Your e-mails land in Junk at Hotmail and Outlook.com: what the sender can check

E-mail·· 14 views· 4 min read

The short answer: when your e-mails reach people on Hotmail or Outlook.com but land in Junk, Microsoft accepted them and then classed them as suspicious. Microsoft does not publish the exact recipe of its filter, but the things that weigh are on your side and can be checked: your domain’s authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), the reputation of the domain and the server, the content, and how recipients react.

Symptoms and causes

Symptom Most likely cause
All your e-mails go to Junk, even simple ones Your domain’s SPF, DKIM or DMARC is missing or wrong. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
It started suddenly, on an established domain Something changed: an edited DNS record, a new service sending in your name without being in SPF, or the domain or IP on a blacklist.
The domain is new It has no history yet. Reputation is built slowly: a new domain sending e-mail.
Only newsletters or bulk mailings Volume, old lists, recipients who never open or who mark it as junk. See e-mail marketing done properly.
Only certain messages The content: a single image, shortened links, risky attachments, a subject in capitals. See how to write an e-mail that does not land in spam.

What the sender can check

1 Test it yourself: create or use a Hotmail or Outlook.com account of your own, send it a simple message from your address and see which folder it lands in.
2 Read that message’s header: in Outlook.com, open the message, click the three dots and look for View > View message source. Find the authentication lines and check whether SPF, DKIM and DMARC say pass. How to read it: reading an e-mail header. Microsoft changes menu names with updates and with the language: if the exact path is not there, use the search box in Settings.
3 Open Email Deliverability in cPanel: it shows whether the domain’s SPF and DKIM are as they should be and suggests the fix. See the deliverability panel.
4 Check DMARC: if you have none, create it, starting with a policy that only observes. See creating your DMARC record.
5 Check the blacklists for the domain and the sending IP: how to check and how to get off.
6 Ask the recipient to mark your message as Not junk and add your address to Safe senders (in Outlook.com, under Settings > Mail > Junk email). It helps that person, but does not fix the cause for other recipients.
Do not try to “beat” the filter with tricks in the subject, hidden text or sending from another domain. It makes the reputation worse and can push Microsoft from sending your mail to Junk to refusing it. Fix the authentication and the sending habits.
If you send from a website (forms, WordPress, a shop), those messages use your domain too: they should leave through our server with authenticated SMTP, so they pass SPF and DKIM. If you use an outside sending service, it must be in your SPF and sign with DKIM for your domain.

Authentication checked and still landing in Junk? Send us the full header of a test message.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

SPF, DKIM and DMARC: why your e-mail lands in spam

Reading an e-mail header: did SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass?

Email Deliverability: the panel that audits your domain

Your domain or IP is on a blacklist: how to check and how to get off it

A new domain sending e-mail: how to build a reputation without landing in spam

Hotmail or Outlook.com rejects or delays your e-mails: reading the message that comes back

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