How to Unblock a Sender in Outlook.com

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated September 29, 2018

Did you block someone on Outlook.com (on purpose or by accident) but now want them unblocked? You may have had a good reason to block the email address or domain, but maybe you've changed your mind and would like to start receiving mail from them once again. No matter the reason, you can very easily unblock these blocked senders in Outlook.com with just a couple clicks.

There might be other ways you're blocking email addresses through Outlook.com, so be sure to read through all steps below to make sure you're opening your account enough to get mail from the recipient(s) in question.

To unblock addresses from your blocked sender's list:

  1. Click the settings gear icon from the menu at the top of the screen.

  2. Choose Options.

  3. Make sure you're viewing the Mail category on the left side of the page.

  4. Scroll down until you find the Junk email section.

  5. Click Blocked Senders.

  6. Click one or more email addresses or domains that you want to remove from the list of blocked senders. You can highlight multiples by holding down the Ctrl or Command key; use Shift to select a range of entries.

  7. Click the trashcan icon to remove the selection from the list.

  8. Click the Save button at the top of the Blocked Senders page.

How to Unblock Addresses Blocked With a Filter

Either open the Inbox and sweep rules section of your Outlook Mail account and then skip down to step 5, or follow these steps to remove a rule that automatically deletes messages from a sender or domain:

  1. Open the settings to your account with the gear icon from the Outlook Mail menu.

  2. Pick Options from that menu.

  3. From the Mail tab on the left, find the Automatic processing section.

  4. Choose the option called Inbox and sweep rules.

  5. Select the rule that automatically deletes messages from the address you want to unblock.

  6. If you're sure that's the rule that's blocking the emails, choose the trashcan icon to remove it.

  7. Click Save to confirm the changes.