In the present age, emails still constitute the predominant tool of online communication with friends, prospects, business clients etc. It has also become a very powerful marketing tool for all online business, be it sending newsletters, information, advertisements, response to queries, complaints etc. The other aspect of this is that unsolicited and unwanted emails have become the order of the day and left the emails vulnerable to scams, phishing, virus attacks and spam. This has led to reputed email services making their spam filters guidelines and rules more stringent.
On the flip side, these stringent rules cause many legitimate mails marked as spam and landing in the recipient’s spam folder instead of the rightful place, the inbox. The solution lies in ‘Email Whitelisting’ which facilitates an email to reach and land straight into the inbox and not the spam folder. The most typical method employed to White list an email address is to add the sender of the email to the contact list. The method to white list an email varies slightly for different email providers or vendors. Complied below are step-by-step instructions on how to white list email addresses in some popular email platforms.
Gmail
After signing into your Gmail account, first select the ‘contacts’ from the options on the left side of the Gmail inbox. Now select ‘create contact’ on the top menu and type in the email address that you wish to whitelist. Clicking on the ‘save’ tab would white list the sender’s email address.
Sometimes your contacts email keep landing in the spam folder. In such a scenario, you first need to navigate to the spam folder of the Gmail on the left side. Search for the emails containing the domain you wish to white list by typing the email or the domain name in the search box. The result would show all the emails from that particular domain. Next, select or checkbox all emails in the result list. Now, click at ‘More’ Tab at the top and select the option ‘Not Spam’. All emails from that domain would move to the inbox and land there henceforth.
A filter can also be created in Google to white list emails from a particular domain or email ‘group.’ For it the Cog icon on the top-right corner is clicked first and then the ‘settings’. Now click on ’Filters’ and then ‘create a new filter.’ Now enter the domain in the ‘from’ field. Next, click ‘filter with this search.’ Now, in the box titled,’ When a message arrives that matches this search’, select ‘never send it to spam.’ Finally click on ‘click filter’ button.
Outlook
The process applies for Outlook, MSN and Hotmail. First method is simply adding the email address to the contacts list.
You can also add the address to the safe senders. For it, select the ‘More mail settings’ option from the ‘cog’ icon at the right top corner. Choose ‘Safe and blocked senders’ and then ‘safe senders’. Add the domain of the email to the list. Now return back to ‘safe and blocked senders’ and then choose ‘safe mailing lists.’ Add the email address to be white listed to ‘safe mailing lists.’
Yahoo
Apart from adding the email address to the contact list by the same method give above, a filter can also be created.
From the Settings Menu Icon, select ‘settings’. Now, first click on ‘Filters’ and then ‘Add’. Enter a ‘filter name’ and then the email you wish to whitelist in the Sender field. After clicking on ‘inbox’ as the folder to deliver the emails, click on ‘save’ and then ‘save’ again.
Now, you can be assured of not missing the useful emails. Access the ‘Help’ Menu for any other issues.