How to deal with persistent junk email

Question

How to deal with persistent junk email

Stephanie Subocz 20

I am getting hundreds of emails from spam users pretending to be from google maps for a custom map. Should I block all the senders which puts the emails directly into trash? Is there a way to automatically delete these type of emails meaning bypassing trash? If email is marked as “junk” will it automatically move to trash after a certain amount of time or will it be deleted? I’m being inundated- please help! I’d love to be able to set up email rules to assist. Thanks.

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Answer 1

Hi Stephanie Subocz

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Support regarding the influx of spam emails you're experiencing. I understand how irritating that must be. To better assist you, could you let me know if this is a personal Outlook account or a business one (like through Microsoft 365)?

In the meantime, I'll walk you through some simple steps to block, filter, and auto-handle them Outlook.

Blocking Senders:
- Blocking moves future emails from that sender to the Junk Email folder (not directly to Deleted Items). It's useful for repeats but ineffective for varied addresses.
- How to: Open a spam email, click the three dots (...) > Junk > Block sender.
- Manage blocks: Settings > Mail > Junk email > Blocked senders and domains.
Automatic Deletion:
- Outlook requires deleted emails to go through Deleted Items first, no full bypass for safety.
- Use rules to auto-delete (move to Deleted Items). Emails in Deleted Items auto-delete permanently after 30 days.
- Junk emails auto-delete after 10-30 days without moving to Deleted Items.
Behavior of Junk Emails:
- Marked as junk? They go to the Junk Email folder and auto-delete after 30 days (typically).
- This trains the filter; report a few via the Junk menu to improve detection.
Setting Up Inbox Rules:
- Rules catch patterns like "custom map" in subject/body.
- Steps:
- Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Rules > Add new rule.
- Condition: "Subject or body contains" > Enter phrases (like "custom map").
- Action: "Delete" (to Deleted Items) or "Move to Junk Email."
- Add exceptions for legit emails.
- Save and test with "Run now."

I hope you'll get the situation resolve. If you have any additional concern, feel free to comment below. I be more than happy to assist.

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LPG 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T14:09:14.3466667+00:00

It is kind of outrageous that Microsoft/Outlook has chosen to only provide what are basically completely inept tools for users to deal with the ever increasing amount of spam. Most of the spammers have long figured out how to beat these tools which essentially makes them useless. The amount of time millions of account users are wasting every day needing to scan through dozens if not hundreds of spam messages is staggering and Microsoft continues to sit idly by and does nothing to improve the user experience. Then once all of these messages are deleted they are sent to the trash folder and need to be deleted again. What lucid person ever thought this was a good idea?

Anyone over the age of 12 can scan through a junk mail folder and rapidly identify what is spam by quite a few obvious signs. Why do users not have tools that support identification of these obvious tools? Why isn't AI being used proactively to delete spam? If a user marks a certain subject line key word(s) or phrase as spam why can not all future email containing such words or phrases be automatically deleted, why must it go to junk and then to trash? Why aren't emails with no sender address automatically deleted by Microsoft? Why aren't emails with fake, jibberish addresses automatically deleted by Microsoft?

Microsoft Outlook users need new and more powerful tools to combat the ever increasing amount of spam and users need to know Microsoft is in their corner and doing their part to combat this burden not is not just dumping this problem on every single user to sort out and deal with.