Update October 25 2017: Users are reporting that the Safe and Blocked lists are working again, following the installation of the most recent update.
Update: July 14 2017: some users are reporting problems with the junk filtering in Outlook 2007 - 2016. Poor filtering could be due, in part, to the retirement of SmartScreen, which means the exiting junk filter definitions will not be updated. See Deprecating support for SmartScreen in Outlook and Exchange for more information.
However, there appears to be a problem where Outlook is not blocking addresses on the blocked senders list. When using the 'safe sender only' option, Outlook is letting addresses through that are not on the safe sender list. The product team is aware of the issue.
Potential workaround: Change the encryption setting for the account to Auto. In File, Account Settings double click on your email account. Click More Settings... click Advanced tab. Change the "Use the following type of encrypted connection to Auto. Please post in comments if this fixes it.
Note: Server-side spam filtering is generally the best option as it removes the spam from your Inbox before you download load it. Smartphone users won't waste data downloading spam (unless they look in the junk mail folder from their phone); on the desktop side, with an IMAP account, Outlook will sync the Junk mail folder, making it easy to review.
In Outlook 2010 and up, expand the Junk button the ribbon, then select Junk E-Mail Options to view the Safe and Blocked Senders lists. Verify that your address is not on the Safe Sender or Safe Recipient list. These two lists override the Blocked Sender list and the junk mail filter.
If you use Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 and junk email filtering doesn't seem to be working, go to Tools, Options, Junk Email options and verify that your address is not on the Safe Sender or Safe Recipient list.
If you have more than one account configured in Outlook 2010 and newer, each account will have it's own junk email settings.
If you will never send email to yourself, add your address to the blocked senders list. This prevents spammers from faking you as the sender to send you spam.
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59 Comments on "Junk Email Filtering isn't Working in Outlook"
I could not find the Auto setting under "Click More Settings... click Advanced tab. Change the "Use the following type of encrypted connection to Auto." recommended above. There was one under the GENERAL setting but it was already checked and the problem of blocked senders getting through was still happening.
What version of Outlook do you use? Both incoming and outgoing have an auto settings - the person who said it worked fixed their problem did not specificy which one, but i would assume incoming (since outbound wouldn't go through the junk filter).
I am using outlook 2017 (not the 365 version). My outlook was already set on Auto so that solution did not work. The toolbar junk is grey and not clickable but the right click junk works. my income pop 995; I checked required encrypted SSL/TLS; outgoing server 587, connection is AUTO; incoming is securepop.siteprotect.com; outoing is smtp.siteprotect.com
Is there a possibility that you set a registry key to disable the junk mail feature? When this is set, it totally disables all junk filtering and the dialogs, but i forget if it disables the right click menu too.
I have Office 365 ver 1709 build 8528.2139, however I still see a couple domains that are reaching my inbox, despite the fact I added them to the blocked sender list. Not sure what to do, except to wait for MS...
make sure you have the correct domain, otherwise, wait for an update.
I too can confirm that the newest Office 365 patch version 1709 build 8528.2139 finally fixes the broken Outlook safe list spam filter, the one that's been broken for at least three months. HOORAY. But just to be safe, I've disabled automatic updates again until I can test them on another machine.
I'm thrilled to notice that in the past couple days, my Outlook is once again sending a lot of the email spam to the Junk Email folder - like in the past!
Latest October patch didn't fix this either.
The Oct patch I got on Tues Oct 17 finally works. It is version 1709 build 8528.2139. I am so happy that my junk email is now going to the junk email folder again. I use the safe lists only setting.
Thanks for the update.
Is there any new info about this? Is it going to be fixed?
I haven't heard anything lately. To the best of my knowledge, they are planning to fix the problems with the safe/blocked lists, but basic filtering will lose it's effectiveness as time passes as they have stopped updating the filter definitions.
Try unchecking the box in junk options that allows addresses on your Contacts list to get through. Could be you need to keep an address but don't want emails from it.