Move a message back to your inbox in three steps
Open your junk or spam folder, find the message you want to keep, and move it back to your inbox. The exact steps depend on which email service you use — Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or Apple Mail all work slightly differently. Once you move a message, you can also tell your email service to stop sending that sender's future messages to junk.
The reason messages land in junk in the first place is that your email service scans for common spam patterns: suspicious links, unknown senders, or formatting that looks automated. Sometimes legitimate messages get caught by mistake. Moving a message back tells your email service that sender is trustworthy, though it does not may provide future messages will land in your inbox — that depends on how the sender's email is set up.
Key Takeaways
- Check your junk folder regularly because messages there are usually deleted after 30 days, and you might miss important mail.
- Moving a single message back to your inbox takes one or two clicks, but does not change where future messages from that sender land.
- To stop a sender's messages from going to junk, you need to mark them as "not spam" or add the sender to your contacts — the exact wording varies by service.
- If a sender's messages keep landing in junk even after you move them, the problem is usually on their end: their email setup looks suspicious to the email service.
Gmail: recover a message from spam
Open Gmail and click the three horizontal lines in the top left corner. Select "More" and then "Spam and Trash". Click "Spam".
Find the message you want to keep. Click it to open it. At the top, click "Not spam". The message moves back to your inbox, and Gmail learns that this sender is safe. Future messages from the same sender are less likely to land in spam, though Gmail may still filter them if the sender's email setup looks suspicious.
If you want to make sure messages from this sender always reach your inbox, open the message and click the three dots in the top right. Select "Add to contacts". This puts the sender in your address book, which gives their messages higher priority.
Outlook: recover a message from junk
Open Outlook and click "Junk" in the left sidebar. If you do not see it, click "More" at the bottom of the folder list.
Right-click the message you want to move. Select "Junk" and then "Not Junk". A window appears asking if you want to move the message to your inbox and add the sender to your safe senders list. Click "Yes". The message moves back, and Outlook adds the sender to your safe list so future messages are less likely to be filtered.
You can also add a sender to your safe list without moving a message. Right-click any message from that sender and select "Junk" and then "Add Sender to Safe Senders List".
Yahoo Mail: recover a message from spam
Open Yahoo Mail and click "Spam" in the left sidebar.
Find the message and click it to open it. At the top, click the three dots and select "Not Spam". The message moves to your inbox. Yahoo also adds the sender to your contacts so future messages are treated as safe.
If the message is still in your spam folder and you cannot find it, check how long Yahoo keeps spam. Yahoo deletes spam after 7 days, so if the message is older than that, it may be gone. Check your spam folder at least once a week to catch messages before they are deleted.
Apple Mail: recover a message from junk
Open Apple Mail and click "Junk" in the sidebar on the left. If you do not see it, go to the Mail menu at the top, select "Preferences", click "Rules", and make sure junk filtering is turned on.
Click the message you want to move. At the top of the window, click the flag icon or the folder icon and select "Inbox". The message moves back. Apple Mail does not have a built-in "not spam" button like other services, so moving the message is the main way to train the filter.
To reduce the chance that future messages from this sender land in junk, add them to your contacts. Click the message, find the sender's name or email address, and click "Add to Contacts".
Why messages keep going to junk even after you move them
If you move a message back to your inbox but the next message from the same sender still lands in junk, the problem is usually not on your end. Email services look at how the sender's email is set up — things like whether the sender uses proper authentication, whether their domain is new, or whether they send from many different servers. If those things look suspicious, your email service filters their messages even if you have marked previous ones as safe.
You can still move messages back manually each time, but the real fix has to come from the sender. Ask them to check with their email provider about authentication settings, or ask if they can send from a different email address that has a longer history. Some senders, especially small businesses or nonprofits, do not know their email setup is causing problems, so a direct message to them can help.
Check your junk folder on a schedule
Email services delete junk mail after a certain number of days — usually 7 to 30 days depending on the service. If you do not check your junk folder regularly, you might miss important messages before they are deleted. Set a reminder to check it once a week, especially if you are expecting mail from a new sender or an organization you have not heard from before.
When you check, scan the subject lines quickly. Legitimate messages usually have clear subject lines from people or organizations you recognize, while actual spam often has vague or urgent-sounding subjects. If you see a message you were waiting for, move it back to your inbox and add the sender to your contacts so it does not happen again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I move multiple messages from junk to inbox at once?
Yes. In Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo, you can click the checkbox next to the first message, hold Shift, and click the checkbox next to the last message to select a range. Then click the move or "not spam" button. In Apple Mail, click the first message, hold Shift, and click the last one, then drag them to your inbox folder.
Will the sender know I moved their message out of junk?
No. Moving a message is something only you see. The sender has no way to know whether their message landed in your inbox or junk. They also cannot see whether you opened it or read it unless they use special tracking tools, which most legitimate senders do not.
What is the difference between spam and junk?
Most email services use the terms interchangeably — they both mean messages that are filtered away from your inbox. Technically, spam usually refers to unsolicited bulk mail, while junk can include any message the filter thinks you do not want. For practical purposes, they are the same folder in your email service.
If I add someone to my contacts, will their messages stop going to junk?
Adding a sender to your contacts makes it less likely their messages will be filtered, but does not may provide it. Your email service still scans all incoming mail, even from contacts. If a sender's email setup looks suspicious, messages may still land in junk. Moving messages back and marking them as "not spam" is more reliable than contacts alone.
How do I stop getting junk mail in the first place?
Do not share your email address on public websites, avoid posting it in forums or social media, and be careful about which services you give it to. When you do sign up for something, look for an option to unsubscribe from marketing emails. If you already get a lot of junk, most email services let you create filters or rules that automatically delete or sort messages based on keywords or sender address.