Emails going to recipient spam

FL 0 Reputation points
2026-10-04T22:47:14.69+00:00

I am experiencing a deliverability problem with my personal @hotmail.com account.

Legitimate emails sent from my account are being delivered to Gmail recipients' spam folders rather than their inboxes. The messages are not being rejected or bounced.

I tested this with a previously unused Gmail account. A completely plain email containing only:

Subject: Test 2 Body: Hello

was delivered to the Gmail spam folder. Gmail displayed the explanation:

"This message is similar to messages that were identified as spam in the past."

The same Gmail account successfully receives a similarly minimal message from another Gmail account in its inbox.

I have checked the authentication headers of the Hotmail message and they show:

SPF: PASS DKIM: PASS DMARC: PASS BCL: 0

Any ideas?

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  1. EmilyS_726 30,350 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-10-05T03:23:13.9566667+00:00

    Since SPF, DKIM, and DMARC all pass, this does not look like an authentication problem with your Hotmail account.

    The important part is Gmail’s own message:

    “This message is similar to messages that were identified as spam in the past.”

    That means Gmail’s spam filter is making the decision to place the message in Spam. Microsoft can make sure the message is sent correctly and authenticated, but Microsoft does not control Gmail’s filtering rules or inbox placement.

    BCL: 0 also suggests it did not classify the message as bulk mail.

    Can the recipient share the email header, not from your sent box, but from their spam box regarding your email? Then you can share here? Make sure you remove any references of personal information to protect yours and their privacy.

    Was this answer helpful?

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