Every day, millions and millions of Gmail users exchange countless emails on aggregate. Among these emails, many are spam or unwanted messages that we’d rather not receive. This article will tell you how to block emails in Gmail to avoid receiving junk mail.
While there’s always the option to ignore them, there are enough reasons why you might want to go a step further and block spam email sources altogether. First, blocking helps you stop junk mail from piling up in your inbox. Secondly, such unwanted messages may contain malware attachments or links that can put your device at risk. Hence, blacklisting the sender for good appears to be a reasonable decision.
Although the world’s largest email provider has built-in spam protection, it is imperfect, as most automated things are. Furthermore, you can even report these spam sources so that Gmail can better understand what kind of messages are to be flagged as potential spam. Reporting such sources can also help save others from falling prey to malware, online scams, etc.
How do I block emails in Gmail?
On desktop/laptop:
- Visit Gmail and log in to your account.
- In your inbox, click on the unwanted email to open it.
- Click on the vertical ellipsis (three vertical dots) on the right.
- Click on “Block <sender’s name>” to block the sender.
On mobile:
- Open the Gmail app and sign in.
- Click on spam mail.
- Select the vertical ellipsis on the right (next to the reply button).
- Tap on “Block <sender’s name>” to add the sender to your blocklist.
How do you report emails in Gmail?
On desktop/laptop:
- Go to Gmail and log in to your account.
- Click on the email you want to report.
- To report it as spam, click on the “!” icon near the top. To report it as a phishing attempt, click on the vertical ellipses near the top-right and select “Report phishing.”
On mobile:
- Launch the Gmail app and sign in.
- Tap on the email you want to report.
- Press the vertical ellipsis icon (next to the delete button).
4. Select “Report spam.”
How to unsubscribe from email subscriptions in Gmail?
There are instances where the sender might be legit, but the receiver might no longer be interested in the former’s mails. For example, say, you signed up to receive marketing emails from an e-commerce platform that you no longer use. Instead of blocking the sender or reporting the email, you can unsubscribe from the sender’s mailing list.
On desktop/laptop:
- Visit the Gmail website and sign in.
- Open the recurring email you want to stop receiving.
- Click on “Unsubscribe” next to the sender’s name. Alternatively, you can click on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email, which appears in most marketing newsletters.
On mobile:
- Open the Gmail app and log in.
- Tap on the email you don’t want to receive anymore.
- Find and tap on the unsubscribe button near the bottom of the email body.
Finally, this wraps up our guide on how to block/report/unsubscribe from emails in Gmail. In case you have any questions, shoot them in the comments below.
FAQs
You can block unwanted emails by opening that particular email, clicking on the vertical ellipsis icon, and selecting the “Block <sender’s name>” option.
Blocking someone without opening an email isn’t technically possible, but you can choose to set their email for automatic deletion. On Gmail’s desktop site, click on Settings (gear icon), select “See all settings,” and go to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab. Then, click on “Create a new filter,” enter the sender’s address in “From,” click on “Create filter,” check “Delete it,” and finally click on “Create filter.”
After you block someone, his emails go to the Spam folder.
