Why are good emails landing in my junk folder?

How do I get a good message out of Junk?

E-3 email (SmarterMail webmail)

1. Sign in to webmail at mail.e3webmail.com and open Junk Email.
2. Open the message that shouldn’t be there and click Move to Inbox.
3. Open the Actions menu (three dots) and choose Trust Sender.

Expected result: the message is in your inbox, and later mail from that address gets through. Adding the sender to your webmail contacts helps too, because SmarterTools says contacts are trusted by default.

These steps follow SmarterTools’ guide to reading messages. Menu names can differ by version.

New Outlook and Outlook on the web

1. Open Junk Email, right-click the message, and choose Mark as not junk.
2. To trust the sender for good, select Settings, then Mail, then Junk email.
3. Under Safe senders and domains, select Add safe sender, type the address, then OK and Save.

Microsoft lists these steps in its Safe Senders guide. In classic Outlook, use Junk, then Junk E-mail Options, then the Safe Senders tab.

Gmail

Open Spam in the left menu (under More), tick the message and select Not spam, as Google shows in marking email as not spam.

The short version

• Move the real message back to your inbox, mark it not junk, and add the sender as safe.
• Never rescue a message asking you to sign in, pay or open a surprise file without checking by phone.

Why are my own emails going to other people’s spam?

That’s the other direction, and the cause is usually on your side. Receiving servers check three records in your domain’s DNS:

• SPF lists which servers may send mail for your domain.
• DKIM signs each message so the receiver can tell it wasn’t changed or faked.
• DMARC tells receivers what to do when those checks fail.

Microsoft explains the three in how email authentication works. Google’s sender guidelines require SPF or DKIM for everyone who sends to Gmail, and all three for bulk senders.

To check yours:

1. Ask a recipient to look in their spam folder and tell you which email service they use.
2. Run your domain through our free email deliverability checker.
3. List every service that sends as you: your mailbox, website forms, online store, invoicing tool and newsletter service. Each must be covered by SPF or sign with DKIM.
4. Ask the recipient to mark your message as not spam and add you to their contacts.

Fixing the records means editing DNS, where a typo can stop your email. Do that only if you manage DNS and know the exact records your providers publish. See DNS records for a new email or marketing service.

Why does this matter?

A missed quote, invoice or website lead looks to the customer like you ignored them. Microsoft says its junk folder is emptied after 30 days, with no way back, so a message left there is eventually lost for good.

What are the common mistakes and edge cases?

• The filter isn’t actually on. If there’s lots of spam in your inbox, a server filter may be on but set to deliver everything to the inbox anyway. Spam then piles up next to real mail. On E-3 email, ask us about it; E-3 can also block persistent spam senders on its mail server.
• Trusting a whole free email service. Never add gmail.com or outlook.com as a safe domain. Trust the person’s full address.
• Invoices come from a different address. Many companies send bills from billing@ or noreply@. Trust that exact address.
• Your own website’s form lands in Junk. That helps your inbox but not your customers. Their receipts may be going to spam too. See form emails going to spam or missing.
• A whole company’s mail is caught. Add the exact sending addresses you trust as safe senders, and ask us if it keeps happening.
• Dangerous mail. Some junk is phishing. The FTC’s guide to spotting phishing lists the signs. Don’t click. Forward it to support@e3help.me and delete it.

What if this didn’t work?

• The sender is trusted, but their mail still goes to Junk. Their own email setup may be failing its checks. Ask them to check it with their email provider.
• The message isn’t in Junk at all. It may never have reached you. Work through why am I not receiving email.
• Your mail still lands in spam after the records pass. Ask a recipient to send you the full message headers. They show which check failed.
• Sudden flood of spam. Your address may be on new spam lists. Keep using Move to Junk, and tell us.

How does E-3 handle this?

For E-3 email, E-3 can block persistent spam senders on its mail server. If your domain’s SPF, DKIM or DMARC records need changing for your outgoing mail, E-3 saves the existing DNS records before changing them.

Send us the sender’s or recipient’s address and the date of one affected message. To show us a message’s route, open its header (Actions, then View Header in webmail) and send us only the Received, Authentication-Results and Date lines. Remove other people’s addresses from them first, cover other people’s names in any screenshot, and never include a password. Never send a password by email, even to E-3.

Reach us on 814-399-4655, at support@e3help.me, or through the Get support form.

Related questions

• Why can’t I send email, or why do my messages bounce?
• Why are customers not getting order confirmation emails?
• SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained