How to whitelist an email address with Gmail, Outlook.com or Yahoo! Mail

You can get the emails you want by whitelisting an email address with Gmail, Outlook.com or Yahoo! Mail. This guide explains how to do that.

Why you are not receiving the emails

Services like Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo! Mail block email to protect you from unwanted or malicious email such as phishing, scams and spam. In this case, they are mistaking email that you want for email that you don’t want.

If ask your email provider to unblock or whitelist an email address, email from that address will be more likely to get through. Here is an explanation of how to do that for Gmail, Outlook.com or Yahoo! Mail.

How to whitelist an email address with Gmail

Add the address to your contacts

Add the email address that is sending you email (e.g. contests@northatllife.com) to your Gmail Contacts. Google will usually deliver email from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Mark messages as ‘Not spam’

If Gmail has marked emails you wish to whitelist as spam, tell Gmail the emails are not spam.

In Gmail, navigate to the spam folder.
Search for emails containing the domain you wish to whitelist (eg northatllife.com).
Select all the emails shown.
Click More and then Not spam.

Create a filter for the address

Create a filter to tell Google to whitelist email from a domain or online group.

Click the cog icon in the top-right corner, and then Settings
Click on Filters and then Create a new filter
Enter the domain of the email you want to whitelist in the From field
Click Create filter with this search
In the box headed When a message arrives that matches this search select Never send it to spam
Click the Create filter button

(To whitelist all email from a domain, enter the domain in the From field)

Tips:

Do not enter email addresses in both the From and To fields as Gmail will only filter in emails that meet both criteria
In both the From and To fields, you can enter either a specific email address or an entire domain
To enter multiple domains in each field separate them with OR as in “northatllife.com OR growsmartmedia.com”

See also Google’s help at "Create rules to filter your emails".

How to whitelist an email address with Outlook.com

For Outlook.com, Windows Live Mail, Hotmail and MSN Mail, sign in to your account at Outlook.com and do the following.

Add the address to your contacts

Add the email address that is sending you email (e.g. contests@northatllife.com) to your Outlook.com Contacts. Outlook.com will usually deliver email from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Add the address to your safe senders

Click the cog icon in the top-right corner and then More mail settings
Select Safe and blocked senders and then Safe senders
Add the domain of the email you want to whitelist to the list of Safe senders

(To whitelist all email from a domain, add the domain to the list of safe senders)

Tips:

In both the Safe senders and Safe mailing lists, you can enter either a specific email address or an entire domain
In both the Safe senders and Safe mailing lists, you can enter multiple domains or email addresses

See also Outlook.com’s help on I didn’t receive an email someone sent me.

How to whitelist an email address with Yahoo! Mail

Add the address to your contacts

Add the email address that is sending you email (e.g. contests@northatllife.com) to your Yahoo! Mail Contacts. Yahoo! will usually deliver email from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Create a filter for the address

Mouse over the Settings menu icon and select Settings
Click Filters and then Add
Enter a Filter Name
Enter the domain of the email you want to whitelist in the Sender field
Select Inbox as the folder to deliver the email to
Click Save and then click Save again

(To whitelist all email from a domain, enter the domain in the Sender field)

Tips:

Do not enter email addresses in both the Sender and Recipient fields as Yahoo! Mail will only filter in emails that meet both criteria
In both the Sender and Recipient fields, you can enter either a specific email address or an entire domain
Create a new filter for each domain or email address you want to whitelist