The best way to ensure that the emails you actually want to see don't end up in your spam box is to create a list of email addresses of people you know. While this is often called a safelist, the modern term is a safelist.
Each email service has a slightly different safelist procedure.
There's no quick checkbox in Gmail to add a sender's email to the actual list of friends you want to keep out of your spam box. However, there are several effective ways to add your Gmail friends to your safe list.
Open your contact list in Gmail. The quickest way is to access the Google Contacts link.
On the Google Contacts page, select Create Contact and fill out the Create New Contact form . Google will send all incoming emails from your contact list directly to your inbox.
Sometimes, a friend may send you an email that ends up in your spam box before you have a chance to put their email address on your safe list. There is also a quick way to solve this problem.
Select Spam from the navigation bar to open your spam box, then find your friend's email. You'll see a spam label at the top of the email. Click the x next to a label to remove it.
One way to ensure that emails your friends receive never end up in the spam box is to create filters.
From the inbox screen, select Settings (gear icon).
Select View all settings .
Select Filters and Blocked Addresses from the navigation links at the top.
Select Create new filter .
In the Search Mail form, enter an entire domain or specific email addresses that you want to safelist. Use domains to safelist anyone from a specific company. Once done, select Create filter .
On the next form, select Never send this to spam . Finally, click Create filter .
Once completed, you will see the new filter appear in the filter list.
Safelisting an email address in Yahoo is similar to Gmail. Add email addresses to your Yahoo contacts or create filters.
In Yahoo Mail, select the Contacts card icon in the upper right corner of your inbox. Select New Contact in the left navigation pane.
Fill out the "Add Contact" form with your friend's name and email address. Select Save to save the new contact. Yahoo will no longer place emails received from this email address into your spam box.
Another way to prevent spam from your friends is to add filters to ensure the emails reach your inbox.
Select the gear icon in the upper right corner of your inbox, then click or tap More settings .
Select Filters from the left navigation menu, then select Add new filter .
In the Add New Filter form, give the filter a name and fill in the domains or email addresses you want to safelist. Select Save twice to activate the new filter.
The filter now appears in the filter list in the Filters window.
By default, this filter will move incoming emails from this address directly to your inbox.
If you are an Outlook Online user, security targeting for your friends is similar. Add contacts to your friends safe list or use the Safe Senders feature.
Adding contacts is as easy as Gmail or Yahoo. Open Outlook Online Contacts by clicking the Apps icon in the upper left corner of the window and selecting the People app.
Enter your first name , last name and email address . Once done, select Create to create a new contact.
Any email addresses listed in Outlook contacts will not go to the spam folder.
Adding safe senders is a way to keep your friends out of your spam box.
Select the gear icon in the upper right corner of the window, then select the View all Outlook settings link at the bottom of the list.
In the Settings window, select Mail in the left navigation pane, and then select Spam in the right navigation pane. Under Safe senders and domains , click or tap Add .
In the pop-up field, add an email address or an entire domain to add to your safe senders list. Press Enter when finished. Click the "Save" button to finish.
Any email from an address or domain on your safe senders list will be sent directly to your inbox.
Comcast (also known as Xfinity) is one of the most popular internet service providers in the United States. Therefore, many people may want to put friends who use the service on a safe list.
Xfinity will provide customers with a free email account if you sign up. There are several ways to add your Xfinity friends to the safe list.
As with the other email providers listed above, an easy way to keep friends out of your spam box is to add them to your contact list.
To add an Xfinity contact, log into your email account and select Address Book in the top menu. Then, select the Create Contact icon. Fill out and save the form.
A faster way to put all your friends' emails on your safe list is to import contacts from another account.
When you click "Address Book," you'll see an "Import Contacts" link in the left navigation pane. Click Start and step through the wizard to import existing contacts from your other accounts such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or even text files.
As with Gmail and Yahoo, the best way to safelist friends in your Xfinity email account is to create a filter that ensures incoming emails will make it to your inbox.
Select the gear icon in the upper right corner and click or tap Settings .
Select Filter Rules under Mail in the left navigation pane, and then select the Add New Rule button.
Set the rule name to your friend's name. Select Add condition and select From/From . In the "Include" field, type the email addresses or domains that you want to safelist.
Select the Add action link and select Keep . Save the new rule.
Once completed, you will see the new filter appear under Mail Filter Rules in Xfinity Mail settings.
By selecting "Hold," you ensure that incoming emails from this domain or email address will arrive in your inbox.
In Settings , if you select Advanced Settings under Mail in the left navigation pane, you'll see a section titled Email Safelist .
If you enable Use email safelists , only emails in your email safelist will appear in your inbox. All other incoming emails will be discarded.
This method is ideal if you only want to communicate with a limited group of people using your Xfinity email account. However, enabling this feature will prevent others from sending you emails.
This can be a great way to eliminate all forms of spam, but it also greatly reduces the usefulness of your email account.
