Stop junk mail in Outlook and Hotmail

You've set the junk filter to High, blocked a hundred senders, and the junk keeps coming. New addresses every day, newsletters you never signed up for, and the odd spam calendar invite for good measure.

The Spam Blocker sits in front of your Outlook inbox and learns from your decisions. Junk is moved out of the way before you see it, nothing is deleted, and the sender is never reported.

Stop junk mail in Outlook

Why Outlook's junk filter lets it through

Outlook's filter mostly works from lists of senders Microsoft has already seen. Spammers send from a fresh domain every few days, so they're always one step ahead of the list. And if enough people open a newsletter, Outlook treats it as wanted, even if you never signed up.

How to stop it with Leave Me Alone

The Spam Blocker scans every new email as it arrives and decides whether it belongs in your inbox. It doesn't care which Outlook app you read your mail in, because it works on the mailbox itself. It takes about a minute to set up.

1. Connect your Outlook, Hotmail, Live, or MSN account to Leave Me Alone. You sign in with Microsoft, and we only ask for the permissions we need.
2. Turn on the Spam Blocker. From then on, junk and cold outreach are moved to a blocked folder the moment they land, on every device you check mail from.
3. Rescue anything we got wrong. Open the blocked list, click Rescue, and the email goes back to your inbox. We'll trust that sender from now on.

Blocked email goes to a folder we own, not Outlook's Junk Email folder. Microsoft never sees a report, the sender never learns your address is live, and nothing gets emptied after 30 days like it does in Junk.

Getting spam meeting invites on your calendar too? The Spam Blocker can remove those calendar events at the same time as it blocks the email.

Block junk mail in Outlook now

What about the junk already in your inbox?

The Spam Blocker handles new mail from the moment you turn it on. For the pile that's already there, run the Unsubscriber first. It lists every newsletter and mailing list in your Outlook or Hotmail account and unsubscribes you with one click.

Anything that ignores your unsubscribe gets caught by the mailing list blocker automatically, so you never have to unsubscribe from the same sender twice.

Outlook's junk filter vs the Spam Blocker

They work together. Outlook keeps catching the obvious stuff, and the Spam Blocker catches what's left.

	Outlook junk filter	Spam Blocker
Learns from	Microsoft's lists	Your decisions
Reports the sender	Yes, when you report junk	Never
Catches new sender addresses	Only if Microsoft has seen them	Yes, based on how the email behaves
Works across web, desktop, and phone	Settings differ between apps	Yes, it works on the mailbox itself
Spam calendar invites	Added to your calendar anyway	Removed along with the email

FAQ

Why is my Outlook junk filter not working?

Outlook only catches senders and patterns Microsoft has already seen. Spam from a brand new address slips through, and newsletters that plenty of other people open look legitimate to it. The Spam Blocker learns from what you block instead, so it catches both.

Does this report senders to Microsoft?

No. Blocked email is moved to a separate blocked folder in your account. It never touches Outlook's Junk Email folder, and Microsoft never receives a report. The sender gets no signal that your address is real.

Does it delete anything?

No. Blocked mail stays in the blocked folder for as long as you want it. Outlook empties Junk Email after 30 days, we don't. You can check the list any time and rescue anything that shouldn't be there.

Does it work with Hotmail, Live, and MSN addresses?

Yes. They're all Outlook.com accounts under the hood, and the Spam Blocker works the same way for each. It also works with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 mailboxes.

Do I need to change anything in the Outlook app?

No. The Spam Blocker works on your mailbox, not on the app, so it doesn't matter whether you use Outlook on the web, the desktop app, or your phone. The blocked folder shows up everywhere.

What happens if it blocks a real email?

Rescue it from the blocked list and it goes straight back to your inbox. Rescuing also teaches the Spam Blocker to trust that sender, so it won't happen twice.

Can it stop the spam calendar invites too?

Yes. Outlook adds meeting invites to your calendar even when the email goes to Junk. Turn on the calendar option in the Spam Blocker and we'll remove the event when we block the email, without sending a decline to the spammer.

How much does it cost?

The Spam Blocker is part of the Leave Me Alone Hero plan.