Clear flags from Junk emails upon arrival

Question

Clear flags from Junk emails upon arrival

Sanne1 0

I have an Outlook.com email account. When I receive spam in my Junk Email folder, they are often flagged. These flags are probably set up by the spammer, not by me. I do not want any emails to arrive flagged in my mailbox. Is there a way to stop or clear the flags upon arrival?

Additionally, the flagged spam emails also show up in Microsoft To Do in the 'Flagged emails' category. This makes this Flagged emails to do list unusable. Is there a way to selectively show flagged emails from certain folders, excluding the Junk Email folder?

Sanne1 0 Reputation points

2026-08-27T14:59:43.7966667+00:00

I get an AI answer to my question. I says that both functionalities are not supported by Outlook.com. This is strange, as for example Gmail does not have this issue.

Is there a way I can contact Microsoft to get this functionality added to their to do list?
Hornblower409 14,690 Reputation points

2026-08-28T19:15:37.45+00:00

@Sanne1 said

When I receive spam in my Junk Email folder, they are often flagged.

I have been working two other cases that may be similar:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5969455/junk-emails-flagged
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5982193/some-junk-mail-in-outlook-is-flagged

In both of these cases there was an Apple Mail connection to the outlook account. Does this apply in your case as well?

3 answers

Your answer

Sanne1 0 Reputation points

2026-08-27T14:59:43.7966667+00:00

I get an AI answer to my question. I says that both functionalities are not supported by Outlook.com. This is strange, as for example Gmail does not have this issue.

Is there a way I can contact Microsoft to get this functionality added to their to do list?
Hornblower409 14,690 Reputation points

2026-08-28T19:15:37.45+00:00

@Sanne1 said

When I receive spam in my Junk Email folder, they are often flagged.

I have been working two other cases that may be similar:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5969455/junk-emails-flagged
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5982193/some-junk-mail-in-outlook-is-flagged

In both of these cases there was an Apple Mail connection to the outlook account. Does this apply in your case as well?

Answer 1

Hi Sanne1,

I understand that flagged junk messages are making the Flagged email list in Microsoft To Do difficult to use.

Please note that this is a user-to-user forum, so contributors cannot change Outlook.com or Microsoft To Do features.

The Q&A Assist answer is generally correct. Microsoft currently documents synchronization from the primary mailbox, but it does not provide a setting to exclude only the Junk Email folder.

I would also like to add that you can contact Outlook.com support so an agent can review the mailbox behavior and record your feature request. However, support cannot guarantee that the requested functionality will be added.

1, Go to Outlook.com and sign in.

2, Click the Help icon (question mark) in the top right corner.

3, In the Help pane that opens, type a brief description of your issue (e.g., "account management"), then press Enter.

4, Scroll down the page until you see "Still need help?", click Yes.

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5, Select "Chat with a support agent in your web browser."

6, Review the description of your issue and confirm your email address (ensure it's an email you can access).

7, Click Confirm to create the service request and then start chat to connect with an agent.

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8, This screen indicates that your request has been submitted and the system is connecting you to Outlook.com live chat support, which may take a moment to load.

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I hope the support team can review the flagged junk messages and ensure that your request reaches the appropriate team.

Answer 2

Possible Workaround - If Outlook is using a non-English language

Following a similar thread on Reddit where user Darewelll posted about a workaround that fixed it for him. Don't know if this applies to the cases reported here.

my Outlook account was set in French [which seems to cause iOS to not recognize the Junk folder as special, but only as a normal folder]. So everything flagged within that folder was still shown in the "flagged" category, because iOS doesn't realize it's junk. I switched my Outlook account to English (US), and now iOS correctly recognizes the junk folder, and everything flagged within that folder is not shown anymore in the "flagged category". In the end it doesn't really fix the "high importance" junk being flagged but at least it is not shown anymore in my "flagged" category on iOS. This is the discussion who helped me, the guy had the same issue but with the German language.
[External Non-Microsoft Site] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255817358?sortBy=rank

Answer 3

There is no supported setting in Outlook.com or Microsoft To Do to automatically clear message flags on arrival or to exclude Junk Email from the Flagged email list.

Supported behavior:

In Microsoft To Do, flagged mail appears when the Flagged email list is turned on.
The list syncs flagged mail from the primary mailbox.
Only flagged emails from shared folders and shared mailboxes are excluded.
The documentation does not provide any folder-based filter for Flagged email, so there is no supported option to include Inbox but exclude Junk Email.

What can be done:

In Microsoft To Do, turn off the Flagged email list in Settings if the list is unusable.
In Outlook.com, reduce unwanted mail by blocking senders or domains:
- Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email.
- Add addresses under Blocked senders or domains under Blocked domains.
- Select Save.
For legitimate mail that is incorrectly going to Junk, mark it as It’s not junk and add the sender to Safe senders so it stays out of Junk.

For the specific goal of removing spammer-set flags before or when the message arrives, no supported Outlook.com feature is described here.