How to Block a Sender by Email Address in Hotmail

Co-authored by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: June 8, 2020

This wikiHow teaches you how to prevent someone from emailing you by blocking their email address in Microsoft Outlook (formerly known as Hotmail). You cannot block a sender's email address from within the mobile app.

Steps

1
Open the Outlook website. Doing so will open your inbox if you're logged into Outlook.
- If you aren't already logged in, click Sign in, enter your email address (or phone number) and password, and click Sign in.
2
Click ⚙️. It's in the top-right corner of the Outlook page.
3
Click Options. You'll find it at the bottom of the drop-down menu below the Settings "gear" icon.
4
Click Blocked senders. It's beneath the "Junk email" heading, which is a subfolder of the "Mail" category. You'll find this option on the bottom-left side of the page.
5
Click the "Enter a sender or domain here" field. It's in the middle of the page. This is where you'll type in the email address of the person whom you wish to block.
6
Type in a sender's email address. Be sure to include the complete address, such as username@email.com.
7
Press ↵ Enter. Doing so will add the desired email address to Outlook's block list.
- You can also click the + icon to the right of the email address field.
8
Click Save. It's at the top of the page, directly above the "Blocked senders" heading. Doing so will save your changes and prevent any future attempts from your blocked sender to contact you.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I block all emails coming from the same address?

Community Answer

Use * as a wildcard, e.g *@badaddress.com.
Question

If I block someone's email, will all previous mail from them also be deleted?

Community Answer

No. Just delete all emails from that sender and they will be automatically be deleted going forward.
Question

Does the sender get notified that the email wasn't delivered?

Community Answer

They don't exactly get notified. It just won't say that it was delivered, but it will just seem like you haven't checked your emails.
Question

I am getting emails with no email attached, so I can't block them. What should I do?

Community Answer

Right-click on the unwanted mail and left-click on "View Message Source." Somewhere you will see "Sender's IP is..."' followed by a series of numbers and spaces/dots. Carefully select that IP address (but don't pick up any brackets) and copy it. Close that window, go to the Settings (by clicking on the cogwheel icon on the top right), and click on "Options." Then, follow points 4 - 8 above. (Enter the IP address, point 6, using Ctrl+V.) If you have trouble getting back to your inbox, use "back" or "refresh" once or twice each, or sign out and back in again.
Question

Is there a way to block someone from the email itself?

Community Answer

Not in so many words, though you can click the "..." button at the top of the email, select "Create rule", and change the conditions for any email from that sender to be moved to the Trash folder immediately.