Learn How to Report a Message as Spam to Yahoo Mail

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated February 18, 2019

Yahoo! Mail has spam filters, so most unsolicited messages are placed in the Spam folder automatically. Even so, once in a while spam makes it to your Yahoo! Mail inbox. This may be annoying, but it is your chance to improve the Yahoo! Mail spam filters.

If you report the spam to Yahoo! Mail, the company modifies its filters to catch that particular type of spam in the future.

Report a Message as Spam in Full-Featured Yahoo! Mail

To alert Yahoo! Mail about a junk mail that made it past the spam filter:

  1. Open the message or tick its checkbox in the inbox. You can check multiple boxes to report more than one message at the same time.

  2. Click the arrow next to the Spam button in Yahoo! Mail's toolbar.

  3. Select Report Spam from the drop-down menu to notify Yahoo! and to move the offending email to your Spam folder.

Report a Message as Spam in Basic Yahoo! Mail

To submit a junk email as spam in Basic Yahoo! Mail:

  1. Check the boxes of the junk mail messages you want to submit.

  2. Click the Spam button in the toolbar at the top or bottom of the screen.

  3. In Yahoo Basic, if you open the email, you won't see the Spam button. Instead click the Actions menu in the toolbar at the top and bottom of the screen, select Mark as Spam, and click Apply. 

The message is moved to the Spam folder and forwarded to those who maintain the Yahoo! Mail anti-spam filters automatically.

Report Spam From a Yahoo! Account Directly

If the spam is coming from another Yahoo! Mail account, you can report the user directly.

  1. Go to the Report Abuse or Spam on Yahoo! page in your browser.

  2. If the spam is coming from a Yahoo Mail account, click report it to Yahoo! directly.

  3. In the screen that opens, enter your contact information, a detailed description of the problem, and the Yahoo! ID or email address of the source of the spam.