Buzz
Today, Mytour will guide you through the process of blocking contacts in Microsoft Outlook (formerly Hotmail). Blocking a contact in Outlook can be quite challenging because the platform doesn’t always filter emails from blocked addresses, even if they are on your block list. However, deleting the contact, adding their email to the 'Blocked Senders' list, and marking one of their emails as spam can help prevent future emails from them. Keep in mind that Outlook may take anywhere from an hour to several days to start actively blocking emails from that contact. Note that you cannot block contacts on the Outlook mobile app.
Steps
Delete the Contact
Open Microsoft Outlook. Go to https://www.outlook.com/ on your computer’s web browser. Your Outlook inbox will appear if you’re already logged in.
- If you’re not logged in, click Sign in at the top-right corner of the page, then enter your email address and password.
Ensure you are using the Outlook beta version. The beta version offers slightly different options compared to the standard Outlook website. If you see a blue 'Outlook beta' toggle at the top-right corner of the page, you are using the beta version.
- If you’re not on the beta version, click the gray 'Try the beta' toggle at the top-right corner and wait for the page to reload.
Click the 'People' icon shaped like a person at the top-right corner of the page. This will open your contact list.
Select the contact. Scroll through the list until you find the person you want to block, then click on their name.
Click the Delete button at the top of the page.
Click Delete when prompted. The contact will be removed from your list, ensuring that emails from their address won’t reach you once blocked.
- Technically, you can block someone while they are still in your contact list, but their emails will not be delivered.
Add a user to the block list
Scroll down and click on View full settings. The link is located at the bottom of the dropdown menu. A new window will pop up.
- You might see the link immediately without scrolling.
Click on the Mail tab at the top-left corner of the window.
Click on Junk email in the middle of the options column.
Enter the contact's email address. Click on the text box labeled 'Add a sender here' at the top of the 'Blocked senders' section and type in the email address of the person you want to block.
Click Add to the right of the text box.
Click Save at the top of the page. Your changes will be saved, and the contact's email address will be added to the blocked senders list.
Mark the email as spam
Understand why this step is necessary. While adding a contact to your block list indicates you want to block future emails, Outlook may not enforce this unless you also move existing emails from that contact to the 'Junk' folder and block them from there.
- If you’ve never received an email from the contact, you won’t be able to complete this step. In the future, if you receive an email from them, mark it as spam to finalize the blocking process.
Return to your inbox. Click the envelope-shaped 'Mail' icon at the bottom-left corner of the page. Your Outlook inbox will open in a new tab.
Select an email from the contact. Click on any email from the contact you are blocking.
- If they have sent multiple emails, you can select them in bulk by hovering over the contact's profile picture (or initials) on the left side of the email, clicking the checkbox that appears, and then selecting the checkboxes for other emails.
Click the Junk tab at the top of the page.
Open the 'Junk' folder. Click on Junk on the left side of the inbox. A list of emails marked as spam will appear.
Click on the email from the contact you want to block to select it.
- Again, if there are multiple emails marked as spam, click the checkbox on the left of each email to select them all.
Click Block at the top of the page.
Click OK when prompted. Your decision will be confirmed, ensuring the contact's email is added to the 'Blocked Senders' list. You will no longer receive emails from them.
- It may take a few hours (or days) for emails from this contact to stop appearing in your inbox.
Tips
- By deleting the contact, adding their email to the blocked senders list, and marking their existing emails as spam before blocking, you ensure their emails won’t reach you in the future.
- If you don’t select the Block option for the contact's emails in the 'Junk' folder, future emails from them will only go to the 'Junk' folder instead of being automatically deleted. This is useful if you want to know what the contact is saying but don’t want their emails in your inbox.
Warnings
- Due to Outlook’s algorithms or potential errors, simply adding an email address to the 'Blocked Senders' list may not be enough to prevent future emails from reaching your inbox.
