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Is there a way to mark as "not junk" mail?

I can define an email as junk... but cannot find an icon or anything under 'message' for marking as NOT junk. This option seems to have disappeared with Lion's arrival.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Aug 6, 2011 1:48 PM

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61 replies

Dec 14, 2013 2:28 PM in response to STG

I use an imap server at work. To mark as Not Junk, I first highlight the message in the Junk folder, then push the Junk Icon which prompts the question, then push the Not Junk icon to mark as Not Junk. Weird.

The "corrected" email is then dragged into my regular Inbox. I don't know if this trains the filter or not, but it gets the email into the right Inbox without the brown highlight.

Dec 18, 2014 8:32 AM in response to STG

There is a much easier way on individual messages accidentally or mistakenly marked as junk.

Go to the junk folder where the mail item is select it so it is highlighted. Hit cmd/Shift/j a little button will pop up at the top of the message saying "you have marked this message as junk" ther eis a button next to it that says "not junk" , click it

Jan 27, 2015 9:42 PM in response to Jeffrey Lee

Same problem. I don't think many users distinguish between 'junk' and 'spam'. To us they are different names for mail we don't wish to receive. But when mail that we do want arrives in a 'spam' folder, we want an easy way to correct the algorithm that sent to that folder and have similar mail arrive in our Inbox. Every month the notice that my electronic payment has been made goes into Spam. How can I correct this?

Marking it as 'not junk' and having my wish understood would seem logical to me.

Feb 22, 2015 7:33 AM in response to JimOnLatona

Yes, adding addresses to contacts is a good start. You might also try amending the Junk Mail Advanced settings to avoid mis-marking certain mail as junk. For instance, if Mail is filtering out mail list messages that have a common set of list-identifying characters in the subject, such as [abcd], then add a condition such as "Subject does not contain [abcd]" to the list of conditions that identifies mail as junk.

Apr 28, 2015 7:51 AM in response to STG

It's infuriating. I'm using an Office 365 account and there is simply no "Not junk" button. A message will be marked as junk when it comes in, but the button in the toolbar (and on right-click, and in "Message>Mark") only includes the option to mark it as "junk." Again.


I can click the "junk" button, which then turns to a "not junk" button. But clicking that has no effect on the message itself: Mail continues to see the message as "junk."


Adding conditions to the preferences has no effect on the mail's designation as junk or not junk.


An annoying glitch.

May 29, 2015 11:30 AM in response to STG

Wow, a lot of bad answers for this question.


CORRECT ANSWER - there are TWO WAYS an email can be marked "junk"


1 - In your mac's Mail program – You can mark a message JUNK and apple mail will remember and attempt to do the same with similar emails.

IF THIS HAPPENS when you select the message there will be a big yellow bar with a button marked "NOT JUNK" and a a thumbs up in the toolbar above.


2 - YOUR EMAIL PROVIDER can mark your mail junk. This means Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc. - marked the file as JUNK and then you WILL NOT SEE
THE YELLOW BAR and WILL NOT BE ABLE TO UN-JUNK the message.


You will need to sign in to Hotmail, Google's Gmail, Yahoo Mail etc and mark it NOT JUNK there.

It will remember and treat similar messages the same.

May 17, 2017 3:21 PM in response to STG

I get golden brown. alway a top right button to click NOT JUNK. when I want to. I did it this time. put in a mailbox with a rule so it always goes there next time. it is there. however I view it in that mailbox or as 'today' smart box.every time I see it listed it as golden brown. can't remove junk status which I did before. it shows as black or brown when I select it. Mail has a mind of its own. no logic. either black, as I want, or then golden, however Mail wants to. Don't moan at my message, Apple. I'm complaining about your software, logically. Use it for your benefit. don't criticise a customer.

Jul 21, 2017 9:03 AM in response to STG

I just discovered this: Open the message that is marked as junk. A tan bar will appear at the top left saying something like, "Mail thinks this message is junk." On the right side will be two buttons: Not Junk and Move to Junk. Clicking the Not Junk button makes the message look like any other non-junk email.

Is there a way to mark as "not junk" mail?

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