Block an email address in AOL Mail in three steps

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

If you have already deleted the email, you can still block the sender. Go to your spam folder, find an email from that address, open it, and use the same three-dot menu to block them. You can also block a sender directly from your inbox without opening their email — right-click the message and choose Block Sender from the menu that appears.

Once you block someone, AOL Mail keeps a list of blocked senders. Any email from a blocked address goes straight to spam, and you will not see a notification. The sender does not know they have been blocked.

Key Takeaways

  • Click the three-dot menu on any email and select Block Sender to send that address's future messages to spam.
  • Blocked emails arrive in your spam folder, not your inbox, and you receive no notification when they arrive.
  • You can block a sender from your inbox, spam folder, or any other folder where their email appears.
  • AOL Mail stores your blocked senders list, and you can unblock an address at any time if you change your mind.

Where blocked emails go

When you block a sender in AOL Mail, their emails do not disappear — they go to your spam folder instead of your inbox. This means you can still find and read them if you need to, but they will not interrupt your inbox view or trigger new message notifications.

Check your spam folder occasionally to make sure legitimate emails have not been caught by mistake. If you see an email from a blocked sender that you actually want to receive, you can unblock them and move that message back to your inbox.

How to unblock a sender

Open AOL Mail and click the gear icon in the top right corner, then select Settings. Click the Blocked tab to see your full list of blocked senders. Find the address you want to unblock and click the X button next to it.

After you unblock someone, their emails will no longer go to spam automatically. New messages from that sender will arrive in your inbox like any other email. Unblocking does not recover old emails they sent while they were blocked — those remain in your spam folder unless you move them manually.

Block senders before they email you

You do not have to wait for an unwanted email to arrive before blocking the sender. If you know an email address you want to block, you can add it to your blocked list directly through Settings. Click the gear icon, go to Settings, select the Blocked tab, and type the email address into the field at the top.

This is useful if you have received unwanted contact from someone outside of email — for example, if someone gives you their address in a message on another platform and you want to prevent them from reaching you on AOL Mail. You can block multiple addresses this way without waiting for them to send you anything first.

Difference between blocking and reporting spam

Blocking a sender and reporting an email as spam do different things. When you block someone, you are telling AOL Mail to send their future emails to spam. When you report an email as spam, you are telling AOL Mail that this particular message is unwanted and helping train AOL's spam filters to catch similar messages from anyone.

If you receive a phishing email or a message trying to scam you, report it as spam in addition to blocking the sender. This helps protect other AOL Mail users. To report spam, open the email, click the three-dot menu, and select Report Phishing or Report Spam depending on what the email is.

What happens to emails you already received

Blocking a sender does not change what has already arrived in your inbox. Emails from that person that you received before blocking them will stay in your inbox unless you move or delete them yourself. Only new emails from a blocked sender go to spam.

If you want to clean up your inbox after blocking someone, you can select all their old emails and delete them or move them to a folder. Search for their email address in the search bar to find all messages from that sender at once, then select them all and delete or move them in bulk.

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 are receiving unwanted emails from multiple addresses at the same domain, you will need to block each one separately.

Will a blocked sender know I blocked them?

No. When you block someone, AOL Mail does not send them a notification or bounce-back message. The sender will not receive any signal that their emails are being blocked. They may eventually notice if they never get a response, but AOL Mail itself does not tell them.

Can I block emails based on subject line or content?

AOL Mail's block feature works only on sender addresses, not on keywords or subject lines. If you want to filter emails by content, you can create rules in Settings to automatically delete or move messages containing certain words. Go to Settings, click Filters, and set up a rule based on subject or message content.

What if someone uses a different email address to contact me after I block them?

Blocking only stops emails from the specific address you blocked. If the sender creates a new email account or uses a different address, those emails will not be blocked automatically. You will need to block each new address separately as it arrives.

Can I recover emails from a blocked sender if I unblock them?

Unblocking a sender does not recover old emails they sent while blocked. Those messages remain in your spam folder. You can manually move them back to your inbox if you want to keep them, but AOL Mail does not restore them automatically.