However much spam arrives at your email address, chances are Outlook.com filters most of it to the Junk folder. However much spam is filtered to the Junk folder, chances are one or the other junk email makes to your Outlook.com inbox once in a while.

You can delete that unwanted message, of course; you can also mark it as spam, though, and help Outlook.com identify similar junk emails in the future — so you don't see them in your inbox.

Mark a Message as Junk in Outlook.com

To tell Outlook.com a message that made it past its spam filter is junk:

• With the message open or checked in the Outlook.com message list:
  • Click Junk in the toolbar or
  • press J (with Outlook.com keyboard shortcuts enabled) or ! (Shift-1) (with Gmail-style keyboard shortcuts enabled).
  • You can check more than one message to flag them all as spam in one go.
  • To ensure the junk email is reported (instead of just being deleted), make sure spam reporting is enabled. (See below.)

To mark a message as junk using an instant action in the message list:

• Make sure instant actions are enabled and Junk is available. (See below.)
• Move the mouse cursor over the email you want to mark as spam in the folder's message list.
• Click the Mark this sender as unsafe and delete this message button.

Note that you can also mark phishing emails specifically.

Set Up an Outlook.com "Instant Action" for Marking Mail as Junk

To set up an instant action for marking mail as junk to Outlook.com:

• Click the settings gear in Outlook.com.
• Pick More mail settings from the menu that will have come up.
• Select Instant actions beneath Customizing Outlook.
• Make sure Show instant actions is checked.
• Now make sure Junk appears as an instant action under Show on mouse over or Show always.
  • To add marking a message as junk to the list:
    • Select Add actions.
    • Choose Junk from the menu that appears.
  • You can use Move up and Move down to re-arrange the list of instant actions and have Junk always shown or only appear when you hover the mouse cursor over an email in the message list.
• Click Save.

Enable Junk Email Reporting in Outlook.com

To have Outlook.com update its junk filters and potentially report spam to the sender's email provider and third-party spam filtering services:

• Click the settings gear in Outlook.com.
• Select More mail settings from the menu.
• Follow the Filters and reporting link under Preventing junk email.
• Make sure Report junk is selected under Report junk messages.
  • Select Don't report to have the Junk option act like Delete.
• Click Save.

(Updated April 2013)