How to block emails on Gmail and report them to avoid spam and potential phishing

• To block an email and sender on Gmail, open an email and click the three dots next to the reply button, and then choose “Block [Sender’s Name].”
• The process behind blocking an email is nearly the same in the Gmail mobile app, but the three dots may be in a different spot.
• You can also report emails as spam or phishing to help Google improve its automatic blocking filters.

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Perhaps the greatest plague of having an email address is the ridiculous numbers of spam emails that are sent out every day. Your spam folder is supposed to catch them, but even that defence can’t always stand up to the constant promotional emails you may receive.

So what do you do when the spam filter fails you? Well, you can always just continue to constantly delete emails, but if some company is sending them incessantly, that can add up to a lot of work. What you can do instead, in those cases, is block the sender completely.

Note that if you do block emails from a specific sender, you won’t see any emails from them anymore. If you’re certain you don’t need any communication from a specific sender, blocking may be the way to go.

In addition to blocking emails, you can also report spam and phishing attempts. Doing so helps Google learn, so that you and others see the same types of emails less in the future, and, if it’s phishing, it can be properly investigated.

Here’s how to block emails on Gmail, from your desktop or the mobile app.

How to block emails on Gmail on a computer

1. Find an email from the sender and open it.

2. In the upper right corner of the email, click the three dots to bring up the “More” menu.

3. In the drop down menu, if you want to report spam or phishing, click the “Report phishing” option first. If you only wish to block the sender, click the option that says “Block” followed by the sender’s email address.

4. Click OK to confirm that you want all future emails from this address to be sent directly to your spam folder.

How to block emails on Gmail on a mobile device

1. Open an email from the sender.

2. To report, tap the three dots in the top right corner of your screen to open the menu.

3. In the pop-up menu tap “Report spam.”

4. To block, tap the three dots to the right of the sender’s name and address.

5. In the pop-up menu, tap the option that says “Block” and the sender’s name. From now on, all future emails from this sender will go directly to your Spam folder, unless you unblock them.

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