Where to find your blocked senders list in Teams

Your blocked emails in Microsoft Teams live in your account settings, not in your inbox. Open Teams and select your profile picture in the top right corner, then choose Settings. From there, go to Privacy, and you will see a section called Blocked contacts. This list shows every email address or Teams user you have blocked.

The blocked contacts section displays the name or email address of each blocked sender. You can scroll through the full list if you have blocked many people. Teams does not separate blocked email addresses from blocked Teams users in this view — they all appear together in one list.

Key Takeaways

  • Blocked senders appear in your account settings under Privacy, not in your email folders or chat history.
  • You can see the full name or email address of each blocked contact, but Teams does not show when you blocked them or why.
  • Removing someone from the blocked list takes one click and when ready allows their messages through again.
  • Blocked emails do not appear in your inbox, deleted items, or anywhere else — Teams silently discards them.

What happens to emails from blocked senders

When you block an email address in Teams, messages from that sender disappear completely. They do not land in a spam folder, a blocked folder, or your deleted items. Teams straightforward stops delivering them to you, and you have no way to see them unless you unblock the sender first.

This means if you block someone by mistake, you will not know what messages you missed. The only way to recover blocked emails is to unblock the address, which will not retrieve old messages — it only allows new ones to come through going forward.

How to unblock an email address

Go back to Settings > Privacy > Blocked contacts. Find the email address or name you want to unblock in the list. Click the X button or remove option next to that contact's name. Teams will ask you to confirm the action — select yes, and the block is lifted when ready.

Once you unblock someone, their future messages will arrive in your inbox normally. However, any emails they sent while they were blocked will not reappear. You will only see new messages from that point forward.

Blocking someone directly from their email

You do not have to go to your settings to block a sender. If you receive an email in Teams from someone you want to block, right-click the message or select the three-dot menu next to their name. Choose Block or Block contact from the menu. Teams will add them to your blocked list when ready and stop delivering their messages.

This method is faster if you are already reading a message and decide you do not want to hear from that person again. The sender will not be notified that you blocked them.

Checking if someone is on your blocked list

The only way to check whether a specific person is blocked is to look through your full blocked contacts list in Settings. Teams does not have a search function within the blocked list, so if you have blocked many people, you may need to scroll to find a particular name or email address.

If you are unsure whether someone is blocked, you can unblock them to test — there is no penalty for unblocking and reblocking someone. Alternatively, ask a colleague whether they can see messages from that person, since the block only affects your account.

Why you might not see blocked emails even after unblocking

Unblocking a sender does not recover old messages. If someone sent you emails while they were blocked, those messages are gone permanently. Unblocking only opens the door for new messages to arrive.

Additionally, if the sender's email address changed, you would need to unblock the new address separately. Blocking works on the specific email address, not the person — so blocking john@company.com does not block john@newcompany.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I see a list of emails that were blocked before I unblock someone?

No. Teams does not store or show you blocked messages. Once you block an address, all messages from that sender are deleted and cannot be recovered. Unblocking only allows future messages through, not past ones.

Does the person I blocked know I blocked them?

No. Teams does not notify someone when you block them. They will not receive a message or warning. However, if they try to contact you through another method and notice you are not responding in Teams, they may suspect you blocked them.

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

No. Teams blocks individual email addresses or user accounts, not entire domains. If you want to block multiple people from the same company, you must block each address separately.

What if I block someone by accident and need to recover their old messages?

Unfortunately, there is no way to recover blocked messages. Once deleted, they are gone. Your best option is to ask the sender to resend any important messages after you unblock them.

Does blocking someone in Teams also block them in Outlook?

No. Blocking in Teams only affects Teams. If you receive email from the same person in Outlook, you would need to block them separately in Outlook settings. The two applications maintain separate blocked lists.