How to whitelist an email address

You are trying to reset your password. The site says “check your inbox for a password reset email”. But there is no email in your inbox. This frustrating problem can also occur when you are signing up with a site, or adding an email address to your profile.

With sites like Gmail, Outlook.com or Yahoo! Mail, who are you going to call?

Services like these block email to protect you from unwanted or malicious email such as phishing, scams and spam. In this case, they are mistaking email that you want for email that you don’t want.
If you’re missing important emails because they’re being sent to your spam or junk folder, then you may have to whitelist the sender or an entire domain name to ensure that those emails go where they’re supposed to: your inbox. The procedure for whitelisting depends on your email service.

For Gmail Sign in to your account at Gmail.com and do the following.

Open the settings icon at the upper right-hand side of Gmail (the gear icon), and choose Settings from the list.
Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
Click the link called Create a new filter. If you already have lots of filters, you won’t see this link until you scroll to the very bottom of the page.
In the From field, type the email address to whitelist, be sure to type the full email address (eg su*****@***********ro.com). To whitelist every email address from a specific domain, type just that domain name (eg psytrance-pro.com) to put every address on the safe list.
Click Create filter at the bottom of that pop-up window to make the whitelist filter.

You can also add some other filtering criteria if you want, but the From field is the only thing that must be filled out for this setup to work.
If you want to whitelist more than one email address or domain, you need not repeat these steps for each one. Instead, put a vertical bar (and a space before and after it) between the separate accounts, as follows: su*****@***********ro.com | in**@***********ro.com | @psytrance-pro.com.

If you don’t see the vertical bar (also called the pipe or vertical slash) on your keyboard, hold Shift and then hit the backslash key (\).

Another Method
The other option for setting up whitelist filters in Gmail is to do it from the email. If you want to keep all messages from that particular sender out of the Spam folder, you can start the filter from one of the sender’s messages.

Open the message.
From the three-dotted menu just above the message (the same button used to mark emails as read/unread or as important), click Filter messages like this.
With the email address now auto-filled for you in the From field, create the filter with the Create filter button.

Tips
When you whitelist an email or domain in Gmail, the filter does not apply to past emails that are already in the Spam or Trash folder. The filter works from the time you enable it onward.

For Outlook.com, Windows Live Mail, Hotmail and MSN Mail, sign in to your account at Outlook.com and do the following.

Add the email address that is sending you email (eg su*****@***********ro.com) to your Outlook.com Contacts. Outlook.com will usually deliver email from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Check the Junk Folder
Regularly check your Junk Email folder to make sure that important messages aren’t ending up in there. The Outlook Junk Email Filter automatically moves suspected spam to the Junk Email folder based on a variety of factors, including time and content of the email. If an email from a sender you want to whitelist has ended up in your junk folder, the process is simple. Click on Show Content to view the body of the email. Next, click Mark as Safe. The sender will be added to your Safe Senders list, and all future emails should go to your inbox.

Manually Add Contacts to the Safe Senders List
You can also manually add email addresses or domains to your Safe Senders list in Outlook.com to permanently whitelist them. To do this, choose Settings, then Options. In the left pane, choose Junk Email, then Safe Senders. In the box, enter the email addresses or domains that you want to whitelist, and select the Add button. Click Save, and you’re all set.

Automatically Add Contacts to the Safe Senders List
You can also choose to have the email addresses to which you send emails automatically added to the Safe Senders list in Outlook.com. First click on Home, then choose Junk, and then Junk Email Options. On the Safe Senders tab, make sure the box is checked next to Automatically add people I email to the Safe Senders list.

Manually Unblock Senders
Beyond checking your Junk folder, look at your Blocked Senders list occasionally to make sure it doesn’t contain friendly senders. To do this, choose Settings, then Options. In the left pane, choose Junk Email, then Blocked Senders. Select the address or domain that you want to unblock, and click the trash bin icon that’s next to it. Do this for everything that you want to be removed, and click Save.

Another Tip
You no longer have the option of simply adding senders to your contact list or address book to have them automatically whitelisted. Outlook.com will still send emails to your junk folder unless the sender is on your Safe Senders list. To be absolutely sure you receive your important emails, check your Junk folder and manually add email addresses and domains to your Safe Senders list.

For Yahoo! Mail, sign in to your account at mail.yahoo.com and do the following.

Whitelist Existing Emails in Yahoo! Mail
You can whitelist email senders in Yahoo! Mail in two different ways. First, check your Yahoo! Bulk folder. If you see an email in there from someone you want to add to your whitelist, simply highlight it and click on the “Not Spam” icon. Future emails from this person or entity should now automatically go to your inbox.

Of course, this only works after that individual has sent you an email that you can track down because it has been whisked away as spam. You can use a second option if you haven’t yet received an email from the party you want to whitelist.

Create a Filter
You can create a filter to send emails from certain domains to your inbox automatically. Click on “Options” at the top right of the navigation bar. Now select “Mail Options” from the list that drops down. Choose “Filters” from the list that next appears and click on the “Add” button.

Now choose the field you want to match in the incoming message you’re expecting. For example, you might want to match something that you know will appear in the header or something that will appear in the “To” line. Choose the criterion by which you want the match to be made, such as that you want to snag anything that “contains” this phrase or word. Now enter the text string you want to compare, such as “From Psytrance-pro.” Finally, choose the destination folder, which would be your inbox.

The first option is infinitely easier, so if you’re on familiar terms with the sender of the email you want to make sure you receive, ask him to send a test or blank email in advance so you can tell Yahoo! that it’s not spammed with a single click. But if that’s not an option, taking a few more steps should ensure that the email in question appears in your inbox.