Block a sender in AOL Mail directly from your inbox

Open the email from the sender you want to block. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner of the email, then select Block sender. AOL will move that sender's future emails to your spam folder automatically.

If you want to block someone without opening their email, hover over the message in your inbox list. A three-dot menu appears on the right side of that row. Click it and choose Block sender. The result is the same — all future mail from that address goes to spam.

Once you block a sender, you can still see their old emails in your inbox if they are already there. Blocking only stops new messages from arriving in your main folders. If you want to delete old emails from that sender, select them and delete them separately.

Key Takeaways

  • You can block a sender by opening their email, clicking the three-dot menu, and selecting Block sender.
  • Blocked senders' future emails go to your spam folder, but their old emails stay in your inbox unless you delete them.
  • You can block someone without opening their email by hovering over it in your inbox list and using the three-dot menu.
  • If you change your mind, you can unblock a sender by finding their email in spam and clicking Unblock sender.

Where blocked emails go

When you block a sender in AOL Mail, their emails do not disappear — they go to your spam folder instead. This means you can still find them if you need to, but they will not clutter your inbox or send you notifications.

Check your spam folder occasionally to make sure legitimate mail did not get caught by mistake. If a blocked sender's email ends up there and you want to read it, you can open it from spam without unblocking them. To stop seeing their emails in spam as well, you would need to delete them manually or unblock and then re-block them.

Unblock a sender if you change your mind

Open your spam folder and find an email from the sender you want to unblock. Click the three-dot menu on that email and select Unblock sender. Their future emails will go back to your inbox normally.

If you have already deleted all emails from that sender, you cannot unblock them from your inbox. Instead, go to your AOL Mail settings, find the blocked senders list, and remove them from there. The exact location depends on which version of AOL Mail you use, but it is usually under Settings > Blocked addresses or Blocked senders.

Block an email address in AOL settings

If you want to block someone without waiting for their email to arrive, you can add them to your blocked list in settings. Click the gear icon in the top right of AOL Mail, then select Settings. Look for Blocked addresses or Blocked senders depending on your version.

Type the email address you want to block into the text field and click Add or Block. That address will now be treated the same way as if you had blocked them from an email — their messages go to spam automatically.

Difference between blocking and marking as spam

Blocking a sender is permanent for that address, while marking an email as spam is a one-time action. When you mark a single email as spam, AOL learns that similar messages might be unwanted, but the sender is not blocked. They can still email you again, and their next message might land in your inbox.

Blocking is stronger. Once you block someone, every email from that address goes to spam, no matter what. Use blocking for senders you never want to hear from again, and use the spam button for one-off unwanted emails or newsletters you want to stop seeing.

What happens if a blocked sender uses a different email address

Blocking works only on the specific email address you blocked. If someone creates a new email account and sends you a message from that address, it will arrive in your inbox normally because the new address is not on your blocked list.

If the same person keeps contacting you from different addresses, block each new address as it arrives. If this becomes a pattern, consider reporting the emails to AOL as harassment. You can do this by opening an email from the sender, clicking the three-dot menu, and selecting Report phishing or Report spam depending on what the emails contain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I block an entire domain instead of just one email address?

AOL Mail does not have a built-in feature to block all emails from a domain like @company.com. You can only block individual email addresses. If you receive unwanted mail from multiple addresses at the same domain, block each one separately as they arrive.

Will a blocked sender know I blocked them?

No. A blocked sender will not receive a notification that you blocked them. Their emails straightforward go to spam, and they have no way to know whether you read them, deleted them, or blocked them.

Can I block emails based on subject line or content?

AOL Mail does not have filters that block based on keywords or subject lines. You can only block by sender email address. If you want to organize mail by topic, use AOL's folder and label features instead.

What if I blocked someone by mistake?

Find any email from that sender in your spam folder, open it, click the three-dot menu, and select Unblock sender. If you have deleted all their emails, go to Settings and remove them from your blocked addresses list manually.