Managing Spam, Junk Mail and Suspicious Emails in the Outlook Desktop and Web Apps

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Last updated: Feb 25, 2022 by Sarah Nguyen (Deactivated)
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This article is for faculty, students, and staff seeking information regarding how to manage spam, junk email, and suspicious email received via the Outlook desktop and web apps. 

Article Overview

Spam

Students, staff, and faculty can set rules to filter out spam emails. This can be done with any email account.

Spam filters are a filtering system set up to protect email accounts from unwanted and potentially dangerous messages.

  1. Open Outlook.

  2. Under the Home tab, select Rules.

  3. Click on Manage Rules and Alerts.

  4. On the Rules and Alerts dialogue box, click New Rule…

  5. In the Start from a blank rule section, click Apply rule on messages I receive.         

  6. Under Step 1: Select condition(s), select with specific words in the message header.   

    Picture shows 'with specific words' option selected.

  7. Click the blue underlined phrase, “specific words” in the box under Step 2.   

  8.  Type {SPAM?}. Doing so will filter any email that has already been marked as spam and has been received in the inbox.

  9. Click Add.

  10. Click OK.

  11. Click Next.

  12. Under Step 1: Select action(s), select move it to the specified folder.

  13. Click the blue underlined word, specified, in the box under Step 2.

  14. Select the Junk E-mail folder.

  15. Click OK.

  16. Click Next.

  17. To run the filter you just created, click Run this rule now on messages already in “Inbox.”

  18. Press Finish.

  19. Click Apply. 

  20. Click OK to get back to the shared mailbox inbox.

  1. Click “…” located on the upper right-hand corner of the window.

  2. Select Create rule.

  3. On the New Inbox Rule window, under *When the message arrives, and…*, select the It includes these words in the subject or body… option.

  4. In the Specify Words or Phrases box, type {SPAM?}, click the "+" sign, and click OK.

  5. In Do the following: select the action you want to be performed. For safety and later review of the emails moved (to avoid deletion of incorrectly-marked emails), you can select the Junk E-mail folder.

  6.  Click OK when the folder has been selected.

  7. Review your selected actions and click OK when confirmed.

  8. You will be returned to your Inbox.

Preventing Legitimate Emails From Going into the Spam Folder

Sometimes a SPAM filtering system misidentifies legitimate email messages as SPAM and sends them to the junk folder in your mailbox. If you discover that an email was mistakenly sent to your junk folder, you can follow the steps provided below to identify it as “not junk.” With a few steps and occasional monitoring of your junk folder, you can customize the server and correct this misidentification. Over time and as more users engage in these corrective actions, the server will filter with even greater accuracy. 

  1. Go to the junk folder in your mailbox.

  2. Right-click on the email and select Junk > Not junk.

  3. A pop-up will appear. Check the box by “Always trust e-mail…” to ensure that the sender’s address will not be blocked again in the future. Click OK to move the message back to your inbox. 

  1. Go to the Junk E-mail folder in your mailbox.

  2. Right-click on the email and select Junk Mail > Mark as Not Junk.

Junk Mail

Students, faculty, and staff can move unwanted or spam emails automatically from the Inbox to the Junk email folder. 

  1. Click the Home tab at the top left of the screen.

  2. Click the Junk drop-down.

  3. Choose Junk E-mail Options.

  4. Select the button next to the level of protection you want.

  5. Click OK.

Suspicious Emails

This section explains how to report suspicious emails in Outlook (spam, phishing) for analysis. These types of emails can be directly handled through the Outlook desktop app, Office 365 online, or by using the Report Message add-in. 

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