Certain senders cannot be blocked in Apple Mail

Question

Certain senders cannot be blocked in Apple Mail

To block a sender in Apple Mail, I can right-click on the sender. A red circle with a slash appears and the sender is blocked.

For a small number of senders, this procedure does not work. No red circle with a slash appears, and messages continue to come from that sender.

Others have asked this same question, and the response is always a detailed description of how to block a sender, even when someone makes clear that they know how to block senders, they block senders regularly and it works, but it does not work on a small subset of senders. In my case, I know how to block senders, and it works properly 99% of the time. For the senders where it doesn't work, it never works. I can receive five unwanted spam messages, block 4 of the senders, and I know that the fifth is un-blockable. Please do not respond with the steps to block a sender. Problem is on a MacBook Pro on Sequoia 15.1.1 but problem has been around for a long time through multiple releases.

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Jan 20, 2025 12:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 20, 2025 12:58 PM in response to ChrisCrowley014

When you block a sender it blocks the sender’s email address, not their name. They can send another message with the same name and a different email address.

There is absolutely no benefit to blocking email spam senders, because spam bots never use the same email address twice.

Reply

Answer 2

Jan 21, 2025 6:32 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I am trying to block the sender's email address, not their name. Not sure how to make the issue clearer, but I will try to rephrase a little bit to see if the question comes through:

I block some senders by right clicking on the email From field and selecting 'Block sender'
This works 99% of the time; a red circle with a slash appears and the sender is blocked
For a small number of specific senders, this function does not work. No red circle appears. The sender is not added to the blocked senders list. Right-clicking on them again does not show 'Unblock sender' as an option, instead it shows 'Block sender' as an option.
When I receive the next email from this sender, I also cannot block the sender in that subsequent email.
I am not asking whether it is a good idea to use the 'Block sender' function. I am asking why it works 99% of the time, but some specific senders cannot be blocked. Are they somehow on a whitelist somewhere that I am unaware I can manage?

Thank you

Reply

Answer 3

Jan 20, 2025 12:23 PM in response to ChrisCrowley014

Note I right-click on sender and select Block Sender from the pick list of actions - forgot to add that step.

Reply