How to Block an Email Address in Microsoft Outlook

Despite the best efforts of Microsoft’s spam filters, persistent marketers and malicious scammers frequently manage to slip junk mail into your primary Outlook inbox. Simply deleting these emails is a temporary fix, as the sender will inevitably email you again next week.

To permanently stop a specific sender from reaching your inbox, you must block their email address. When you block a sender in Microsoft Outlook, the system automatically intercepts any future emails from that specific address and silently routes them directly to your Junk Email folder without ever notifying you.

How to Block a Sender in the Outlook Desktop App (Windows)

If you use the traditional desktop application installed on your PC, blocking a sender takes only two clicks.

1. Open the Microsoft Outlook application.
2. Locate an email from the sender you wish to block in your inbox. (You do not need to open the email; just click it once to highlight it in the list).
3. Right-click the highlighted email.
4. A context menu will appear. Hover your mouse over Junk.
5. Select Block Sender from the sub-menu.

A small dialog box will pop up confirming that the sender has been added to your Blocked Senders List, and the specific email you highlighted will immediately be moved to the Junk Email folder.

How to Block a Sender in Outlook on the Web (Outlook.com)

The process is nearly identical if you manage your email through a web browser.

1. Log into Outlook.com or your company’s Outlook web portal.
2. Find the offending email in your inbox.
3. Right-click the email in the list.
4. Hover over Block in the context menu.
5. Select Block sender.
6. A confirmation window will appear asking if you are sure. Click OK.

How to Unblock a Sender (Managing Your Block List)

Occasionally, you might accidentally block a legitimate email address (like your bank or a coworker). Because blocked emails are sent straight to the Junk folder, you might miss important information. You can easily remove an address from the block list.

In the Desktop App:

1. Go to the Home tab on the ribbon menu at the top of the screen.
2. Click the Junk button (it has an icon of a person with a prohibition symbol).
3. Select Junk E-mail Options… from the dropdown menu.
4. A new window will open. Click the Blocked Senders tab.
5. Scroll through the list, click on the email address you want to unblock to highlight it, and click the Remove button.
6. Click Apply, then click OK.

In the Web App:

1. Click the Gear icon (Settings) in the top right corner of the screen.
2. In the left sidebar, click Mail, then click Junk email.
3. Look at the Blocked senders and domains list.
4. Find the address you accidentally blocked and click the Trash can icon next to it to remove it.

Why Am I Still Getting Emails from a Blocked Sender?

If you block a sender and immediately receive another spam email that looks identical, the spammer is likely using a tactic called “domain spoofing” or rapidly generating new email addresses.

For example, you might block [email protected], but the next email actually comes from [email protected]. Because the address changed slightly, Outlook’s block list doesn’t recognize it.

If this happens frequently, you can block the entire domain (the part after the @ symbol) instead of just the specific address. In the Junk E-mail Options menu mentioned above, instead of removing an address, you can click Add and type @scam-marketing.com. This tells Outlook to block anyone sending an email from that entire company server.