How to Block a Contact on Outlook Mail

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: February 7, 2022 Tested

Blocking a contact on Outlook Mail (formerly known as Hotmail) is an easy and immediate way to stop receiving mail from a specific email address. This wikiHow article teaches you how to block a sender in Microsoft Outlook.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Blocking an Email Address

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Click the gear-shaped icon in the top-right corner of the page to do so. A drop-down menu will appear.
2
Scroll down and click View all Outlook settings. It's a link in the drop-down menu. Doing so opens a pop-up window.
- You may not need to scroll down to see this link.
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3
Click the Mail tab. It's in the upper-left side of the window.
- It will likely be selected by default.
You'll find this in the middle column of options.
5
Click on "+ Add" to open the text box. In the text box, you can block an individual sender, or an entire domain.
- If the person you are blocking has their own email domain, then you can just block the whole domain to help prevent block evasion.
This will add the email to your block list.
You can now close the box by clicking the X in the top right corner.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Email Rules for Block Evasion

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If the person you blocked figures out that you blocked them, then they might try to create or use a different email to circumvent the block. Luckily, you can use email filters to help prevent this.

Click the gear-shaped icon in the top-right corner of the page to do so. A drop-down menu will appear.
2
Scroll down and click View all Outlook settings. It's a link in the drop-down menu. Doing so opens a pop-up window.
- You may not need to scroll down to see this link.
3
Click the Mail tab. It's in the upper-left side of the window.
- It will likely be selected by default.
You can name it something like "Block (user)" or something else.
7
Select a condition. Think about something in the emails that's similar. Do they have similar sender addresses. For example, do they have (blocked name)123@example.com and then they use (blocked name)235@example.com? Do they have similar subjects, or similar phrases or words in them?
- If any of these apply to you, click on the conditions box, and then select the appropriate option in the Keywords category.
  - Select "Message body includes" if the email contains similar words or sentences. Then type the words or phrases in the box.Then press ↵ Enter.
  - Select "Sender address includes" if the email addresses are all similar. Then type the similar text in the addresses into the box.Then press ↵ Enter.
  - If the subjects are similar, then select "Subject includes" under the "Subject" category and then enter the similar words or phrases into the box. Then press ↵ Enter.
  - You can try other conditions if they apply to you.
Click on the box under "Add an action" to bring up a list of actions. Select "Delete" to send all emails that match the filter to the deleted folder.

Community Q&A

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Question

Can the sender see if they are blocked?

Community Answer

No, they will just not be able to email or contact you. Only you can see that they are blocked.

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Question

I have messages saved in a folder from this person I wish to block - will they be deleted?

Community Answer

No. Messages that don't go to junk/spam can only be deleted if YOU do so. Because those messages are saved separately, they will stay until you decide to delete them. Once you block the sender, the emails which they send you in the future will either go to junk/spam, straight to trash, or not reach you at all. Your saved messages will remain.

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Question

If a sender is blocked, will their emails appear anywhere?

R2_d2000

Top Answerer

No, if a sender is blocked via the blocked list, then the emails will not be anywhere in your email. If you use an email rule, then the messages will be in your deleted folder.

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Tips

If none of these methods work, then you can try to contact Microsoft for help.
- If you still can't block the user, just keep blocking their addresses as the come in or edit the email rule to help filter out more messages. The person you blocked might get tired after a while and give up.
- If all else fails, then you may need to change your email address to stop the harassment.
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You can also block a sender by clicking on the "Junk" button at the top of the email and then clicking on "Block".
- If you don't select the Block option for your contact's emails in the "Junk" folder, future emails will simply go to the "Junk" folder rather than being deleted automatically. This is useful if you want to see what the contact has to say without receiving their emails in your inbox.
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To remove a block, go to the blocked senders list and/or the rules list, and then click on the trash can icon to the right of it to remove it.

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