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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Exchange Extra "Junk" or "Unwanted" Folder Being Added To Outlook

I recently had a user who's Outlook mysteriously created a new folder name "Unwanted" and started filtering all mail into that folder instead of the Inbox. What's also strange, is the Search Folders > Unread Messages didn't reflect the same unread count as the Inbox.

After some routine Outlook diagnosing, I found that the user has a Samsung Galaxy S5, which has it's own SPAM filtering built into the phone. In that SPAM filter, our *@domain.com was listed...along with a bunch of other email addresses that shouldn't have been filtered. 

**Note** This issue/fix applies to several model lines of the Samsung Galaxy

Here's what you need to do to fix it:

1. On the phone, open the E-Mail app
2. Hit the Menu Key > Settings > General Settings
3. Select Spam Addresses and look for any errant email addresses, especially *@yourdomain.com entries, which would filter any messages from your domain.

4. Remove those addresses

Now the user can move the messages out of the Unwanted Folder and delete that folder, and email will stop being filtered improperly.

If your device is connected to a corporate Exchange/Office 365 account, I would disable the SPAM filter on the phone completely, and let Exchange handle the spam filtering; since it seems that the built-in feature is more of a nuisance than helpful.

175 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. How would you disable the SPAM filter completely? I am on Verizon and there doesn't seem to be an option anywhere.

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    2. Hey Carlos,
      There should be an On/Off switch in Settings, but I'm not sure if it's carrier specific.

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    3. Thanks a lot Stacey. I was searching for ever on my pc without finding the cause, not realizing that my (new) Samsung S5 did the filtering. Hate digital devices that exhibit erratic behaviour and sneakily do things on their own without my consent. After all who paid for them? Me! Right. Well then!

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    4. thank you so much - such a simple solution, but hard to dig out.

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    5. So easy....when you know the solution. Thanks !!

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  2. thank you! This would have taken me ages to find on my own, if ever :)

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  3. Thank You for this post! I was going crazy trying to figure it out on my computer! Go figure it was my new Galaxy Note 4 Phone! :(

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  4. Youre a life saver. I was going crazy trying to figure this out!!!!

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    1. These instructions are not applicable to the s5. The general information was indeed helpful,

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    2. That's strange John, as the user in question had an S5. I wonder if they changed it in Lollipop.

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    3. John on the contrary it is very applicable. That's made clear by the "thank you" responses above. I've verified in my Exchange environment the following devices: S4, S5, Galaxy Tablets. This also applies to Exchange 2013.

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    4. Thank you Stacey Branham. This worked on my S6. So thankful your solution came up in the search. Was able to delete the unwanted folder too.

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  5. Thank you so much for this! I have been searching forever why certain emails were being marked as spam, and this seems to be the reason why they were!

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  6. thanks. i think this might have happened since i had blocked a domain of the sender.

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  7. I have an s4 Mini, this does not apply to me, I checked my spam filtering on my phone and there is nothing there which would allude as to why I have this "Unwanted" folder

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    1. Hi Nay,
      The Samsung Galaxy's built-in spam filter is what creates the Junk or Unwanted folders. You could turn it off (I believe there's an On/Off switch) and delete the Unwanted folder and it shouldn't come back.
      Also, if you're using Exchange I would disable the Galaxy spam filter completely and let Exchange handle spam.

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  8. Branham,

    Thank you so much for this solution. A user in our doumin had this problem and i was husling on his PC daily trying to figure out what was trigering this. The funy and confusing part was that, it was only moving mails sent from contacts within our organisation.

    Im glad your tip helped me out.

    Appreciated.

    DSK

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  9. This may be the quickest and most accurate solution I have ever found on the web. Thanks! And this post is still true for the S6, which is what I have.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, glad I could help! I've updated the post to include the entire Galaxy line.

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  10. Yes, this is it exactly. Thank you.

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  11. Thanks. It helped it. Otherwise, it would have taken forever to fix this.

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  12. WOW, JUST had this happen, no idea why, but you nailed it !

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  13. Just amazing, one week of unsuccessful attempts, many thanks!

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  14. My manager just came to me with this same thing happening to his emails. We followed your steps and were able to get it working again. Thank you for your post.

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  15. Whew! Been a long time trying to fix this. Thanks!

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  16. I don't find the switch on / off in my samsung galaxy s6... can you help me!???

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    Replies
    1. I need to delete that folder or disable SPAM folder to not reply unwanted folder in my outlook.

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    2. Hey Enrique, did you figure it out? If you go the the spam filter section, there should be an On/Off slider in the upper-right...I'm not sure if it's phone carrier specific though.

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  17. Nobel peace prize for you - cheers that was very helpful.

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  18. I'm not sure what you mean by errant email addresses in my spam folder. i should remove all addresses in my spam folder? some of them are truly people i do not wish to receive email from. none of them are people whose emails are going to this idiot unwanted folder.

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    1. Hi Cynthia, you'd only want to remove improperly filtered addresses from the SPAM list on the phone, i.e. if messages from users on your domain are being tagged as spam and sent the Unwanted Folder.

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    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  19. Thank you!!!!!! This was driving me nuts

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  20. Using an S5 verizon service, can't find any on/off switch regarding spam in settings/general/email etc Help

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  21. thank you - this was making me nuts!

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  23. Thanks this worked PERFECTLY! :)

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  24. I cannot find the spam filter. I see spam addresses.

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  25. The information was brilliant. Solved the issue I had in just a moment

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  26. Thank you. Was referred from Microsoft website. Issue resolved in a min.
    Thanks again

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  27. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! This worked great for me.

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  28. I have been on the phone with my IT team all day trying to figure it out.. finally got sick of all the different reasons and decided to google and than god i did! Thank you!
    Ps: I gave the link to my IT team as well!

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  29. I'm guessing this is part of the problem, but I still have several emails that are going into the unwanted folder, both in my outlook & yahoo accounts. Most of the email addresses/domains are not in the list of spam email, so I can't take them off the spam list. Any other ideas? I just sent an email from myself in outlook to myself in yahoo and that email address isn't showing up on my phone spam list, but it still went into the unwanted folder. So I can't delete it out of my phone spam list. Any other ideas on this?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Terri,
      Is there a listing in the spam list for *@yourdomain.com? For instance *@exchangitup.com, would filter any mail from exchangeitup.com users. If that's in there, you can remove that and it should stop filtering those.

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  30. Appreciate this post! Very helpful. Solved my issue.

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  31. Still affecting Samsung S7 which is what I have. Thank you for this.

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  32. Thank you so much. I have a Samsung S6 Edge and only found out as a couple of friends rang because they had not heard back from me knowing it was unlike me. Searched my phone and found email in spam. Then when I looked on my laptop saw the Unwanted folder.

    Ruth

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  33. Thank you Stacey ..this fixed the issue for me !!

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  34. This was fantastic, Stacey! Thanks a ton. FWIW, I have an S6.

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  35. Thank You Stacey! I fixed my fail :-)

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  36. Excellent solution. I looked everwhere on outlook but could not find the reason for this "Unwanted" folder. Why is samsung doing so many stupid things by themselves. Options and features are all well and good but user should turn them on if required. These updates are causing more damage than good with auto features turned on.

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  37. Azam's right. Probably 95% of the known world uses Outlook and/or Exchange. Fro Samsung to design a proprietary system that behaves in a totally different way (it also creates a "Junk" folder as well as "Unwanted" in addition to Outlook's own "Junk Items" folder so you end up with 3!) is typical of the stupidity of the Android community. I'll be buying a Windows phone next time!

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  38. Oh. My. GOSH!!! Thanks so much for this. I had to use a really old email, because I was finding so many in unwanted and was missing so many meetings and information. GEEZ!! Samsung needs to get it together!

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  39. Thank you so much! I was trying to find the solution on my desktop; I never thought about checking my phone!

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  40. Stacey Branham for the win. In an age wherein global carriers have stopped documenting their products effectively AND eliminated any viable option for technical support, it falls to the user community to self-service. And many searches for actual help result in time-wasting rabbit holes. BRAVO Stacey for flying in the face of this headwind!

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  41. You gave me a great advice as I have this chronic problem since one month.
    Thanks a lot Stacey.

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  42. It works ! Hurray ! I'll been trying to fix this for so long, even our office programmer cannot fix it for me..... Thank you Stacey......

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  43. Unwanted folder still keeps coming back. :/

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  44. Wow...fantastic. We were going crazy here at the office trying to figure out where this folder came from and why only internal emails were going there. It only appeared after we upgraded to Windows 10 and I got a Galaxy J5! I followed your instructions and...bingo! There it was indeed OUR OWN @domain noted as spam!
    Your blog was right on! Thanks so, so much! have a great summer :-)

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  45. Your cure has not helped me solve the problem yet but is a Godsend. I use a Samsumg Note 3 phone and have not found the SPAM filter yet but your cure is helping me know where to look for the cause. Correction. I just found the SPAM list in the "App" which is different than the settings area from the phone itself. I am hoping it works, Thank you very much.

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  46. Thanks for the post. Was able to walk my user through this over the phone and then reached through the line and slapped him on the wrist and said, don't do it again!

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  47. HA! Good one!! Solves a mystery with one of my clients! THANK YOU!!

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  48. Dude, thank you - now I know how to fix this moving forward.

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  49. Thanks for that info! Also the same problem with the S 6 Edge

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  50. Thank you so much. I never would have guessed the problem was from my phone. I thought for sure it was my browser!

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  51. Is it possible to turn off this feature from device, as user does not want to see the unwanted/junk folder which are coming through phone.

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    Replies
    1. There used to be a Spam Settings checkbox under Settings, but I'm not sure if that's still available in the current update.

      Maybe someone who has disabled the filter can chime in?

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  52. Thanks for the tip. It also worked on my S7.

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  53. Thank you.

    But I would rather have a way to have Outlook automatically move all the Unwanted into its main Junk E-Mail folder.

    We get *a lot* of spam and sometimes I filter it on the phone instead of within the main Outlook app.
    --
    Furry cows moo and decompress.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not aware of an Outlook Rule that would automagically move items from one folder to another. But you may be able to add those items in the Unwanted folder to the Blocked Senders list, and it *should* filter into Junk.

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  54. Thank you for this....have had the Samsung G 6 well over a year, never an issue, all of a sudden in the last few days this "unwanted" issue popped up. Really appreciate you sharing the knowledge!

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  55. Very helpful post! Solved my problem quickly. Thanks!

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  56. This fix solves the problem temporarily but it recurs as long as the phone continues to filter for spam. Has anyone figured out how to turn that off? On my S6 there is no on/off slider next to Spam Addresses.

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  58. You saved my life! Many, many thanks Stacey! :-)

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  59. Thank You! This helped solve my dilemma as well. I figure that I must have accidentally selected "Add to Spam" instead of "Mark as Unread" as they are right next to each other on the options.

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  60. Thank you! This really helped me to get rid of this nasty problem!

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  61. Thanks for the info. My problem is that I can't find the unwanted folder. I accidentely hit to "report as spam" all of the items in my inbox and can't find the items anywhere. Any help on how to find the unwanted folder?

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    Replies
    1. Hitting Report as Spam *should* have sent those messages to the Junk Email folder. Are they in there perhaps? If so, you'd want to select them again and tag as Not Spam.
      The Unwanted folder would only be present if your Galaxy phone syncs with Exchange.

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  62. This also happens on Galaxy S7 Edge phones

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  63. Thank you very much, same like the last one the galaxy S7 with problems.

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  64. Hi Stacey, I followed your instructions, but there is nothing listed in "Spam addressess" under Email settings on my Samsung J7. Still the "unwanted" folder keeps popping up in my gmail account. I have deleted it several times. It never has any mail in it, but the folder keeps appearing. How can I get rid of it once and for all? I am at my wits end.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to get of the Unwanted Folder itself, unless there's a way to turn off the Galaxy spam filter altogether. There used to be an off/on option under Spam Settings, but not sure if it still exists in the current build...I run an iPhone :)

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  65. Thank you very much. Best regards mate!

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  66. This is an issue with all samsung galaxy versions... i had my s7 mess up my outlook as well

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  67. I'm having this problem too. But when I follow the directions on my Samsung, I can't do step 3 as there's nothing that says "spam addresses" on that screen. I'm stumped.

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  68. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Nobody in IT at work could help me. You are a life saver.

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  69. Thank you! We had been losing AOL messages for months, and thanks to you figured out it was because of the spam setting on my S6.

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  70. Very helpful. Thank you from Helsinki.

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  71. Thanks. Applies to Galaxy S7 as well.

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  72. Thank you from this end also. I'd like to know if possible HOW the email program works and how this could happen in the first place? I thought when you added an account to any device that the email program would default to "Keep on server" even if deleted from one particular device. It would appear that Samsung is not doing that, and what's more, they are PUSHING their settings back to the server. I cannot fathom why any programmer would think this is ok!!!!!!??????

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    1. I agree it is a pretty bad design. As far as pushing back to the server, what I think happens is: the device syncs to your mailbox and creates the Unwanted folder, then Outlook pulls down that folder after it syncs. I'd be interest to know if the spam filter on the device creates an Outlook rule to filter those messages into that Unwanted folder...I run an iPhone so I'm not sure :)

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    2. Dear Stacey Branham,

      I greet you. Let me first thank you very much for the solution provided above; it really helped out of that nagging issue.

      Now, please, similar issue came up in my Boss's account - a folder called RSS Subscriptions just came up in the account and almost all emails go in there while others chose to drop in the inbox.

      Please, could you help me out, i have tried to move emails from there to the inbox several times but they still come back. Also, the RSS Subscriptions folder will not delete in the desktop outlook.

      I will be happy if you can also reach me on my email oluwaseunologbon@yahoo.com.

      Thank you.

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  73. thank you Very Much thats worrks full here in morroco we had the same probleme at a Purchases LEAD Manager Laptop Email....too Hard to predict that it was the Bad SAMSUNG Trend who does that .. i follow the steps and everything is fine now

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  74. Dear Stancey Braham,

    I greet you. Let me first thank you very much for the solution provided above; it really helped out of that nagging issue.

    Now, please, similar issue came up in my Boss's account - a folder called RSS Subscriptions just came up in the account and almost all emails go in there while others chose to drop in the inbox.

    Please, could you help me out, i have tried to move emails from there to the inbox several times but they still come back. Also, the RSS Subscriptions folder will not delete in the desktop outlook.

    I will be happy if you can also reach me on my email oluwaseunologbon@yahoo.com.

    Thank you.

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  75. Many thanks, such a valuable contribution!

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  76. Hey thanks...this was very helpful.

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  77. Thank you. I had accidently spammed a colleague when I was on my phone looking at email. I couldn't do it on the Web app on my computer. Your solution worked.

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  78. Thank you, never would have known this. Note: it is the native mail app on the Galaxy that is doing it. The gmail app does not have a spam setting. I had an user with gmail using the native mail app. I don't have an issue with my Galaxy phone using the gmail app.

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  79. Perfect it worked..Thankyou so much

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  80. Also if someone uses Samsung's Focus app and not an E-mail app, probably that is the reason. Liked the app, but couldn't find the option to get rid of the folder without deleting app.

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  81. thanks, I found it in the general app under inbox/settings/spam addresses/ removed *@hotmail.com

    could not understand why my sisters emails were going to the unwanted folder.

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  82. Hi Stacey,

    Thank you so much for this. I have just got a new Samsung XCover 3 for work and it automatically filtered all my incoming Aconex alert emails in Outlook into the "Unwanted" folder. Spent ages trying to figure this out - you are a lifesaver!

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  83. Moltes gràcies, ha funcionat perfectament!

    Salut

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  84. ohmigosh! I thought I was losing my mind! Thank you so much!

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  85. Thank you! Saved us a lot of diagnosing time.

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  86. Thanks man. Really helped me here

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  87. Thank you. Life saver and still true on Galaxy S7 edge

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  88. Thank you so much for this! I had someone who had this issue and we could not figure it out but then I found this and it resolved the problem!

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  89. Thank you!!!!!! Sure enough, the sender was on the spam list on my Galaxy S6!

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  90. This was a big help. Thanks a bunch!

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  91. Just add one more Thank You from what you have helped people out there.

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  92. Thanks Stacey. Right on the money - just had this issue on a user's Galaxy S7.

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  93. This was driving me crazy and the instructions were not working in newer versions of Android. Here was the process that worked in KitKat:

    Go in to the email app. DO NOT click the three dashes in the top right, this will not get you the correct context menu. Instead, click your phone's bottom left button, then click settings, then click spam addresses. Hope this helps someone.

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  94. I am having issues in my Outlook 2016 with several folders being created such as unwanted, sync folder but I don't have a galaxy but I have the iphone6

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  95. Well done! Very useful.

    Tom Jefferson

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  96. Very useful, Thank you very much!

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  97. so random, and could get one in trouble if their boss got put on this spam folder. thanks so much!

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  98. Hi Stacey,
    Please can you advise me how I can get rid of the 'Unwanted' folder from my iPhone 6.
    It's recently appeared and diverting all my emails that should go into my inbox straight to this 'Unwanted' folder that I didn't create!
    I've tried moving all the emails back to my inbox but they just bounce back to the 'Unwanted' folder and it's not possible to delete the folder.
    Thank you very much in advance.

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    1. I haven't seen this happen on an Apple device. What mail app are you running? And do you have another device running Android that's also sync'd to your mailbox?

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    2. Hi Stacey,
      The mail app is Outlook/Hotmail.
      I have three devices that are sync'd to my mailbox.
      The first one to be sync'd many years ago is my old Samsung S3, then followed my iPad Air and now recently my new iPhone 6 Plus.
      The 'Unwanted' Folder has only appeared on my iPhone though.
      It's not on my old Samsung S3 or iPad Air.
      My iPhone 6 Plus was bought for me as a present last month so has only been up & running for five weeks. This 'Unwanted' folder has just appeared on my iPhone 6 two days ago and is driving me crazy.
      I really appreciate any advice you can give me.
      Thank you Stacey.

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    3. I've just deleted my email account from my Samsung S3 since I'm guessing it's the Android system that's causing these problems.
      So now it's just my iPhone and iPad that are sync'd to my outlook/hotmail account.
      I've managed to delete the 'Unwanted' folder from my iPhone but within minutes it's back. I've deleted it many times now but it keeps coming back.
      I thought perhaps by deleting my email account off my Samsung phone it would sort the problem on my iPhone, but alas no. I still have this 'Unwanted' folder on my iPhone.
      I'm not a happy bunny. :-(

      Delete
  99. Just disable spam on my Samsung S7 edge, hope this works. thanks

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  103. Thank You, this fixed my issue too!

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  104. Yeah I have an s4 and the way you showed to fix this issue isn't working for me as the outlook app I am using doesn't having the menu anywhere close to what your talking about Stacy. I have looked in every setting on this phone and there is absolutely nothing labeled as spam or junk setting on the phone

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  105. I love posts like this. Just a quick entry somewhere and you're helping 100s of people having the same problem. Thanks man.

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  106. Thanks a lot. I have been looking for a solution to this for a while now.

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  107. Hi there. I have this problem too and only discovered the unwanted folder today. I had an old Samsung which I have replaced with a non-samsung phone. Any ideas how to fix it retrospectively? Thanks in advance....

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  108. I'd been trying for months why a certain email address always ended up in "unwanted" with no success until i read this. Sure enough the address was in my Samsung's SPAM. Thanks so much!

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  109. Super!
    Searched long time for a setting on the PC for it.
    thanks a lot!

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  110. Hey thanks a lot man, that worked.

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  111. Brilliant solution for a baffling problem, thank you.

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  112. Thanks for this post! spot on solution!

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  113. Thank you so much for this post. Spot on solution. And still relevant for Samsung galaxy

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