How to Whitelist (Mark as Safe) an Email Sender in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Apple Mail 

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Gmail (Google Mail)

1. Add the sender to your contacts: Adding an email address to your Google Contacts signals to Gmail that you trust that sender. Google recommends adding the sender to your contacts to help prevent their messages from being marked as spam​.

2. Create a filter to never send to Spam: In Gmail settings, go to Filters and Blocked Addresses and create a new filter. Set the filter to apply to messages from the sender’s address, and choose the option “Never send it to Spam.” This ensures future emails from that address bypass the spam folder​. 

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Outlook (Hotmail/Live/Office 365)

Outlook provides a “Safe Senders” list. The steps differ slightly based on the version:

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Outlook.com / Outlook on the Web (Office 365)

1. Open Junk Email settings: Click the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right of Outlook.com, then select “View all Outlook settings.” In the Settings pane, navigate to Mail > Junk email​s

2. Add to Safe Senders: Under the Safe Senders and domains section, click “+ Add safe sender” and enter the email address (e.g. lee@meettheauthors.net) you want to whitelist​.

3. Save changes: Click Save (and OK if prompted). The address will now appear in your Safe Senders list. Emails from this sender will not be sent to Junk mail going forward.

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Outlook (Desktop Application)

1. Open Junk E-mail Options: In the Outlook desktop app, go to the Home tab. Click the Junk dropdown (sometimes shown as Junk E-mail or Delete > Junk in the ribbon) and select “Junk E-mail Options…”. This opens the Junk Email Options 

2. Add to Safe Senders list: In the Junk Email Options dialog, go to the Safe Senders tab. Click Add, then enter the sender’s email address (or entire domain) that you want to mark as safe, and click OK​. The address will appear in the safe senders list.

3. Confirm and apply: Ensure the Safe Senders list includes the new address and click Apply/OK to close the dialog. Now Outlook will never treat emails from that address as junk. (Tip: If you already have an email from the sender, an alternative shortcut is to right-click the message, select Junk > Never Block Sender, which automatically adds that sender to Safe Senders​ 

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Yahoo Mail

1. Add the sender to Yahoo Contacts: Add the email address to your contacts in Yahoo Mail. While Yahoo doesn’t have a traditional safe-sender settings page, adding an address to your contacts is an easy way to indicate that you trust emails from that sender​. (In Yahoo Mail, open the Contacts (address book) icon, click “Add a new contact,” and enter the name/email then save.)

2. Mark messages as “Not Spam”: If you find an email from the sender in your Yahoo Spam folder, select it and click the “Not Spam” button at the top. This moves the email back to your Inbox and trains Yahoo’s spam filter that you want to receive such messages. Going forward, Yahoo is more likely to deliver future emails from that sender to your Inbox rather than spam.

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Apple Mail (Mail app on Mac/iPhone)

1. Add the sender to your Contacts: In Apple Mail, emails from people who are in your Contacts are exempt from the junk filtering. To whitelist a sender, add their email address to the Contacts app on your Mac or iPhone. (For example, in an email from the sender, hover over their name and choose “Add to Contacts.”)

2. Mark as “Not Junk” if needed: If an email from the sender lands in the Junk folder, open it and click the “Not Junk” button (or the “Move to Inbox” banner) in Mail. The message will be moved back to your Inbox, and Mail will learn that this sender is not junk mail​. Each time you mark a message as “Not Junk,” Apple Mail’s filter gets smarter, making it less likely to misclassify future messages from that sender​.

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Each of the above methods comes directly from the official support guidelines of Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Apple. Following these steps will help ensure that emails from lee@meettheauthors.net land in your Inbox and not in the spam/junk folder.

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