emails I send out are being sent to the receivers junk email

Question

I am having a problem when I am sending out emails to people, my emails are going directly to their junk mail. Never had this problem in the past, not sure why this is happening?

Answer 1

Hello,

Are you using outlook.com/hotmail.com?

When it comes to receiver, does it matter what they use?

In order to get to the bottom of this, it is important to work with a receiver of yours, to get the email header from their end, so that we can find out the exact reason why your email is being flagged as spam by their email service provider. Do you think you can find a receiver to work with you to obtain the email header/source from your email in the junk folder, and share with you, so that you can share with me. When you share, please edit to remove any personal information.

Answer 2

When messages consistently land in recipients’ junk folders, the cause is almost always filtering on the recipient side rather than a problem in the sender’s Outlook.com account.

Key points and actions:

1. Junk filtering is normal behavior
   • Mail systems use spam filters to detect unsolicited or suspicious email and move it to Junk automatically. This is described in the context of junk email and spam handling in Outlook.
   • Even legitimate messages can be misclassified based on content, sending patterns, or the recipient’s own junk settings.
2. Ask recipients to mark messages as “Not junk” and/or add as safe sender
   • Recipients should open one of the messages in their Junk Email folder and mark it as Not junk (or equivalent in their mail client). This trains their filter that messages from that address are legitimate.
   • They should also add the sender’s address to their Safe senders (or contacts). In Outlook/Outlook.com, addresses and domains in Safe Senders and Recipients are not diverted to Junk Email.
3. Recipients should check their blocked senders list
   • Some recipients may have accidentally blocked the sender’s address or domain. In Outlook.com/Outlook on the web they can:
     1. Select Settings > Mail.
     2. Go to Junk email or Block or allow.
     3. Look under Blocked senders and domains / Blocked Senders and remove the address or domain if present.
   • In Outlook desktop (for example Outlook 2016):
     1. On the Home tab, select Junk > Junk Email Options.
     2. Open the Blocked Senders tab and remove the address/domain if listed.
4. Recipients can adjust their junk email sensitivity
   • In Outlook.com/Outlook on the web, under Settings > Mail > Block or allow, they can choose:
     • Automatically filter junk email and maintain Safe Senders/Blocked Senders lists, or
     • Don’t move email to my Junk Email folder (not recommended generally, but it will reduce false positives).
   • They can also enable Trust email from my contacts so messages from contacts are treated as safe.
5. For senders using Outlook.com
   • If only some recipients see messages as junk, the issue is almost certainly on their side (their provider’s filters or their personal junk settings).
   • If many different providers (e.g., multiple organizations, different consumer services) all treat messages as junk, this may indicate that the sending pattern or content resembles spam. In that case, adjust subject/content to be less “marketing-like” and avoid attachments or links that might look suspicious.

If recipients follow the steps above (remove from Blocked Senders, add to Safe Senders/contacts, and mark as Not junk), future messages from that address should start arriving in their inbox instead of Junk.

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References:

• Filter junk email and spam in Outlook
• Block or allow (junk email settings)
• I receive a 550, 553, or relay-prohibited error when sending email messages
• Where are my email messages or calendar events in Mail and Calendar for Windows 10?