Report Phishing & Spam Email in Outlook
How to Use the Report Message add-in
The Report Message add-in works with Outlook to allow you to report suspicious messages to Microsoft Defender as well as manage how your Microsoft 365 email account treats these messages.
Messages that your Microsoft 365 email account marks as junk or spam are automatically moved to your Junk Email folder or Microsoft Defender Quarantine depending on the threat level detected.
Microsoft Defender treats Spam and Phishing email differently.
- Spam or Junk email gets moved to your Junk Email folder in Outlook
- Phishing, High-Confidence Phishing, and Malware gets put into your Quarantine.
You can access your Quarantine here https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine
However, spammers and phishing attempts are continually evolving. If you receive a junk email in your inbox, you can use the Report Message button to send the message to Microsoft to help us improve our spam filters. If you find an email in your Junk Email folder that's not spam, you can use the Report Message button to mark it as a legitimate email, move the message to your Inbox, and report the false positive to help Microsoft improve our spam filters.
Report a message
Step 1: Make sure to select the original phishing or junk email in your Inbox.
Step 2: Click the "Report Message" button on the ribbon, you'll see several different options.
Report Phishing
Report Junk
If you go to your Junk Email Folder you will also see:
Use this to report false positive emails that are mistakenly sent to your Junk Email folder.
Choose Junk, Phishing, or Not Junk, you'll have the option to send a copy of the message to Microsoft, along with your classification of the message. This is recommended as it helps improve Microsoft Defender for your organization.
I don't see the Report Message button!
Outlook Report Message Feature currently does not allow reporting from email in Shared Mailboxes.
To work around this limitation and report an email from a Shared Mailbox drag the message to your personal mailbox > Inbox or > Junk Folder and report it from there.
What's Junk email?
Junk email messages are typically referred to as spam. These are messages that you don't want to receive that may be advertising products you don't use or find offensive. If you choose the Junk option, a copy of the message may be sent to Microsoft to help update our spam filters, and the message will be moved from your Inbox to your Junk Email folder.
What's phishing?
Phishing is the practice of luring you into disclosing personal information, such as bank account numbers and passwords. Often phishing messages look legitimate, but have deceptive links that actually open fake websites. If you select Phishing, a copy of your message may be sent to Microsoft to help update our filters, and the message will be moved from your Inbox to your Junk Email folder.
What's a legitimate email?
If you know the sender and you're expecting the message, or if you receive a message that's mistakenly marked as junk, you can use the Report Message add-in to mark the message as Not Junk. This will move the message from the Junk Email folder back to your Inbox.