How to block emails on Gmail?

Email or electronic mail is shared on the internet, including content, website URL, signature and different forms of attachments (unlike images, mp4, mp3, Pdf, excel, word file, notepad file, PowerPoint etc. Sometimes, the attachments or the website links which, when clicked or open, can cause any much harm. These URL or viruses' main aim is to spam the inbox or redirect the user to an illegitimate website and eventually to hack your confidential data. It also gets very frustrating when the user inbox gets junked up with spam or unwanted emails.

Eventually, you have to invest your precious time to control your inbox and start clearing out the junk and spam files. Many Gmail users are still not aware of the methods to identify and block a spam email address. Gmail also provides the feature to report illegal, threatening or harassing mail as sending any disturbing email content is against the policies of Gmail.

Today, in this tutorial, we will briefly discuss the step-by-step process to block, unsubscribe, report spam and report phishing for emails.

Topics Covered

Why blocking an email is required?
Steps to block email On Computer
Steps to block emails on android smartphones
Steps to block emails on IOS devices
Unsubscribing the mass mails
Report Spam
Report Phishing

Why blocking an email is required?

Blocks unnecessary and unwanted email ID’s: Blocking enables you to prevent the receiving of any upcoming emails from the blocked Gmail ID.
Blocked mails will report into Spam: If in the future, you receive any mail from the blocked Gmail ID, it will automatically redirect to the Spam folder.
Inbox will contain useful information: Many a time, your important emails get ignored and unnoticed because of flooded spam mails in your Inbox. Now, you can freely use your Inbox and prioritize your vital mails easily.

Steps to block email On Computer

Below is the step-by-step demonstration to block an unwanted email on the computer.

STEP 1: Login to your Email address

Open the Google Gmail application on your web browser, or you can directly visit the URL: https://mail.google.com/. Login into your account by using your email address and password.
You will arrive in your Gmail Inbox window.

Step 2: Look for the email address you want to report as spam

Either directly open the email address or in the ‘search mail’ box, type in the email address you would like to unsubscribe and click on the enter button. Open the first occurrence of the mail.

Step 3: Click on Block

Click on three horizontal dots located in the right corner of the email page. A dialog box will be displayed. Click on the ‘Block’ option.

A dialog box window will pop up asking to confirm whether you want to block the email address. Click on the Block button.

You will be notified with a message pop up that the email ID has been blocked.

Steps to block email on android smartphone

Below are the step-by-step demonstrations to block or cut down an unwanted email on android smartphones:

STEP 1: Open the Gmail app

Open the Gmail app on your android phone. You will land on your Inbox page. Search for your email address that you would like to block.

STEP 2: Click on the horizontal dots

Open the email and click on the three horizontal dots located at the right corner of the screen.

STEP 3: Click on the block tab.

The dialog box will appear, displaying a few options. Tab on the Block option (as shown in the below screenshot where the name of the user will be enclosed in inverted quotes).

You will get a message from Gmail confirming that the email ID has been blocked, and the messages from this address will be marked as spam.

Note: You can unblock the email address anytime using Gmail's unblocking option.

Steps to block email on IOS devices

Below are the step-by-step demonstrations to block or cut down an unwanted email on IOS devices:

STEP 1: Open the Gmail app

Open the Gmail application on your IOS device and look for the email that you want to block.

STEP 2: Click on horizontal dots

Click on the three horizontal dots located at the right corner of the screen beside your email address.

STEP 3: Click on the block

A dialog box will appear showing different options—tab on the block option.

Gmail will immediately notify you that your email address has been blocked.

Now future emails from this address will be marked as blocked.

Unsubscribing the mass mails

While surfing on the Internet or advertisement add pop-ups, we often mistakenly sign up and register with our email address, which allows the website to send our email notifications and promotional items. It becomes very annoying when they flood our Inbox with the advertisement and spam emails. In this case, we can easily unsubscribe those emails that we do not want in our Inbox.

Below is the step-by-step demonstration to unsubscribe an email.

STEP 1: Login to your Email address

Open the Google Gmail application on your web browser, or you can directly visit the URL: https://mail.google.com/. Login into your account by using your email address and password.
You will arrive in your Gmail Inbox window.

Step 2: Look for the email address you want to unsubscribe

Either directly open the email address or in the ‘search mail’ box, type in the email address you would like to unsubscribe and click on the enter button.

Open the first occurrence of the mail.

STEP 3: Click on the Unsubscribe option

Besides the email address and name, you will find the unsubscribe button at the top of the mail.

A window will pop up asking to check whether you want to stop receiving the emails. Confirm it by clicking on the Unsubscribe button, as shown in the below screenshot.

The email address will immediately get unsubscribed, and you will get a notification that 'you unsubscribed from email address'.

NOTE: If, in any case, you do not find the unsubscribe option, you can directly mark the email as Spam.

Report Spam

Many often the users receive unexpected emails which ask them to provide personal details, credit card number, etc. Be aware and always remember that legal companies will never inquire for such confidential details on the emails. They will directly contact you and only ask for your phone number.

'Report Spam' feature is used to block and mark the emails as spam where the blocked emails directly enter into your spam folder.

Below is the step-by-step demonstration to Report a Spam email.

STEP 1: Login to your Email address

Open the Google Gmail application on your web browser, or you can directly visit the URL: https://mail.google.com/. Login into your account by using your email address and password.
You will arrive in your Gmail Inbox window.

Step 2: Look for the email address you want to report as spam

Either directly open the email address or in the ‘search mail’ box, type in the email address you would like to unsubscribe and click on the enter button. Open the first occurrence of the mail.

Step 3: Click on Report Spam

Click on three horizontal dots located in the right corner of the email page. A dialog box will be displayed. Click on the Report Spam option.

Again a window will appear to confirm whether you want to report spam or not, as then you won't be receiving any emails from the blocked ID. Click on the 'Report Spam' button.

A notification will pop up, confirming that the conversation has been marked as spam. Within 5 seconds, you can undo the process.

Report Phishing

Some mail intended users use Gmail as a platform to send threatening, blackmailing and suspicious emails. Indeed, those emails could be very disturbing for the recipient and in those cases, mere blocking or Report Spam feature doesn't get justified. Hence, to account for this type of problem, Gmail provides the ‘Report Phishing’ feature to report illegal, suspicious, money stealing, threatening or harassing mail as sending any disturbing email content as it is against the policies of Gmail.

If the user feels that any message is a phishing attempt, he/she can directly address it to Gmail’s Abuse Team. Reporting these kinds of attacks will help them prevent it in the future as they have an entire reviewing team that would take charge of the entire message.

Below is the step-by-step demonstration to access the Report Phishing feature on your Gmail: