A Faster Way to Block Senders in Outlook
To combat spam, I'm using the Block Sender feature in Outlook. Flagging messages to block is a fairly simple process, but an increasing amount of spam has been making its way into my inbox. The number of steps involved to flag all the messages adds up quickly. So I decided to look to my typical time saver when it comes to Microsoft products, the Quick Access Toolbar.
Background
I'm responsible for monitoring several email addresses. So when a spam message arrives, it fairly common to see that same message appear multiple times. Outlook does a decent job of catching the bulk of the spam I typically receive (~200 to 300 per day). However, an increasing amount of spam has been landing in my inbox.
Note: the directions and screenshots below are from Microsoft Outlook 2013 on a Windows 7 computer.
Block Sender
My standard process for blocking spammers was to
- Right click a spam message in my inbox
- Click Block Sender under the Junk option (see Figure 1)
Figure 1. Click Block Sender
While that's not a lot of steps, it becomes a bit more tedious when there are dozens of spam messages to process. It also doesn't help when I accidentally click the Never Block Sender option which is right below Block Sender.
Alternative Solution
With how much I use the Block Sender feature and how much clicking is involved in my current process; it's time to leverage the Quick Access Toolbar.
- Click the down arrow on the toolbar above the ribbon
- Click More Commands (see Figure 2)
- Under "Choose commands from", click All Commands (see Figure 3)
- Locate and click Block Sender
- Click Add (see Figure 4)
- Click OK
Figure 2. Click More Commands
Figure 3. Choose All Commands
Figure 4. Add Block Sender
Now I can hover my mouse cursor over the Block Sender button in the Quick Access Toolbar and use the up/down arrows on the keyboard to move through the messages in my inbox. Then I just click Block Sender as spam messages come up.
Final Thoughts
The new process is much faster than right clicking a message to block a sender. But it could be even better with Microsoft's help.
At this time, the Block Sender feature only works with individual messages. It would be nice if Outlook let us select multiple emails and then click Block Sender. Unfortunately, the feature is not available under the right-click menu when more than one message is selected (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Block Sender Option Missing
27 Comments
I'm so glad I found this post. I've been blocking at least 20 spam senders a day, by the laborious process of doing it for each individual post, over and over again. This is so much faster, and still enables me to skip any senders I don't want to block.
Thank you! Being able to "one-step" this is great! I've wondered about this for too long and finally searched for answer today.
Thanks so much, this is something that should have been done sooo long ago by Microsoft, are they too busy or what.
You star. Thank you.
THANK YOU! So much quicker and less annoying. I get junk and questionable e-mails all the time.
Works GREAT, I love u man.
So I'm posting on old threads, but saved a ton of time – thanks.
Thank you everyone!!!
This is awesome. Added it to my QA toolbar and the ribbon. Easy-peasy!
@Melanie – Using the keyboard shortcut (Alt+H+J+B) works well. You can even access the options available through the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) using the Alt key. For example, the Block Sender feature is the 5th icon in my QAT. I can select the message to block and press Alt+5. Of course, that shortcut could be problematic if I ever change my QAT so that Block Sender wasn't the 5th icon. Thanks for sharing!
Great Tip! Thanks!
>>> select the mail you want to block
>>> press ALT+H+J+B
@Fernando – There is a way to incorporate the Block Sender option into the Microsoft Ribbon. You just need to open one of your email messages, right click the ribbon in the message viewer, and click Customize the Ribbon….
The delete command you referred to is likely listed under the Message tab under the Delete group. For some reason, Microsoft doesn't let us customize existing groups, but we can create new ones. Click the Delete group, so that it is highlighted, and click the New Group button. This causes the new group to appear next to the Delete group.
Now you just need to incorporate the Block Sender option into the new group. Under the "Choose commands from" drop down, select Main Tabs and expand Message > Delete > Junk. Click the Block Sender option and click the Add button. The Block Sender option should now be listed under the new group.
From here you can rename the new group and click the OK button. The Block Sender option should now appear near the Delete option.
Brilliant!
This works great!, I was actually looking for a way to show that command inline with the message, next to the delete and flag commands… anyone knows?, thank you!
My life just got a little easier. Thank you! It is unfortunate that this simple, yet time-saving, option is not made readily available to Outlook users. I had to go on the hunt for it. Thank you!
I LOVE this option–thank you so much!
Really appreciate the tip and agree there needs to be a better multiple items click to block. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.
Great Tip! Thank you very much!
Much faster! Thank you!
thank you so much for this! it drives me crazy every day working through right clicking blocking spam emails from our business email address! just deleted about 400 emails in a couple of minutes with your advice, thank you!! :-)
Great Tip.
I took advantage of this tip and made it slightly faster. I made a folder in my inbox "Temp Blocked" When I go through a large amount of emails You can hold the control key to select multiple emails and move them all to that folder then you can just go through the entire list after your done sorting or every so often and block the senders.
Thank you so much! I wanted to figure this out, went to the Internet and your site popped up. You instructions were so clear, and it worked just great. Thanks for taking the time to help others!
Thank you SOOOOOOO much. Spam is truly a waste of everyone's time. But now, at least, not as much.
Two points…
Great tip, I'd tried to figure out how to do this previously but failed but now it works. Well done!
I completely agree that MS should enable this for multiple spam items.
Great tip. Just employed it myself. Was searching for a way to do this with "Quick Steps" but couldn't find one so Google brought me to your site. Thanks again.
Thanks for the tip. I agree that MS can do more to make managing spam easier.
Leave a Comment