OVERVIEW
Target audience: Entire McGill community
McGill email administrators manage default anti-spam security settings in Office 365 that help control the amount of spam and other malicious email delivered to users across the university. These McGill-wide settings are monitored and adjusted as needed, according to changing conditions in spam sophistication, and university needs.
In addition, they quarantine email entering McGill from specific senders who have been identified as sources of targeted phishing and malware attempts.
This article provides instructions on how to further customize Outlook's the email junk filtering for your needs, by allowing you to block or allow specific senders and increase the level of junk mail detection.
In this article:
Quick tips to reduce spam:
If you are getting too much spam in your Inbox, you can use the Report Junk button in any Outlook app, including Outlook on the web (https://outlook.com/mcgill.ca).
Note: If the email is already in your Junk Email folder, you do not need to report it.
For more details, see Report suspicious emails.
Getting false positives?
If you see a legitimate email in your junk mail folder, you can improve the way Microsoft filters this type of email in the future by either using the Not Junk button in any Outlook app, or by moving it to your Inbox or another folder. This action does not affect the way filtering works for other people.
Outlook desktop application
Access Junk Email Options
- From the Outlook Home menu, click the Junk icon.
- Quick links in the pull-down menu (Block Sender, Never Block Sender, Block Sender's Domain, Never Block this Group or Mailing List) allow you to take action on the current email message selected.
- Click on Junk E-mail Options... to access the Junk Email Options window
- The first tab contains filtering levels listed in order of increasing protection:
WARNING:
McGill IT Services does not recommend changing the Junk email filtering levels in the Outlook desktop application because those changes are not synchronized with the server, and will not apply to all other email applications and devices. However, your Safe senders and Blocked senders lists are synchronized (it doesn't matter which device or application you use to read your mail).
- No Automatic Filtering is selected by default. With this option, there is no automatic spam filtering, however, your Blocked/Safe senders lists are respected, i.e., mail from your Blocked senders list is always classified as junk email, and mail from your Safe senders list is never classified as junk (see details about Safe senders and Blocked senders below).
- Low – The most obvious junk email is moved to your Junk Email folder in Outlook.
- High – Most junk email is caught, but some legitimate messages may also be identified as spam. With this setting you are advised to check your Junk email folder often to ensure legitimate messages are not moved there.
- Safe Lists Only – This very strict setting only allows messages from your Safe Senders and Safe Recipients list to be delivered to your Inbox.
Additional options applied to the filtering levels above:
- Permanently delete suspected junk email instead of moving it to the Junk Email folder.
This action is risky, since some legitimate emails could be deleted. - Warn me about suspicious domain names in email addresses (recommended).
This option is only available if you choose a level other than "No Automatic Filtering"; it is recommended because it can help you identify phishing and other malicious emails.
Safe Senders in Outlook desktop
Adding Safe Senders
Within the Junk Email Options window (Home menu > Junk > Junk Email Options…), the Safe Senders tab allows you to add email addresses of people you trust*, so that emails from those individuals are never moved to the Junk Email folder.
Additional options within the Safe Senders tab (these options are not turned on by default):
- Also trust email from my Contacts - Ensures messages sent from people in your contacts list do not end up in the Junk Email folder (whether or not they are on your Safe Senders list).
- Automatically add people I email to the Safe Senders List - Adds the email addresses of users you have contacted to the Safe Senders list so that they are not sent to the Junk Email folder.
* CAUTION:
Even though you may trust the people in your Safe Senders list, and people within your Contact list, their accounts could be compromised by a hacker and used to send spam, phishing or other malware. Use your best judgement whenever you receive suspicious-looking email from anyone, and do not click on links or open attachments if you’re not sure they are safe.
Removing Safe Senders
Click on the email address in the list of Safe Senders and click Remove. There is no confirmation prompt for this action.
Editing an address in the Safe Senders list
Click on the email address in the list of Safe Senders and click Edit…
Safe Recipients list in Outlook desktop
Within the Junk Email Options window (Home menu > Junk > Junk Email Options…), the Safe Recipients tab allows you to ensure you receive email from mailing lists and distribution lists of which you are a member. Add email address of the list to the Safe Recipients List. Messages sent to these email addresses or domain names are never treated as junk, regardless of the content of the message.
Blocked Senders in Outlook desktop
Within the Junk Email Options window (Home menu > Junk > Junk Email Options…), the Blocked Senders tab allows you to view and manage email addresses whose messages will always be treated as junk email.
There are two ways to add blocked senders:
- Add Blocked Sender email addresses directly
From the Blocked Sender tab, click Add… and enter the email addresses, or domains (everything after the @ symbol) you want to block. - Add Blocked Senders by right-clicking
While you are browsing your Inbox, you can right-click on any message you believe to be spam, and choose Junk > Block Sender.
Outlook on the web
Options for spam filtering are accessible through the Mail Settings window:
- Go to Outlook on the web at https://outlook.com/mcgill.ca (or via the Office 365 portal at https://office.com)
- Once you have signed in, click on the Settings gear icon (upper right corner), scroll down to the bottom and select View all Outlook settings.
- In the Mail Settings menu (left side pane), select Junk email.
From this window you can view, add and remove Blocked senders and Safe senders.
Safe senders and domains in OWA:
Add to this list email addresses of people or entire domains (all email addresses with the same ending, e.g. @mcgill.ca) from which you always want to receive email. Messages from these addresses will never be moved into the Junk email folder.
Blocked senders and domains in OWA:
Add to this list any email addresses and entire domains (all email addresses with the same ending, e.g. @mcgill.ca) from which you do not want to receive email. They will be moved directly into your Junk folder.
Remove a blocked or safe sender from the list:
Click the garbage can icon next to the email address you want to remove.
Edit an email address in the blocked/safe sender list:
Click the pencil icon next to the email address and make the desired changes.
Additional filtering and junk reporting options in OWA
If you scroll down in the Junk email settings window, you have additional options:
Filters
- Only trust email from addresses in my Safe senders and domains list and Safe mailing lists
This option is very restrictive; it would mean most legitimate email from the university would end up in your Junk folder. - Trust email from my contacts
If this box is checked, messages from people in your contacts list will never be moved to the Junk mail folder.
Reporting
When you manually mark messages as junk, you can choose to report them to Microsoft, to help refine the algorithms used to detect junk mail. The options are self-explanatory:
- Ask me before sending a report
- Automatically send reports
- Never send reports
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
- Create Outlook rules to manage your email - allows you to move messages with specific words in the subject or body.
- Email best practices
- FAQs for Email on Office 365