How to Find Spam Folder in Gmail and Outlook

Nobody likes spam emails. It’s frustrating to shift through irrelevant emails when you’re trying to find important messages. According to a recent study, approximately 45.6% of all sent emails globally were identified as spam. Luckily, spam folders help by keeping these unwanted emails out of your main inbox. 

But what is a spam folder and how to find it? Why do some legitimate emails still end up in the spam folder? And what can you do to make sure your emails get to the right place?

If you’re not sure about any of these questions, you don’t need to worry. In this article, we’ll answer these questions and explain how a spam folder works. Let’s dive in and get a clearer understanding of spam folder and how to avoid it. 

What is a Spam Folder?

A spam folder is a special section in your email account where unwanted and suspicious emails are sent. There are special filters in Gmail that detect emails that might be junk or scams and they are automatically moved to the Gmail spam folder. Thanks to these filters, your email inbox is always clean, allowing you to focus on important messages. 

If an email looks suspicious, email filters analyze different things about that email, such as the sender’s address, content, and links included. Not only does this process keep your inbox clean of unwanted messages, but it also protects you from viruses and other online threats. 

Not all unwanted messages are spam. There are cold emails, which are sent to users who might be interested in a product or service but there’s no previous content with the company that sends cold emails. The key difference between cold and spam emails is that the first ones are personalized and sent with a purpose, while spam emails are often irrelevant to a recipient. 

How to Find Spam Folder in Gmail?

The main purpose of the spam folder is to keep your main inbox clear of unwanted emails by sending them to a designated place. On the other hand, you can always mark important messages, so they never end up in spam. 

If you are not sure how to check the spam folder in Gmail, you don’t need to worry. This is a straightforward process, regardless of the device you use. 

To help you maintain your email and keep it clear, we’ll first explain how to check the spam folder in Gmail.

Spam Folder on the Gmail Web 

To find the spam Gmail folder on your laptop or computer, here’s what you need to do: 

1. To find the Gmail spam folder, go to Gmail and sign up on your laptop. 
2. On the left side of your screen, you’ll find all folders listed, including inbox, sent, and drafts. 
3. Click on the “More” option and from the dropdown menu choose “Spam”.
4. If you want to delete a single message from the spam folder, click on it and then on a trash can icon on the right side.
5. If you want to delete spam messages, go to the check box that’s on the left side.
6. Click “Delete forever”.
7. You can also clear your spam folder with one click. To do that, click on “Delete all spam messages”.

Spam Folder on the Gmail Android or iPhone  Mobile App

To find the spam Gmail folder through your Android or iPhone mobile app, you need to follow several simple steps. 

1. You need to sign up or log in to your email account. 
2. On the top left corner, there’s a burger icon (three bars) to open the main menu.
3. Click on it and scroll down to the spam folder. 
4. If you want to remove a single email, select it and click on the delete (recycle bin icon). 
5. If you want to clear the whole folder, click on “Empty spam now” at the top. 

How to stop Legit emails from Landing in the Gmail Spam Folder?

Sometimes, even legitimate emails end up in your spam folder for various reasons. It can be tricky, especially if an important email from your business partner ends up in the spam folder. If you want to stop that, there’s a solution.

Here, we’ll explain how to move emails from your spam folder to your primary inbox in Gmail so that future messages from that sender are more likely to reach your inbox. 

On the Gmail Web 

If you want to unspam specific emails in Gmail’s web interface, you need to follow several simple steps. 

1. Open your email and go to spam. 
2. Click “Report not spam” on the top. 

This way, you’ll instantly move the email to your primary inbox and help future messages from that sender go to your inbox. It will help you see your messages sent by important business partners and answer promptly. In the long run, this will improve your sales goals and increase revenue. 

On the Gmail Mobile App 

You can also quickly move your spam emails to your inbox folder with your mobile app. Regardless of the device you use, the steps you should follow are the same and straightforward: 

1. Find the spam folder and find the email you want to remove from spam. 
2. Click on the More menu button and select “Report not spam”. 

How to Unhide Gmail’s Spam Folder? 

Another thing you should know is how to unhide the spam folder in Gmail if it is hidden. And usually, it is. When you create your email account on Gmail, the spam folder is hidden by default on the web app. 

For some people, it’s convenient to change this and make the spam folder visible when you open your email. To do that, follow these steps: 

1. Log in to your email.
2. Click on “Settings” and select “See all settings”.
3. Click on “labels”.
4. Go to the “Show” option, which is next to the spam folder. 
5. Your spam folder will appear on the main menu of your email, below “Drafts”.

How to Delete all Spam Emails at Once?

If you want to delete all spam emails at once, it’s a quick and practical way to keep your inbox organized and free up your storage. After all, we all hate when our email is loaded with unwanted emails that only clutter the email. It’s quite annoying to do it one by one, as you’ll use a lot of time instead of focusing on things that can improve your business, such as how to export important connections from LinkedIn. Removing spam emails in bulk saves you the time and effort of deleting each of them manually. 

Here’s how you can do it from your web app: 

1. Open Gmail and log into your account. 
2. Go to the spam folder and find it, which is on the left side of the screen. If it’s hidden, click on “More”. 
3. At the top of the spam folder, there’s a check box. 
4. Once you click on the check box, all spam emails will be selected. 
5. Click on the “Delete forever” option.

If you want to delete all your spam emails from your phone, it’s a simple and effective way to keep your email app clutter-free and organized. Here’s how you can do it from your Android or iPhone Gmail account: 

1. Open Gmail on your mobile phone and log in. 
2. Tap on the burger icon (menu icon), which is on the top left corner of the screen. 
3. Scroll down to the spam folder. 
4. Tap “Empty spam now which is on the top of the screen. If this option is not available, select all emails by tapping the circular icon next to each email. After that, tap the trash can icon to delete them.

Steps to Make sure email from particular sender doesn’t end up in Spam Folder

Whitelisting, or adding senders to your safe sender list, ensures that future messages from specific addresses and domains never end up in your spam folder. 

Here’s how you can do it on both your mobile and desktop devices. 

If you want to whitelist specific senders from your Android or iOS phone, here’s what you need to do: 

1. Go to the Gmail app on your phone and log in. 
2. Find an email from a sender you want to whitelist. 
3. Tap to open the email. 
4. If the email is in the spam folder, tap three vertical dots in the top-right corner, then select “Report not spam.” This will move the email to your inbox.
5. Click on the sender’s name or email address at the top of the email, then tap “Add Contact” in the pop-up menu. This way, you’ll prevent future emails from that sender end up in the spam folder. 

If you want to whitelist email contacts in your Gmail account through the web, here’s what you need to do: 

1. Go to the Gmail account and click on Settings at the top right corner.
2. Click on All Settings. 
3. Go to Filters and Blocked Addresses.
4. Click on Create New Filter.
5. Write the email address you want to whitelist in the From field and click on Create Filter.
6. Choose Never Send it to Spam. 

After these steps, all emails that you choose will be whitelisted and thus, never end up in the spam folder. 

How to Find Spam Folder in Outlook

In Outlook, the spam folder isn’t called “Spam” like it is in Gmail. Instead, it’s labeled as the “Junk Email” folder. Finding it is easy once you know what to look for. Here’s how you can locate the Junk Email folder in Outlook:

Spam Folder in Outlook on the Web 

If you want to find the spam folder in Outlook on the web, you need to do the following things: 

1. Open your Outlook account. 
2. You will see the Folder tab on the left side of the screen. 
3. Click on Junk Email, which is the name that Outlook uses for the spam folder.

Spam Folder in Outlook on Mobile Apps

Finding the spam folder on mobile apps is pretty much the same as finding it on the web – easy and straightforward. On the mobile app, the spam folder is also known as Junk Email. There are several steps to follow:

1. Open your Outlook app. 
2. Click on the burger icon (menu) at the top left side of the screen.
3. Junk Email is listed below Inbox. 

How to delete Spam Emails in Outlook 

Just like with finding the spam folder in Gmail, it’s really easy to delete spam emails in Outlook. Regardless of the device and OS you use, you can easily delete unwanted emails. 

On the Outlook Web 

To delete unwanted emails from Junk Email in Outlook, you need to do the following things: 

1. Open your Outlook account. 
2. You will see the Folder tab on the left side of the screen. 
3. Click on Junk Email. 
4. Select the message you want to remove. 
5. Click delete at the top of the screen. 

If you don’t want to delete one by one email, you can make a bulk delete. You need to select the whole folder and then clean it by clicking the icon Empty Folder at the top.  

On the Outlook Mobile App

Once you open your Outlook email account and log in, here’s what you need to do to delete unwanted messages: 

1. Find the Junk Folder on the left side of the screen.
2. Select one or more messages you want to delete.
3. Click on the Bin Icon (trash) to delete unwanted emails. 

If you want to delete all messages in the Junk Folder in Outlook, click on the Empty Spam option at the top. 

How to Mark Emails as Spam in Outlook 

If you keep receiving unwanted emails, but Outlook doesn’t mark them as spam, you can do it manually. 

On the Outlook Web 

Here’s what you need to do to mark emails as Spam in Outlook through the web app: 

1. Click on the email or emails you want to mark as spam.
2. Click on the Junk icon at the top of your screen. 
3. Select Junk from the drop-down menu. 
4. Selected emails will be removed to the Junk folder instantly. 

On the Outlook Mobile App

Here’s what you need to do to mark emails as Spam in Outlook through the mobile app: 

1. Choose the email or emails you want to send to the junk folder.
2. If you use Android, click on the move icon at the bottom. 
3. Click on the Junk Email. 
4. If you use iOS, click the folder icon and select spam. 

How to Unblock and Unspam Emails Going to Spam in Outlook 

If you want to unblock and unspam emails from a particular sender to not go to spam, here’s what you need to do: 

How to Unblock Emails On the Outlook Web

Here’s what you need to do to unblock spam emails: 

1. Got to Settings. 
2. Click on View all Outlook settings.
3. Select mail and click Junk email. 
4. Click the trash icon.

How to Unspam Emails on the Outlook Web

1. Go to Junk Folder. 
2. Select the messages you want to mark as not spam. 
3. Choose Not Junk from the Not Junk tab. 

How to Unspam Emails on the Outlook Mobile App

One of the things you need to know is that you cannot unblock email addresses in Outlook’s mobile app. You can do it only through the desktop version. 

If you want to unspam emails, here’s what you need to do. If you use an Android app, follow the steps: 

1. Go to the Junk folder. 
2. Open the email you want to move to inbox.
3. Click on the three dots at the top right corner. 
4. Choose Move to folder. 
5. Select Inbox or Mark as not junk. 

If you use an iOS app, here’s what you need to do: 

1. Open the Spam folder. 
2. At the top right corner, tap Edit. 
3. Choose the email you want to move to inbox. 
4. Select Mark. 
5. Tap Mark as Not Junk. 

Bonus: How to Setup a Spam Filter in case Gmail or Outlook fails to catch Spam?

You can also set up your own spam filet to help you catch spam emails that slip through Gmail’s or Outlook’s filters. Here’s how to do it for both platforms: 

Set up a Spam Filter on Gmail: 

1. Open your Gmail and log in. 
2. Go to Settings and choose See all Settings. 
3. Go to Filters and Blocked Addresses.
4. Click on the Create New Filter. 
5. Choose an email address, name, or specific words to enter criteria for spam emails. 
6. Click the Create filter and choose what to do with matching emails. 

Set up a Spam Filter in Outlook: 

1. Open your Outlook account and log in. 
2. Click on the gear icon and choose View all Outlook settings. 
3. Go to Mail, the Rules, and click on the Add new rule. 
4. Define criteria, such as email addresses, specific words, or names. 
5. Choose the action to move emails that match the criteria to Junk.