As the largest email provider in the world with 1.8 billion users, Gmail is no stranger to cybersecurity risks, spam, and scams. Gmail is free to use, and organizations can use the business tools in Google Workspace for a small fee. With this popularity and easy accessibility, you might encounter a time when you want to block or unblock an email address.
Google offers a few things to proactively protect your account. For example, spam filtration helps stop messages from ever reaching your inbox, and tools like Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) help you only receive authenticated emails from verified businesses.
You can further customize these spam filter settings and automatically move this “ junk mail” to a separate label, where you can easily delete it. You can also create an approved senders list to automatically allow individual email addresses or an entire domain through your spam filters. Gmail also offers transport layer security (TLS), which protects your data both in transit and at rest with 128-bit encryption.
However, even with all these protections in place, a spam email will likely infiltrate your inbox, and you’ll want to know how to block this email address manually. You also might want to block a user who is harassing or threatening you.
How to Block an Email Address in Gmail
Luckily, blocking a Gmail address is easy and only takes a few steps.
- Open the Gmail app, and open the email from the sender you want to block.
- Hit the button with three dots in the top right of your email.
- Select “Block (sender name).”
Now, you should no longer receive emails from this person!
Alternatively, you can also delete this existing email at the same time.
- Click on the filter icon in the top search bar, and write in the recipient address you would like to block in the “From” field. That should segment out all emails from that specific person.
- Select “Create filter” at the bottom of the search results.
- Simultaneously select the check box that says “Delete it.”
Now, this will help all emails from that sender to go directly into the trash.
How to Unblock an Email Address in Gmail
Ever block someone by accident? To unblock someone, follow the steps below.
- Open the Gmail app, and select the gear icon. Open “Settings.”
- Select the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” button.
- Find the blocked address you want to unblock, and click “Unblock.”
Easy enough! Now, you should start receiving emails from this sender again.
More Gmail Tips & Tricks
You can utilize other time saving Gmail tips and tricks like Gmail tabs, professional email templates, multi email forwarding, and much more.