How to Block Emails in Yahoo Mail

Sick of undesired email you seemingly cannot stop? Find out here how to block emails in Yahoo Mail: report spam, unsubscribe from newsletters and block by sender or subject in Yahoo Mail.

First, a Rainbow by Moonlight

By our moon’s light
A rainbow
Is white—
Just so you know.

For all I know, this is because moonlight is typically too faint to be registered by the cones, the color receptors in the eye. The rods, which detect light as such (and even single photons), do see the moonbow, of course—from light gray to light gray.

Now, if you want to see not even faint images of obnoxious emails; if you want not to register unwanted senders at all in your Yahoo inbox, do read on!

How to Block Emails in Yahoo Mail

To block unwanted messages in Yahoo Mail, you have three options. Let’s make sure you select the right tool for the right kind of obnoxious email.

1. Block Spam

First, ask yourself: Is it spam?

An email is spam if you did not ask for it, cannot unsubscribe from it and there is no clear sender to block. In that case, it is best to report the junk email to Yahoo. This will allow their filters to block similar messages in the future—and there is no block list or filter for you to maintain.

In a Desktop Browser

To block emails on Yahoo as spam using a desktop browser:

1. Open the message you want to report or make sure it is checked in the message list.
   More than one: You can also check multiple emails to report them all as spam to Yahoo at once.
2. Click Spam in the Yahoo! Mail toolbar.
   Important: Do not click anything that says “report as spam” or similar inside the message itself. Make sure you click the Spam button in the Yahoo! Mail toolbar.

In the Yahoo Mail App (iPhone and Android)

To report junk emails in the Yahoo Mail app for iOS or Android:

1. Open the message or make sure it is checked in the message list.
   More than one: To check multiple messages, tap and hold the desired emails in the message list; after the checkboxes appear, you can check multiple emails.
2. Tap the more button (•••) in the toolbar.
3. Select Mark as spam from the menu.

2. Unsubscribe from Newsletters

Then, identify and get rid of unwanted newsletters.

Messages from newsletters have a consistent and familiar sender and, crucially, a working way to unsubscribe. So, if you do recognize a mailing list or marketing email you want to get rid of, you will easily be able to do that without blocking the sender manually in Yahoo!.

To unsubscribe from a newsletter:

1. Open the message.
2. Look for and follow a link called “unsubscribe”, “manage subscription” or something similar.
3. Complete the unsubscription process at the newsletter’s website.

3. Disable a Disposable Address if It Receives Junk Mail

If you have set up a disposable alias address in Yahoo Mail for a particular commerce site or newsletter and the address starts to receive spam,

• In addition to unsubscribing from the site or newsletter’s mailings,
• you can disable the address to stop receiving any messages at it.

4. Block a Sender or Subject in Yahoo Mail

Now, if the email is neither spam nor newsletter, you can block emails on Yahoo by sender or subject. You can either block email addresses using a blocked senders list or set up a filter to get a bit more control. We will look at both ways in turn.

Using the Yahoo Mail Blocked Senders List (Easier)

Using Filters (More Flexible)

To set up a rule to block emails from a sender (or emails using specific words in the Subject line, or emails from certain senders that have a particular word in the Subject…) using Yahoo! Mail in a desktop browser:

1. Find and copy the sender’s email address from a message they sent.
   It’s optional: This step is not essential; if you have no message from the sender to block at hand but do have their email address, continue with the next step.
2. Click the Settings Menu gear icon (⚙️) in Yahoo Mail.
3. Select More Settings from the menu that has appeared.
4. Go to the Filters category.
5. Click Add new filters under Your filters.
6. Enter a recognizable name for the new rule over Type a filter name (under Filter name).
   Example: If you are blocking example@yahoo.com, for instance, you could make the filter name “Block example@yahoo.com”.
7. Make sure From is expanded under Set rule.
8. Select contains under Select a filter criterion.
9. Type or paste the email address to block over Type a filter value.
   Keyboard shortcut: To paste the address from before, press Command V (Mac) or Ctrl V (Windows, Linux).
10. Make sure Match case is not checked.
    Case in point: Email addresses are, for all practical purposes, not case sensitive.
11. Optionally, add further criteria using To/CC, Subject and Body.
    Forwards: You could only block emails from the selected sender if the subject begins with “Fw: “, for example, to block only emails they forwarded.
    Subjects: You can just as well set up a rule that has no From criterion and a Subject criterion that blocks all emails that contain a specific word in the Subject: line.
12. Now make sure Trash is selected under Choose a folder to move to (using Select folder).
13. Click Save.

How to Block Emails in Yahoo Mail: FAQ

Where do blocked emails go in Yahoo Mail?

Where messages from blocked senders go and what happens to them depends on the type of block:

• Emails from addresses on your Yahoo Mail blocked senders list disappear without a trace.
• Messages caught as spam end in the Spam folder.
• Mail sorted using manual filters goes to the Trash folder.

Can I recover blocked emails?

You can recover emails from the Trash and Spam folders.

You cannot, however, recover emails from people on your Yahoo Mail blocked senders list.

Will senders be notified their email was blocked?

No, senders of emails you blocked will have no idea.

Can I block senders in the Yahoo Mail apps?

No.

While you can mark messages as spam, you cannot add to the blocked senders list using the Yahoo Mail apps for iPhone and Android.

(How to block emails in Yahoo Mail tested in a desktop browser; updated March 2024)