How to "Junk" or "Unjunk" an E-mail in Mac Mail

How to Mark E-mail as "Junk" in Mac Mail

To manually (and in future automatically) junk e-mails in Mac Mail:

1. On the left side bar, navigate to your Inbox
2. Select the e-mail you wish to identify as junk
3. Click Mark as Junk
   • Toolbar Method: In the Mail toolbar click the Junk button (it looks like a bin or a “thumbs down” icon)
     
   • Menu Method: In the menu bar, go to Message > Mark > As Junk Mail

The e-mail will be moved to the Junk folder, and future messages from that sender may be filtered automatically.

​​​​​​​How to Mark Email as Not Junk (Unjunk) in Mac Mail
 

1. On the left sidebar, navigate to the Junk Folder
2. Click on the legitimate e-mail you want to restore.
3. Mark as Not Junk
   • Toolbar Method: In the toolbar click the Not Junk button (shows as a “thumbs up” or “not junk” icon)
   • Menu Method: Go to Message > Mark > As Not Junk Mail

The e-mail will move back to your inbox, and the sender will be “whitelisted” in the junk filter’s memory.

Customizing Junk Mail Settings

Mac Mail’s built-in filters learn from your actions. You can further customize how junk mail is handled:

1. Open Settings: From the menu bar, select Mail > Settings (or Preferences in older versions)
2. Click the Junk Mail Tab
3. Adjust Filters: Choose how aggressively you want Mail to filter junk (e.g., Mark as junk mail but leave it in my Inbox, Move it to the Junk mailbox, or Perform custom actions).
4. Trust Contacts: Enable Trust junk mail headers in messages or Exclude messages from my contacts to reduce false positives.
5. One important setting is Mailbox Behaviors, which allows you to choose where to store junk (spam) messages — either locally on your Mac or on the mail server. Storing junk messages on the server ensures consistency across devices and helps improve spam filtering.