How to add someone to Safe Senders List in Outlook

Outlook, both the online version and desktop version offer inbuilt protection from spam emails. However, it’s not without false positives. Many a time I have noticed that email from a person to which you have replied gets into Spam or Junk. Sometimes it’s even worse and new emails from the right person get into junk. That’s where the Safe Senders List comes into the picture. In this post, we will show how you can add someone to the Safe Senders List in Microsoft Outlook.

Add email ID to Safe Senders List in Outlook

You may be using the Outlook online version or Office Outlook, which is part of Office 365, Office 2021 or any other version. The steps to add someone to the Safe Senders List may differ from version to version, but they largely remain the same.

1. Microsoft Outlook Online
2. Office 365 Outlook
3. Import and export Safe Senders List

If you have a lot of emails, then its best to use the last option, but make sure to read all of them.

1] Microsoft Outlook Online

• Go to Outlook.com and sign-in with your Microsoft account
• Click on the gear-looking icon on top-right, and then click on View all Outlook settings link
• Next, click on Junk Email. Here, you can configure Safe Senders List
• You have three sections here
  • Blocked senders and domains
  • Safe Senders and domain
  • Safe Mailing List
• To add someone to Safe senders list, under Safe Senders and domain, click on Add button
• Type the email address and hit enter. The email will be included in the safe list, and those emails will be directly in the Inbox.
• To delete, use the recycle bin icon, and to edit, use the Pencil icon.

How to quickly add someone to Outlook Safe Senders List

If you know an email is incorrectly marked as spam, then you can add it instantly to the safe list.

• Open the Email, and click on the three horizontal dots next to forward, replay action.
• In the menu, look for the option which says—Add to Safe Senders
• Click on it, and it will be included in the list.

2] Office 365 Outlook

Office 365 Outlook is a desktop app, and the setting is a little different compared to the online version. However, before we go ahead, let’s understand one simple thing.

Here we can configure multiple mailboxes or email IDs, and junk rules or Safe Senders List rules can be different for each of them. I tried, but I don’t see any global rule that can be applied to all the mailboxes. So, if the same email ID should be included in the Safe Sender List, you can configure it for one mailbox, export it, and then import it for another one—more in the post at the end.

• Launch Outlook & select an email account listed on the left pane.
• Under the Home ribbon,  in the Delete section, locate the Junk option. Click on it, and select Junk Email options
• It will open the Junk Email options for that account. Switch to Safe Recipients
• Click on the Add button. Here, you can either enter the exact email ID or if it is a domain, add @domain.com
• Click on the OK button and Apply it.

Now any email from that sender or domain will not go to the Junk folder.

How to quickly add someone to safe senders list

There is a quicker way to add someone to the safe sender’s list. If you saw an email in the junk folder, and want to make it safe, follow this method.

• Select the email
• Click on Junk in the ribbon menu and you can choose between four options
  • Block Sender (not applicable here)
  • Never Block Sender
  • Never Block the Sender’s domain
  • Never Block this group or mailing list

You will receive a prompt that the send “abs@abc.com” has been added to your Safe Senders List. Click OK and you are done.

3] Import and export Safe Senders List

When you have too many emails and domains to whitelist, we suggest you use the import/export option. You can create a text file with one email id or domain per link.

To clearly understand, add a few emails manually to the safe list. Then click on the export button. It will prompt you to download a text file. Open the text file, and you will notice that all emails and domains are listed one after another in a new line.

This feature is not available in Outlook Web, so if you have a big list, there is no option other than to add them one by one.

That said, it is still possible that an email is moved to Spam or Junk folders. It happens when the email has something suspicious and is flagged by the scanner. When a legitimate email account starts sending out a spam email, it will get caught, and you will be warned. Usually, those emails will have a warning message at the top, which would say something similar to—Links and other functionalities have been disabled for this email. It is done to safeguard you from links that could lure you into giving personal details.

We hope the tutorial was easy to follow, and you could add someone to the Safe Senders List in Microsoft Outlook.

Read: Error 0x8004010F, Outlook data file cannot be accessed.