To block a sender in Outlook, open any email from them, click Junk on the toolbar, and select Block Sender. Done. Their future emails go straight to your Junk folder.
But for sales reps and account managers dealing with high email volumes, blocking individual senders is only part of the problem. According to the Fyxer Admin Burden Index, 2026, a survey of 5,000 UK and US office workers, 50% of inbox activity is noise. Marketing emails account for 31% of everything that lands in your inbox. Notifications take another 21%. The volume alone is enough to bury the emails that actually matter.
This guide covers how to block senders across Outlook desktop, web, and mobile, how to manage your blocked senders list permanently, and what to do when blocking alone isn't enough.
How to block a sender in Outlook desktop
Blocking a sender in the desktop version of Outlook only takes 4 steps. This method ensures that emails from unwanted contacts do not appear in your inbox.
- Open Outlook and select an email from the sender you want to block
- Click Junk on the toolbar
- Select Block Sender
- Confirm the action
Future emails from this sender will go directly to your Junk Email folder before being automatically deleted
Tip: If you use Outlook 2016, 2019, or Microsoft 365, the steps are the same. For older versions, check the Help section under “Junk Email Options.”
How to block an email address in Outlook web app
The Outlook web app allows you to block unwanted emails directly in your browser. This is helpful if you don’t have the desktop app installed.
- Log in to Outlook.com
- Open an email from the sender you want to block
- Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the email
- Select Block
- Confirm - this will send future messages from this address to your Junk Email folder
How to block emails in Outlook mobile app
Blocking emails on the app is also a simple 4-step process on iOS and Android:
- Open the Outlook mobile app
- Tap an email from the sender you want to block
- Tap the three-dot-menu in the bottom-left corner
- Select Block Sender
The sender will no longer be able to send messages to your main inbox.
How to permanently block an email
Want to remove a sender permanently from your inbox? Here's how to manage your blocked senders list:
- In Outlook Desktop, go to Home > Junk > Junk Email Options
- Navigate to the Blocked Senders tab
- Add any email addresses you want to block permanently
You can remove addresses from this list if you decide to receive emails from them again in the future.
Tip: You can also set up Outlook rules to automatically delete messages containing specific words, domains, or phrases. This adds another layer of inbox protection.
Blocking unwanted emails is simple
Blocking senders removes the repeat offenders. But if you're managing 29+ emails a day that need a response (and another 100 that don't), blocking alone won't give you your focus back.
The steps above will clean up your blocked senders list. For the rest of the inbox noise, tools like Fyxer's AI email organizer sit inside Outlook and automatically file marketing, notifications, and low-priority threads out of your main view before you even open your inbox.
