How to Mark Spam in Gmail on Web
When checking emails and managing your Inbox, it’s a good idea to mark junk messages as Spam in Gmail. This removes the email from your Inbox and teaches the system to identify future messages from that email address as spam.
- Visit Gmail and go to your inbox, a category tab, or a label.
- Select an email and do one of the following:
- Choose Spam or Report spam in the top toolbar.
- Right-click and pick Move to → Spam.
- Click the three dots on the top right of the email and pick Report spam.
You’ll see a brief message letting you know that the email was marked as spam and giving you the option to Undo the action.
How to Mark Spam in Gmail on Android
If you do most of your email viewing on your mobile device, you’re likely wondering how to mark email as spam in the Gmail app on Android. Luckily, this is a quick and easy process.
- Launch Gmail on Android and choose a location in the left-hand menu.
- Select an email you want to mark as spam and do one of the following:
- Long-press (tap and hold) the email in your message list.
- Open the email.
- Tap the three dots on the top right and pick Report spam.
- In the pop-up box, choose whether or not you also want to block the sender.
You’ll see a message that the email was marked as spam and you can Undo the action if you reported the email in error.
How to Mark Spam in Gmail on iPhone and iPad
Maybe you manage Gmail on an iPhone or iPad rather than an Android device. Fortunately, it’s just as simple to use the Gmail Report Spam feature on these devices.
Mark Spam in Gmail on iPhone
- Launch Gmail on iPhone and choose a location in the left-hand menu.
- Long-press the email in your message list.
- Tap the three dots on the top right and pick Report spam.
If you also want to block the sender, follow these alternative steps:
- Launch Gmail on iPhone and choose a location in the left-hand menu.
- Open the email.
- Tap the three dots on the top right and pick Report spam.
- In the pop-up box, choose whether or not you also want to block the sender.
With both methods, you’ll see a message that the email was marked as spam with the Undo option.
Mark Spam in Gmail on iPad
Although the Gmail app may look slightly different on iPad, the steps to report spam in Gmail are the same as on iPhone.
Simply long-press an email in your message list or open an email. Then, use the three dots to pick the Report spam option.
📌 Note: If you use the Mail app to manage your Gmail emails on iPhone or iPad, look at how to mark email as Spam in Apple Mail.
How to Mark Spam in Gmail Without Opening Emails
To avoid the pitfalls of opening junk mail, you can mark as spam in Gmail without opening the emails on both the web and your mobile device.
Mark Without Opening on the Web
- Visit Gmail and go to your inbox, a category tab, or a label.
- Do one of the following:
- Mark the Select checkbox to the left of the email and choose Spam or Report spam in the top toolbar.
- Right-click the email, go to Move to, and pick Spam.
Mark Without Opening on Mobile
- Launch Gmail on Android, iPhone, or iPad and choose a location in the left-hand menu.
- Long-press the email in your message list.
- Tap the three dots on the top right and pick Report spam.
- If prompted, choose whether or not you also want to block the sender.
Mark as Spam vs. Block in Gmail: What’s the Difference?
Are there times when you receive an email and simply aren’t sure if you should mark it as spam or block the sender?
Here’s a brief summary of when to use each, what happens, and the end result.
| Mark as Spam | Block the Sender | |
|---|---|---|
| When to Use | - Suspicious messages - Phishing attempts - Unsolicited newsletters, promotions, or marketing emails | - Harassing messages - Repeated unwanted emails - Bothersome contacts you no longer want to communicate with |
| What Happens | Trains Gmail that the email and future emails are spam | Creates a rule to divert emails from the sender away from your inbox |
| End Result | Email is moved to Spam and automatically deleted after 30 days | Email is moved to Trash or Spam and automatically deleted after 30 days |
It’s important to remember that reporting junk trains Gmail’s Spam filter over time. But it doesn’t guarantee that future emails from the sender will stop right away as with blocking a sender.
How to Mark Spam in Gmail Automatically with Clean Email
When spam becomes a real problem, as in tons of junk email or messages falling through the cracks, it’s time to automate the reporting process.
Unfortunately, Gmail doesn’t provide an automation for reporting spam, but other tools like Clean Email do.
Bulk Spam Marking
In Gmail, you have to select each message for bulk actions which can be time-consuming especially in the mobile app.
As an alternative, Clean Email provides a Group By feature that allows you to select email groups based on a category like sender, email address, subject, or sender domain and then mark them all as spam at one time.
The process is the same whether you use Clean Email’s web app, or the app for Mac or mobile.
Automatic Spam Marking
Although reporting spam in Gmail trains the system to recognize future messages as junk, this process does take time. And unfortunately, there isn’t a Gmail filter “Send to Spam” action available.
However, Clean Email offers the Auto Clean feature which lets you set up mailbox rules to automatically route junk mail to Spam.
💡 Tip: What makes this even more powerful is that Auto Clean can select the matching emails based on sender domain which helps with spammers who rotate email addresses within the organization.
Just like the bulk action to mark spam, you can create, manage, and edit Auto Clean rules on any device.
What Happens to Emails You Mark as Spam?
We’ve touched on what happens to spam emails in Gmail throughout this article. But for a complete picture, here’s a rundown of the process.
When you mark spam in Gmail:
- The email is moved from the Inbox to the Spam folder.
- The system analyzes the email that you report to enhance Gmail's spam filter and identifiers.
- Future emails from the sender’s email address automatically go to the Spam folder. As mentioned earlier, it may take time for Gmail to recognize the subsequent emails as spam.
With this process, keep in mind that the sender is not notified that you’ve reported their message as spam. And, emails in your Gmail Spam folder are automatically and permanently deleted after 30 days.
FAQs
Does marking as spam block the sender permanently?
Marking an email as spam in Gmail does not permanently or automatically block the sender. Reporting spam and blocking a sender are two separate actions in Gmail. One exception is if you select the Yes, block option when reporting spam in the Gmail mobile app.
Can I create a Gmail filter to send emails directly to Spam?
Unfortunately, Gmail’s filter feature does not provide an option to send emails to spam. As an alternative, you can use Clean Email’s Auto Clean feature to create rules that automatically direct emails to the Spam folder instead of your Inbox.
How do I undo a spam report in Gmail?
If legitimate emails are being sent to Spam by mistake, you should know how to undo a spam report in Gmail. You can mark an email as Not Spam in Gmail using both the web and mobile apps.
Why do I keep getting spam from the same sender after reporting it?
When you report spam and continue to receive emails from the sender, you may believe that Gmail’s Spam filter is not working. However, this can happen when spammers rotate email addresses or when Gmail’s filter is still learning from Spam reports.
For a complete guide with additional methods, learn how to stop spam emails using any provider.
