Keep a sender’s messages out of Gmail spam

Create a Gmail filter for the sender and select Never send it to Spam. This is more explicit than adding a contact, but it does not guarantee delivery or override every organizational or malicious-content check.

Create a sender filter

In Gmail on the web:

1. Open Settings → See all settings.
2. Select Filters and Blocked Addresses → Create a new filter.
3. Enter a full address, such as alerts@example.com, in From.
4. Use the search results to check what the condition matches, then choose Create filter.
5. Select Never send it to Spam. Optionally select Always mark it as important.
6. Create the filter.

Domain-wide conditions have a broader effect than one address. If you use a domain expression, inspect the matching results carefully; a personal Gmail search filter is not an authenticated domain allowlist.

For a message already in Spam, select it and choose Report not spam. This moves the message back and provides feedback about the classification.

Add the sender to contacts

Adding a contact is a useful supporting step:

• On the web, open the sender's contact card and use Add to Contacts.
• On mobile, open the sender's details and use the available contact action. The exact controls depend on the app and platform.

Contacts can influence classification, but are not a delivery guarantee. Use a filter for important notifications and verify that messages actually arrive.

Google Workspace administration

Administrators can review Gmail's Spam, phishing and malware settings in the Admin console. IP allowlists and approved-sender lists are different mechanisms with different scopes; follow the documentation for the intended rule.

Prefer a narrow address list and appropriate authentication requirements. Allowing a public mail domain broadly is rarely a sound way to fix one missing notification.

FAQ

Does a filter override a contact entry?

A filter explicitly requests an action on matching messages; a contact entry is a classification signal. Neither should be treated as overriding all security checks. For critical alerts, also verify sender authentication and an alternate notification route.

Can I match a whole domain?

You can search by domain in the From condition, for example @example.com, and create a filter from that search. Check the results first, and do not treat this as proof of the sender's authenticated identity.

How do I recover several messages?

Search within Spam for the sender, select the intended messages, and choose Report not spam. Then create a filter if appropriate. Classification feedback is helpful, but future delivery still needs verification.

See Google's filter instructions. The procedures here have not been tested against a live mailbox or your organization's policies.

Related reading

• Verify SSL certificates from the command line
• Add safe senders in Outlook