Office 365 Emails Going to Junk? Stop Auto Junk Mail in Outlook

Are your Office 365 emails going to junk on their own? We are here with a proper tutorial to stop you from missing out on important conversations. Although a junk folder is an important tool for removing spam and scams from one’s inbox. Sometimes, this powerful filtering mechanism may start to filter based on false positives.

This results in even genuine messages being put together with other spam. So, it is important to see what may be causing this issue to arise in the first place. Only then can we move forward with a proper strategy to prevent this from happening again. Note that many of the methods below are in the post-incident and prevention category.

Reasons Why Office 365 Emails are Going to the Junk Box?

The most common reason is when the sender is new and uses a custom domain name instead of the regular ones like @outlook.com, @gmail.com, etc. Although this is a security feature designed to stop spam and phishing emails in Office 365, in some scenarios, these end up overdoing the filtering.

Other than that, the causes can be split into the source side and destination side, so see what matches your situation.

Source-side causes

• The source email is marked as a hijacked phishing source.
• Inappropriate mail structure, i.e., use of many links and images.
• Unvalidated security certificates. You may have to set up SPF, DKIM, or DMARC in O365 again.

Destination-side causes

• Rules depositing all emails in the junk.
• The sender is kept in the blocked list.
• Overtly strong auto-filtering.

One or more of these errors may contribute to your emails ending up in the junk folder. Moreover, if not fixed timely manner, users risk losing their email permanently. As Junk Folder does not allow any mail to sit for longer than 30 days.  Regardless of its read/unread status. Moreover, unlike the deleted mailbox restoration in an Office 365 account, data deleted from junk folders is impossible to get back. Next, let’s start with the solution at an individual level.

Individual Level Methods to Stop Emails from Going to Junk Folder

There are a lot of things that a user can do at their own level without escalating the issue to the IT administrator. However, as they may not be well-versed with Outlook’s internal settings, they may be reluctant to perform such steps on their own.
Fearing that they may end up with more issues than before. There is no need to fret, plus the steps we are about to tell you will work for not only the internal emails going to the junk folder in Office 365, but external emails too.

Use Outlook Classic Desktop Application:

Step 1. Go to the Home tab >> Click Junk >> Junk E-Mail Options.

Step 2. Set your desired Filter Level to No Automatic Filtering.

Solve Wrong Junk Filter on Outlook Web App

The following steps are for those who are still running the Exchange Server 2013 or 2010:

Step 1. Log in to your Exchange Webmail account >> Click the Gear icon (top right).

Step 2. Select Mail under My app settings >> Go to Mail >> Accounts >> Block or Allow.

Step 3. Choose Don’t move email to my Junk Email folder >> Click Save.

As mentioned earlier, the method only stops new Office 365 emails going to junk folder. So, to get back the presently stuck mail, users have to do the following. For those on the newer Exchange 2016 and 2019 servers, or who are on the Microsoft cloud, they can check out our guide on how to whitelist an email in Outlook 365. This will allow emails from the source to bypass the junk mail filters.

A Simple Way to Get Back Office 365 Emails Going to Junk

Step 1. Open Outlook >> Go to Junk Mail >> Toggle the Select Option.

Step 2. Select All or Make a Custom Selection >> Click on Move >> Select Inbox/Archive/New Folder.

This is a temporary remedy. Moreover, the user has to repeat these steps every time they see an important email inside the junk box instead of the regular inbox.

Steps for Outlook on the Web (Outlook[dot]com)

You can also perform similar steps or set up a new rule to stop incoming mail from going to the junk box like this. (These

Step 1. In Outlook, click on Rules >> Manage Rules >> In the pop-up >> Add new rule.

Step 2. Type a Rule name (e.g, Stop Office 365 Emails Going to Junk).

Step 3. In the condition, choose Apply to all messages >> In action, select Copy to >> New Folder >> Type in a name >> Save.

Step-by-Step Way to Bulk Disable Junk Email Folder For Admins

The regular method described previously is useful for individuals looking to prevent Office 365 emails from going to the junk error. However, in an organization, it is the IT admin’s responsibility to fix such errors, especially when multiple users have the same issue.

There are a couple of ways you can try.

Use PowerShell Cmdlets and Fix Office 365 Emails Going to Junk Error

Step 1. Open PowerShell as Administrator >> Connect to your O365 Admin account:

Connect-ExchangeOnline

Step 2. To disable Junk Email Filtering, Run:

Get-Mailbox | Set-MailboxJunkEmailConfiguration -Enabled $false

How to Solve Office 365 Emails Going to Junk Using Admin Center?

Step 1. Go to EAC >> Log in with your administrator email account (the same one used to manage your domain name)

Step 2. You will be redirected to the Exchange Admin Center >> Click on Mail Flow >> Rules

Step 3. Click + (Plus Sign) and select Bypass Spam Filtering >> Create a new rule:

Step 4. Name: Choose a name (e.g., “Bypass Outlook Junk Mail Filter”) >> Apply to: All messages

Step 5. Modify message properties >> Set Spam Confidence Level (SCL) >> Bypass Spam Filtering (ignore others) >> Save

There are multiple variants where you can specify IPs, email addresses, etc. So, change whatever you wish and customize the filter.  Note that on top of these manual methods, there is an automated alternative that can act as a safety net in case you fail to get emails out of the junk box in time. So let us see what it is.

Office 365 Emails Going to Junk is Still an Issue? Make a Backup

Use the SysTools Office 365 Backup to keep a copy of all emails, including those that are in junk folders. It has a date filter to specifically select the items from a particular time period. Apart from that, you get user-level selection and priority marking options too.

Conclusion

Here, we told you what steps to take if Office 365 emails go to the junk box. You now possess a full knowledge set comprising reason as well as solutions if important Outlook emails end up in the wrong (i.e., junk) folder.

Among the methods, which included manual transfer, rule removal, and others, the one that stands out is the automated tool. Although not a direct solution, it can get you the emails, even from a junk folder prior to deletion. Combine it with the delta export, and you have a regular backup of all email conversations accessible offline.

Frequently Asked Questions on Office 365 Emails Going to Junk

Q 1. Where is the Junk Email folder in Outlook?
The junk email folder is present in the left side pane along with other default folders.

Q 2. What would happen if I forgot to pull mail out of the Junk Box?
To understand what would happen, consider the lifecycle of an email in the junk folder. As soon as an email gets in the junk folder, an internal countdown begins. This lasts for 30 days, after which the auto-deletion policy gets triggered. This deletion is permanent and non-reversible, so you won’t have any chance of recovery whatsoever.

Q 3. Is there any way to disable the Junk Box in Outlook?
At the user level, unfortunately, there is no such feature. The only possible alternative is to set up a rule that copies all incoming mail and puts it in a separate folder. However, this causes mailbox storage to swell up, so it is not suitable.
If a set of emails is intended only for internal company communication, then admins can disable junk mailboxes from their end. Note that this is only possible for those with business/enterprise editions of M365 plans and not regular users.

Q4. Can I fix the Office 365 emails going to Junk from my mobile Outlook app?
No, the mobile app lacks any advanced settings. You can only use the Outlook web or desktop version for this task. However, once you change the settings, it will be applied everywhere, including your mobile.