How to Reduce spam from appearing in my my spam filter. Reducing spam in filter.

Leslie D Trew 0 Reputation points
2026-08-17T22:36:40.87+00:00

How to Reduce spam from appearing in my spam account. Eliminate spam in my spam filter.

Exchange | Other
Exchange | Other

A powerful email and collaboration platform developed by Microsoft, designed to support enterprise-level communication and productivity. Miscellaneous topics that do not fit into specific categories.

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  1. AI answer

    2026-08-17T22:36:53.38+00:00

    Spam in the Junk Email folder cannot be eliminated completely, but it can be reduced.

    For Outlook/Outlook.com:

    1. Use the Junk Email filter Outlook automatically evaluates incoming messages and moves suspected spam to Junk Email.
    2. Block senders or domains In Outlook on the web:
      • Go to Settings
      • Select Mail > Junk email
      • Add unwanted addresses or domains under blocked senders
    3. Add trusted senders to Safe senders This helps keep legitimate mail out of Junk:
      • Settings > Mail > Junk email
      • Under Safe senders and domains, add trusted addresses or domains
    4. Do not reply to spam Replying, even to unsubscribe, can confirm the address is active.
    5. Avoid exposing the email address publicly Posting an address on public websites, forums, or chat rooms increases spam.
    6. Be careful with sign-up forms Review privacy policies and clear preselected boxes that allow sharing the address with third parties.
    7. Keep automatic external content blocked Blocking automatic picture downloads helps prevent web beacons from confirming the address is valid.
    8. Turn off read receipts and automatic processing where possible These can help spammers verify that the mailbox is active.

    For Exchange or Microsoft 365 admin-managed mailboxes:

    • Spam protection is enabled automatically for cloud mailboxes.
    • Admins can tune anti-spam policies to change actions for spam, high confidence spam, phishing, and bulk mail.
    • Available actions include moving messages to Junk Email, redirecting them, or deleting them.
    • Messages from specified countries can also be automatically identified as spam in custom anti-spam policies.

    A more aggressive anti-spam configuration can reduce spam, but it also increases the chance of false positives and may block legitimate mail.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Jay1 Tran 600 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-08-17T23:01:00.8133333+00:00

    Hi Leslie,

    Thank you for reaching out.

    Spam filtering for your Exchange mailbox is managed through your organization’s Microsoft 365 security policies. Please contact your organization’s IT administrator and ask them to review and strengthen the following Exchange Online anti-spam settings:

    1. Sign in to the Microsoft Defender portal.
    2. Go to Email & collaboration > Policies & rules.

    User's image

    1. Select Threat policies > Anti-spam.
    2. Open the applicable Inbound anti-spam policy.
    3. Review the actions for:
      • Spam
      • High-confidence spam
      • Phishing
      • High-confidence phishing
      • Bulk email
    4. Configure suspicious messages to be sent to quarantine instead of being delivered to the mailbox.

    User's image

    1. Review the Bulk email threshold and lower it if stricter bulk-email filtering is required.
    2. Add persistent unwanted senders or domains to the Tenant Allow/Block List at: https://security.microsoft.com/tenantAllowBlockList
    3. Save the changes and monitor the results.

    In the meantime, you can take these steps in Outlook:

    1. Select the unwanted message.
    2. Choose Report > Report junk or Report phishing.
    3. Block repeat senders under Settings > Mail > Junk email.
    4. Avoid replying to suspicious messages or selecting links within them.
    5. Empty the Junk Email folder when necessary.

    Please note that no spam filter can block every unwanted message. Making the policies stricter can reduce spam, but it may also cause some legitimate emails to be quarantined. Your IT administrator can determine the appropriate filtering level for your organization.

    I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.  

    If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.  

    Thank you for your patience and understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation.  

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

    Note: Please follow the steps in the forum document to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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