How to Recover Mail From the Outlook Junk Mail Folder

How to recover legit email from your junk email folder in Outlook

by Heinz Tschabitscher
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated November 14, 2019

Microsoft Outlook comes with a junk mail filter that files junk emails in the Junk Email folder. However, good messages can be mistakenly marked as spam. It's simple to review the spam folder and recover the missing messages to the Inbox. When you recover a message, you'll teach the Outlook spam filter a lesson about what a good email looks like.

Instructions in this article apply to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007; Outlook for Office 365, and Outlook Online.

Recover Mail From the Junk Mail Folder in Outlook

To move an email from your spam folder to the inbox and, optionally, secure future messages from the same sender from being treated as junk in Outlook:

  1. Open the Junk Email folder in Outlook.

    Viewing emails in the Junk Email folder in Outlook

  2. Open or highlight the email message you want to recover.

    Selecting an email that is not junk and located in the Junk Email folder in Outlook.

  3. If the email is open in the Reading Pane or highlighted in the folder list, go to the Home tab. If the message is open in a separate window, go to the Message tab.

  4. In the Delete group, select Junk.

    Highlighting the Junk email button in Outlook

  5. Select Not Junk. Or press Ctrl+Alt+J.

    Selecting the Not Junk option in Outlook

  6. To add the sender to your safe senders’ list so that messages from their addresses are never treated as spam, select the Always trust e-mail from the checkbox.

    Choosing to trust a certain email so that it doesn't go into Junk in Outlook

  7. Click OK.

Outlook automatically moves the message to your Inbox or to the message's previous folder, where you can read and work on it.

To recover a message in Outlook Online, select the message in the Junk Email folder, go to the toolbar, and select Not junk > Not junk.

Recover a Message From the Junk E-Mail Folder in Outlook 2007

To mark a message as not spam in the Outlook Junk E-mail folder:

  1. Go to the Junk E-mail folder.

  2. Highlight the message you want to recover.

  3. Click Not Junk. Or press Ctrl+Alt+J or select Actions > Junk E-mail > Mark as Not Junk.

  4. If you want to add the sender of the email to your list of trusted senders, select Always trust e-mail from.

  5. Click OK.