some emails now going to junk even after putting in safe

Question

after years of no problems many but not all of my emails are ending up in junk, even after putting on safe list

Answer 1

Your help has been extremely useful. I still get the odd emails in my junk mail which should respond to my having put them in a safe sender file but not nearly as many as before.

I now have a bit of a new problem in that some of the ones I put in the safe center list are showing up in both the inbox and the junk mail folder! Not too many but some. I’m not sure what to do about that so I’m getting duplicates. But at least I’m getting some of them in the inbox and I always now review my junk mail folder before I delete.

I don’t know if this is related or not. On my PC where I have all of my Microsoft products primarily located, I can go into Outlook and see my tools at the top that I used to give direction to how emails are handled. I’m sure there’s a name for that but I don’t know what it is. In that I can look at the junk mail, delete things which go into the deleted items, and then I can go from there to the next screen which will offer me the opportunity to possibly recover or delete all of those. I use that to clean the file out, and then I can permanently delete from that tool kit icon so that it clears out all the old deleted everything.

If I go away though without my PC handy which is not portable and I’m using my iPad and my iPhone, even if I go to Outlook, it doesn’t offer me the same toolbar, so when I’m gone, I come back to thousands of emails still stuck in the deleted file asking me if I want to recover or permanently delete. Is there no way to do that total deletion from the Outlook app on my iPad or iPhone ?

I’m sorry if this is an inappropriate place to ask this question, and I can repeat it in a different request if you think I should.

I tell you this has been a real time waster but not in the sense that it actually is helping, and I deeply appreciate your guidance.

Pam

Answer 2

Hi Pam Birkenfeld

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I know it’s frustrating when emails suddenly start going to Junk even after adding the sender to your Safe Senders list.

Please try the following steps:

1. Check if the sender is blocked

• Sign in to Outlook on the web via a browser
• Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email
• Under Blocked senders and domains, remove anything that shouldn’t be blocked.

2. Re‑add the sender to your Safe Senders list

• Still in Junk email settings
• Under Safe senders and domains, add the sender’s full email address or domain again
• Select Save

3. Review your inbox rules

Sometimes a rule unintentionally moves mail to Junk.

• Go to Settings > Mail > Rules
• Check if any rule is moving emails to Junk and delete it.

4. Mark messages as "Not junk"

Doing this helps train Outlook’s filter.

• Go to your Junk Email folder
• Select an email from a trusted sender that went to Junk, then Report > Not junk
• You can also right-click to select Block > Never block sender (recommended)

I truly hope this helps! Please let me know if it works for you. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

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Answer 3

If emails are still going to the junk folder despite being added to the Safe Senders list, there are a few potential reasons for this issue:

1. Junk Email Filter Settings: Check the settings of the Junk Email Filter in Outlook. If the filter is set to High, it may still classify some emails as junk even if they are on the Safe Senders list. You can adjust this setting to Low or No automatic filtering to see if it resolves the issue.
2. Also Trust Email from My Contacts: If the Also trust e-mail from my Contacts option is enabled, and you have a large number of contacts, Outlook may be trying to add all those email addresses to the Safe Senders list, which can lead to exceeding the mailbox limit and cause issues.
3. Mailbox Size Limit: Microsoft Exchange has a limit of 510 KB for the cumulative size of the Safe Senders, Blocked Senders, and Safe Recipients lists. If this limit is exceeded, it can cause emails to be misclassified. You may want to check and reduce the number of entries in these lists.
4. Registry Settings: If you have access to the Exchange server, you can check the Max Extended Rule Size registry value to ensure it is configured correctly, as an incorrect value can also lead to issues with junk email filtering.

If the problem persists after checking these factors, consider reviewing your email settings or consulting with your IT department for further assistance.

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References:

• About junk email settings in Outlook
• Outlook error indicates that you are over the Junk E-mail list limit