How to Block Email on Gmail, Unblock a Sender and Unsubscribe

To block an email address in Gmail, open an email from that sender, click or tap the 3 dots next to the reply arrow, then choose Block followed by the sender’s name. Their next emails go straight to your Spam folder, and the sender is not told. The steps below cover a computer, Android and iPhone, then unblocking, unsubscribing and the Promotions tab.

In short:

• One person or one address keeps writing to you: block the sender
• A company you know sends newsletters or marketing emails: unsubscribe
• The Promotions tab keeps filling up: create a filter, then delete all promotions at once
• You blocked someone by mistake: unblock them at any time
• The sender gets no notification, whether you block or unblock

How do I block an email address on Gmail?

Gmail blocks a sender from a message you received. There is no field where you type an address to block. If the sender’s emails are buried in your inbox, type from: followed by their address in the search bar to list everything they sent. More search tips in how to find an email in Gmail.

Once the address is blocked, its new messages go to Spam. The emails you already received stay where they are. To remove them, run the same from: search, select all the results and delete them.

On a computer

1. Open gmail.com and open an email from the sender
2. At the top right of the message, next to the Reply arrow, click the 3 vertical dots (More)
3. Click Block followed by the sender’s name
4. Click Block in the window that opens to confirm

In the Gmail app for Android

1. Open the Gmail app and open an email from the sender
2. Tap the 3 dots on the sender’s line, inside the message. The 3 dots at the very top of the screen open a different menu
3. Tap Block followed by the sender’s name

In the Gmail app for iPhone

1. Open the Gmail app and open an email from the sender
2. Tap the 3 dots to the right of the sender’s name, inside the message
3. Tap Block followed by the sender’s name

If you read your Gmail in Apple’s Mail app, block the sender in the Gmail app or on a computer. The block applies to your Gmail account on every device. Blocking a contact in the iPhone settings is a separate setting, managed by Apple.

How do I unblock an email in Gmail?

On a computer

1. Click the gear icon at the top right, then See all settings
2. Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab
3. In the list of blocked addresses at the bottom of the page, tick the address
4. Click Unblock selected addresses, then Unblock to confirm

On Android and iPhone

1. Open an email from that sender. If it is not in the inbox, look in Spam
2. Tap the 3 dots on the sender’s line, inside the message
3. Tap Unblock followed by the sender’s name

The full list of blocked addresses is only on a computer. On a phone, open mail.google.com in the browser and switch to the desktop version.

Unblocking does not bring back the emails sent while the block was on. They are in Spam: open each one and click Report not spam to move it to the inbox. If emails from that person still do not arrive after unblocking, go through the fixes in why you can’t see your emails in Gmail.

How do I unsubscribe from emails in Gmail?

For newsletters and marketing emails from a company you know, unsubscribing works better than blocking. The sender stops sending, so nothing reaches your account at all.

• On a computer, open the email, click Unsubscribe next to the sender’s name, then confirm
• In the app, open the email and tap Unsubscribe under the sender’s name

Gmail also groups the senders who email you most in Manage subscriptions, in the left menu (under More on a computer), with an Unsubscribe button on each line.

Gmail shows Unsubscribe only when the sender provides the information. If you don’t see it, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, or block the sender. Some senders take a few days to process the request.

What is the difference between blocking and unsubscribing?

• Unsubscribe asks the sender to stop sending. New emails stop coming, and the sender knows, since that is the request
• Block hides one address from your inbox. New emails go to Spam, where Gmail deletes them after 30 days. The sender is not told
• Report spam moves the email to Spam and trains Gmail’s filter. The sender is not told

Use Unsubscribe for a company you signed up with. Use Block for one person, or for a sender that ignores unsubscribe requests. If an email looks like a scam, do not click anything in it, Unsubscribe included: use Report spam.

Why do promotions keep filling my inbox?

The Promotions tab only sorts emails. Everything a store or a brand sends still arrives, until you unsubscribe or create a filter.

If promotional emails land in Primary, drag one of them to the Promotions tab on a computer. Gmail asks whether to do the same for future messages from that sender: click Yes. In the app, open the email, tap the 3 dots at the top right, then Move to, and pick Promotions.

No Promotions tab at all? Click the gear icon, then See all settings, open the Inbox tab and tick Promotions under Categories.

Create a filter by sender or keyword

Filters are created on a computer only, the Gmail app has no option for them. A filter can target a whole domain or a keyword, which Block cannot do.

1. Click the Show search options icon at the right end of the search bar
2. In From, type an address or a whole domain, such as @example.com. Or type a word in Has the words
3. Click Create filter
4. Tick Delete it, or Skip the Inbox (Archive it) to keep the emails out of sight without deleting them
5. Tick Also apply filter to matching conversations to clean up past emails, then click Create filter

Your filters are listed in the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab of the settings, where you can edit or delete them.

Delete all promotions at once

1. On a computer, open the Promotions tab, or type category:promotions in the search bar
2. Tick the select box at the top left of the list
3. Click Select all conversations in Promotions, in the line that appears above the emails
4. Click the Delete icon, then OK to confirm

In the app, you select messages by tapping each sender’s picture, which is slow for a full tab. A computer is faster.

Deleted emails stay in Trash for 30 days and count against your storage until then. Empty the Gmail trash to get the space back, and find more ways to save space in how to free up Gmail storage space. To delete every email in the account, see how to delete all your Gmail emails at once.

Why are blocked emails still showing up in my Gmail inbox?

• The emails arrived before the block. Blocking does not move old messages, so delete or archive them yourself
• The sender writes from another address. Block works on one exact address: create a filter on the domain instead
• A filter keeps that sender in the inbox. A filter set to Never send it to Spam can override the block. Check the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab

Blocked emails are not deleted right away. They stay in Spam, where Gmail deletes them automatically after 30 days.

Does Gmail tell the sender when you block them?

No. The sender gets no notification, and their emails do not bounce back. They reach your Spam folder, so from their side nothing changes. Unblocking is silent too.

Google’s help page on blocking or unblocking a sender lists the same steps.

FAQ