This is for you if… important emails from your doctor, bank, school, delivery company or family keep ending up in junk or spam.
I was helping someone in Luton who had missed an appointment email because it had gone into junk. The email was genuine, but the mail provider had been over-cautious.
Why genuine emails go to junk
Email providers try to protect you from unwanted or harmful messages. Sometimes they get it wrong, especially if a message has lots of links, unusual formatting, an attachment, or comes from a sender you have not emailed before.
What to do when you find a genuine email in junk
- Move it to your inbox.
- Mark it as not junk or not spam.
- Add the sender to your contacts.
- Check whether you have rules or filters moving messages.
- Look in junk regularly if you are waiting for something important.
Be careful before trusting it
Do not assume every message in junk is safe. Check the sender address, wording, links and attachment before clicking. If it claims to be urgent or asks for payment, verify it another way.
How to reduce repeats
Replying to genuine senders, adding them to contacts and marking messages as not junk can train your mailbox. Some providers also allow safe sender lists.
Need help?
For ongoing help and peace of mind across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, see my membership. For one-off email help, you can book a visit.