How to Report Spam in Gmail or Inbox by Gmail

Report spam that makes it to your Gmail inbox so you will see less of similar junk in the future.

The Good Thing Is: Reporting Spam Makes for a Better Gmail Spam Filter

The more spam Gmail sees, the less spam you get in your inbox; this, at least, is the idea.

You can help Gmail's spam filter learn—by showing it the junk that made it to your inbox, of course.

Reporting spam is easy and will not only rid you of similar junk in the future but purge the immediately offending message—immediately.

Blocking Is Also an Option—for Individual Senders

For messages from specific, obnoxious senders, blocking is usually the better option than reporting these messages as spam. Chances are, these messages will not look like typical spam, and so they may confuse the spam filter more than they can help.

Use blocking only for individual senders—people who continue to forward you messages, for instance—, though, and not for spam. Junk mail senders will not usually have identifiable and persistent senders. Typically, the address will be random, and blocking does nothing to stop the inflow of spam.

Report Spam in Gmail

To report an email as junk (and improve the Gmail spam filter specifically for you in the future) in Gmail:

1. Check the message (or messages) in Gmail.
   • You can also open the email, of course.
2. Click Spam.
   • You can also press ! (Shift-1) with Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled.

To report spam if you access Gmail in an email program using IMAP:

1. Move the message (or messages) to the [Gmail]/Spam folder.

To report an email as spam in the Gmail mobile web app:

1. Check the unwanted message or messages.
   • You can also open a message.
2. Press the double arrowhead button (up or down) in the toolbar.
3. Select Report spam from the menu.

To report a message as spam in the Gmail Android app:

1. Open the message or check one or more messages.
2. Press the Menu button.
3. If you had opened the message, select More.
4. Now select Report spam.

Report Spam in Inbox by Gmail

To mark an individual email as junk in Inbox by Gmail in a browser on a computer or the Inbox apps for Android and iOS:

1. For a message that is part of a bundle or digest:
   1. ​Open the digest or bundle.
      • ​​For emails in digests, find the message under Related items.
2. ​Click or tap the Move to… button (⋮, next to the buttons that delete and mark as done).
   • ​​You can also hit . (period) using Inbox by Gmail keyboard shortcuts in a desktop browser.
3. ​Now select Spam under Move to… from the menu that has appeared.

(Tested with Gmail in a desktop browser and the Gmail apps for Android and iOS)