setting up the desktop app? Start with configuring classic and new Outlook.

Block a sender in new Outlook for Windows

Before you start: new Outlook doesn’t support blocking senders for third-party accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud that you’ve added to it. For those accounts, block the sender in that provider’s own mail settings. With Yahoo, for example, you would block the email address in Yahoo Mail itself. The steps below work for Microsoft 365 work or school accounts and for Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live accounts.

Quick block from a message

1. Find a message from the sender. In your message list, right-click an email from the person or company you want to block.
2. Choose Block. Point to Block, then select Block sender. If you have the message open instead, select More actions (the … button at the top of the message) and choose Block.
3. Confirm. A small box asks you to confirm. Select OK. The sender is added to your blocked senders list, and their future messages go to Junk Email.

The exact wording of this menu has shifted between updates (some builds show a Report button with a block option in the toolbar instead). If you don’t see a Block option, use the Settings method below.

Block an address from Settings

Use this when you don’t have a message from the sender handy, or when you want to check what’s already blocked. The example blocks [email protected].

1. Pick the account. If you have more than one account in new Outlook, select the account you want to change in the folder pane first. Each account has its own blocked list.
2. Open Settings. Select the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner. The Settings window opens.
3. Go to Junk email. Select Mail in the left column, then select Junk email.
4. Find the Senders section. Scroll down to Senders and select the Blocked senders and domains tab. Any addresses you’ve already blocked are listed here.
5. Add the address. Select Add blocked sender, type the full email address, such as [email protected], and select OK (or press Enter). The address appears in the list.
6. Save. Select Save at the bottom of the window. If you close Settings without saving, the new entry is lost.

Microsoft’s own instructions for this page describe two boxes, Blocked senders and Blocked domains, each with an Add button, while its Safe Senders instructions and its Outlook on the web junk email page describe the single Blocked senders and domains tab used above. If your screen shows the two-box layout, type the address in Blocked senders (or a domain in Blocked domains), select Add, then Save.

Block a sender in Outlook on the web and Outlook.com

Outlook on the web and Outlook.com use the same screens as new Outlook, so the steps are nearly identical.

1. Sign in. Go to outlook.office.com (work or school) or outlook.com (personal) in your browser and sign in.
2. Block from a message, if you have one. Right-click the email in your message list, point to Block and select Block sender, then select OK. Or open the message, select More actions (…) and choose Block.
3. Or add the address in Settings. Select Settings (the gear icon at the top of the page) > Mail > Junk email.
4. Add it to the list. Under Blocked senders and domains, select Add blocked sender, enter the email address or domain, and select OK.
5. Save. Select Save. New mail from that address now goes to Junk Email.

The Junk email page also has a Safe senders and domains tab next to the blocked tab. Don’t mix them up: an address on the safe list is never treated as junk, which is the opposite of what you want here.

Block a sender in classic Outlook

Classic Outlook keeps its blocked list in a dialog called Junk E-mail Options. You can add a sender from a message in one click, or type addresses into the list yourself.

A note on labels: current versions of classic Outlook show a Block button in the Delete group of the Home tab. Older versions, and some ribbon layouts, call the same button Junk. Microsoft’s own pages use both names. The menu items inside are the same, so wherever this section mentions Block, look for Junk if Block isn’t there.

Block the sender of a message

1. Select the message. In your inbox, select (single-click) an email from the sender you want to block.
2. Open the Block menu. On the Home tab, in the Delete group, select Block (or Junk). You can also right-click the message and point to Block (or Junk).
3. Choose Block Sender. Select Block Sender. Outlook may show a short confirmation that the sender was added to your Blocked Senders list; select OK. The selected message moves to Junk Email, and future messages from that address go there too.

The same menu has Never Block Sender, Never Block Sender’s Domain and Never Block this Group or Mailing List. Those add the sender to your safe lists instead, so make sure you pick Block Sender.

Add addresses to the Blocked Senders list

Use this to block an address you don’t have a message from, to block a whole domain, or to review everything you’ve blocked.

1. Open Junk E-mail Options. On the Home tab, in the Delete group, select Block (or Junk), then select Junk E-mail Options.
2. Open the Blocked Senders tab. The dialog has tabs for Options, Safe Senders, Safe Recipients, Blocked Senders and International. Select Blocked Senders.
3. Select Add. A small box opens asking for an email address or internet domain name.
4. Type the entry. Enter a full address such as [email protected], or a domain such as @shop-example.com. Select OK. Repeat for each entry; you can add only one at a time.
5. Save and close. Select OK to close Junk E-mail Options.

The same tab has Edit to fix a typo, Import from File to load a list of addresses from a text file, and Export to File to save your current list. Exporting is a handy backup before you move to a new PC or switch to new Outlook.

Block mail from a country code or an unfamiliar alphabet

Classic Outlook has two extra filters on the International tab of Junk E-mail Options. They’re blunt tools, so use them only if you’re sure you never need mail from those places.

• Blocked Top-Level Domain List: blocks addresses that end in a country or region code you check, such as .ru or .cn. Select the codes, then select OK in both dialogs.
• Blocked Encodings List: blocks messages written in character sets (alphabets) you choose. Unicode encodings aren’t in this list, so it won’t catch everything.

New Outlook and Outlook on the web don’t have these two lists.

Block a sender in the Outlook app for iPhone and Android

The Outlook app puts blocking inside its junk-reporting menu. These steps follow Microsoft’s instructions for Outlook for iOS and Android.

1. Open the message. In the Outlook app, tap an email from the sender you want to block.
2. Open the menu. Tap ⋮ (or …) in the top-right corner of the message.
3. Choose Report Junk. Tap Report Junk. A menu slides up with three choices: Junk, Phishing and Block Sender.
4. Tap Block Sender. Confirm if the app asks. Future mail from that sender goes to your Junk folder.

To see or edit your full blocked list, the most reliable place is Outlook on the web or the desktop app, because the phone app’s settings for this list vary by account type and app version. Any block you add on the phone shows up there for Microsoft accounts.

This doesn’t apply to Apple’s built-in Mail app on iPhone, which has its own Block this Contact option and moves blocked mail differently. If you use Mail with an Outlook.com address, block the sender in Outlook.com settings so the block follows your account everywhere.

Block a whole domain

If the same company emails you from several addresses, such as [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected], block the domain once instead of each address.

• New Outlook, Outlook on the web and Outlook.com: go to Settings > Mail > Junk email > Blocked senders and domains > Add blocked sender, type the domain (for example, shop-example.com), select OK, then Save.
• Classic Outlook: go to Block (or Junk) > Junk E-mail Options > Blocked Senders > Add. You can enter the domain as @shop-example.com or shop-example.com.

Warning: never block a domain that many people share, such as gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com or your own company’s domain. That would send mail from every person on that service to Junk. Also think twice about blocking a store’s whole domain if you buy from it: order confirmations and shipping updates usually come from the same domain as the marketing mail. For newsletters you once signed up for, unsubscribing is often the cleaner fix.

How to unblock a sender

Unblocking removes the address from your blocked list. New messages from that sender start arriving in your inbox again. Messages already sitting in Junk Email stay there until you move them, and any that were automatically deleted from Junk can’t be brought back.

New Outlook, Outlook on the web and Outlook.com

1. Select Settings > Mail > Junk email.
2. Under Senders, open the Blocked senders and domains tab and find the address or domain. With a long list, use Search list.
3. Select the trash can (delete) icon next to the entry.
4. Select Save.

Classic Outlook

1. On the Home tab, select Block (or Junk) > Junk E-mail Options.
2. Select the Blocked Senders tab.
3. Select the address or domain, then select Remove.
4. Select Apply, then OK.

Outlook mobile

Remove the entry in Outlook on the web (or the desktop app) using the steps above. Because the list is stored with your account, the change applies to the app too.

Get the sender’s messages out of Junk

Open the Junk Email folder, select the messages you want, and move them to your inbox. In classic Outlook, you can right-click a message and choose Block (or Junk) > Not Junk, which also offers to trust that sender in the future. If you want to make sure this sender never lands in Junk again, add them to your Safe Senders list as described in Microsoft’s guide to adding people to the Safe Senders List. In new Outlook and on the web, that’s the Safe senders and domains tab on the same Junk email page.

Block, report junk, unsubscribe or make a rule?

Blocking isn’t always the best tool. Here’s how the options compare:

Tool	What it does	Best for
Block sender	Sends all future mail from one address or domain to Junk Email	A person or company that keeps writing from the same address
Report junk	Moves the message to Junk and sends a report to Microsoft to improve filtering	Ordinary spam from changing addresses
Report phishing	Reports a scam message designed to steal passwords, money or personal details	Fake bank, delivery or account-warning emails
Unsubscribe	Asks a legitimate sender to stop mailing you	Newsletters and stores you signed up with
Inbox rule	Moves or deletes matching mail using conditions you choose, such as words in the subject	Mail you want filed somewhere other than Junk, or deleted right away

A rule is also the answer if you want blocked mail to skip Junk entirely. A rule such as “if the sender is [email protected], delete it” removes the message as soon as it arrives. In new Outlook and on the web, rules live at Settings > Mail > Rules; in classic Outlook, at File > Manage Rules & Alerts. Be careful with automatic deletion, because you won’t see anything the rule catches by mistake.

Troubleshooting

I blocked someone, but their emails still reach my inbox

• They’re using a different address. Open the new message and check the full sender address, not just the display name. Spammers often change one letter or the domain. Block the new address, or block the whole domain if it’s a private one.
• You blocked them on a different account. If you have several accounts in Outlook, each has its own list. Make sure the block is on the account that receives the mail.
• It’s a third-party account in new Outlook. Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud accounts don’t support blocking in new Outlook. Block the sender at the provider’s website.
• They’re in your organization. In a work account, people in your company’s Global Address List can’t be blocked. Ask your IT department for help if a coworker is harassing you.
• The sender’s address is forged. Some scam emails fake the “From” line, so the address you blocked isn’t the one actually sending. Use Report phishing or Report junk instead of relying on a block.

The Block option is missing or greyed out

• In new Outlook, check whether the selected message belongs to a Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud or other non-Microsoft account. Those accounts don’t get the option.
• In classic Outlook, look for Junk instead of Block on the Home tab. If you use the simplified (single-line) ribbon, the button may be inside the … overflow menu.
• In any version, use the Settings or Junk E-mail Options method. Adding the address by hand does the same job as the message menu.

Messages from a blocked sender disappeared

Check the Junk Email folder first. If the messages are older than the retention period (14 days for Outlook.com and new Outlook), they have been deleted automatically and can’t be recovered. For a work or school account, ask your administrator whether the messages are in quarantine.

A safe sender keeps ending up in Junk

If your mailbox is on Exchange or Exchange Online, changes you make to the Safe Senders list in classic Outlook may not be recognized by the server. Add the sender to the safe list in Outlook on the web instead, and check that the address isn’t also on your blocked list.

FAQ

Will the person know I blocked them?

No. Outlook doesn’t notify the sender. Their messages still leave their outbox normally and land in your Junk Email folder.

Does blocking delete their old emails?

No. Blocking affects new mail. In classic Outlook, the message you select when you choose Block Sender is moved to Junk Email, but other older messages from that person stay where they are. Delete or move them yourself if you want them gone. A quick way is to search for the sender’s address, select all results and delete them.

Can I block a sender so their mail is deleted instead of going to Junk?

Not with the block feature itself. Create an inbox rule that deletes messages from that address, as described in the comparison section above.

How many senders can I block?

Up to 10,000 addresses or domains, counted across the blocked and safe senders lists together. If you reach the limit, replace groups of addresses with a single domain entry where it’s safe to do so.

Can I block a sender in Outlook for Mac?

Yes, Outlook for Mac has its own block option, but its menus differ from the Windows versions and aren’t covered step by step here. If your account is an Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 account, you can always add the address in Outlook on the web, and the block applies to the account.

Does blocking stop phishing emails?

Only from the exact address you blocked. Phishing messages usually come from new or forged addresses, so report them with Report phishing (or Report Junk > Phishing in the phone app) and delete them without opening links or attachments. The phone app’s report options are on Microsoft’s report phishing or junk email page for Outlook for iOS and Android.

What happens to blocked mail on my phone?

For Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 accounts, the blocked list is stored with your mailbox, so blocked mail goes to Junk whether you check it in the Outlook app, on the web or on your PC.

Once your blocked list is set up, take a minute to open the Junk Email folder every week or so. That’s where you’ll catch any real message that got filtered by mistake before Outlook deletes it automatically.