Trying to get junk email out of your sight—and out of your inbox, perhaps for good? Find out here how to mark email as spam in Outlook on Windows, Mac, mobile and the web.
First, Because They Cannot Swim, They Sleep Underwater
The mighty hippo is so mighty and massive (and dense) that its body will not float in water. Instead of trying to take on just as massive amounts of air and in spite of spending most of their lives in water, hippopotamuses famously do not swim.
All the while, they can choose to sleep underwater. A reflex will have them push off the bottom to rise for air, after which they will sink back down.
Now, here’s something you can do half asleep or at the lake: send an email up or down to the “Spam” folder.
How to Mark Email as Spam in Outlook
New Outlook
Time needed: 1 minute
To mark an email message as spam (and move it to the Junk Email folder) in new Outlook (on Windows, Mac and the web):
- Open the message you want to mark as spam.
Marking without opening: You can also report junk without opening an email first; see below.
Multiple markings: Highlight emails in the message list (or in search results) to mark more than one as spam in bulk; hold down Shift to mark a range and Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) to add to or remove from the selection. - Select Report | Report Junk in the toolbar or ribbon.
Which ribbon: With the Outlook ribbon interface, reporting spam is on the Home tab.
Outlook keyboard shortcut: Press Ctrl J (Windows) or Command Shift J (Mac) to mark the email or selection as spam.
Phishing: Some account types also offer the reporting of phishing attempts—messages that trick you into revealing personal information, passwords or authentication keys, for instance.
Mark as Spam without Opening an Email in New Outlook
To mark emails as junk without opening them in Outlook:
- Disable the reading pane.
Here’s how: Select Layout | Reading pane | Hide on the ribbon’s View tab in Outlook for Windows and on the web; in Outlook for Mac, select View | Reading Pane | Hidden from the menu. - Highlight and mark emails as above.
“Legacy” Outlook for Windows
To mark an email as junk mail using “legacy” Outlook for Windows:
- Open the message you wish to mark as spam in legacy Outlook.
More than one: You can highlight multiple messages in a folder or search results to mark them in bulk. - Click Move in the Home tab of the ribbon.
- Select the account’s “Spam” or “Junk Email” folder.
Not in the list: If the spam folder for the account is not in the list, select Other Folder… and pick the folder in the list.
Outlook keyboard shortcut: You can press Ctrl Shift V to open the Move Items dialog.
Dragging and dropping: In lieu of using the ribbon, you can also drag and drop messages to the “Spam” or “Junk Email” folder, of course.
Outlook’s Own Spam Filter
Legacy Outlook for Windows also includes a local rule-based spam filter that lets you block senders. For what it’s worth, you can “mark” an email as spam using this list:
- Open or highlight in a message list the email or emails whose senders you want to block.
- Click on one of the messages in the list with the right mouse button.
- Select Junk | Block Sender from the context menu that has appeared.
Mark as Spam in “Legacy” Outlook for Mac
To mark an email as junk using legacy Outlook for Mac:
- Highlight the message or messages you want to mark as spam in a message list in legacy Outlook for Mac.
- Click with the right mouse button on one of the highlighted emails.
- Select Junk Mail | Mark as Junk from the context menu that has appeared.
Ribbon alternative: You can also select Junk | Junk on the ribbon’s Home tab instead.
Mark as Junk in Outlook for iOS and Android
To mark an email as spam in the Outlook apps for Android or iOS:
- Open the email you want to mark as spam.
- Tap the three dots menu button.
- Select Report Junk from the menu that has appeared.
How to Mark Email as Spam in Outlook: FAQ
What happens when I mark an email as spam?
When you mark an email as junk, Outlook will move it to the account’s Junk Email folder to train the server-side filtering.
Exception: The exception is legacy Outlook for Windows, which adds the sender to a list of blocked addresses.
Can I undo marking as spam?
Yes.
To undo marking an email as junk in Outlook for Mac, Windows and the web:
- Click Undo in the notification that appears at the bottom of Outlook’s window or
- press Ctrl Z (Windows) or Command Z to undo immediately after marking.
You can also move the messages from the Junk Email folder, of course.
(How to mark email as spam in Outlook tested with Outlook 1.2024, Outlook for Windows 2312–2410 and Outlook for Mac 16.80; first published January 2024, last updated November 2024)