How to report spam messages in Gmail

Overview: What is spam?

Spam emails are unsolicited and irrelevant commercial emails, sent online to a bulk number of recipients. Oftentimes spam messages are from a company trying to sell you something. While these emails can be a nuisance, they are not considered malicious.

Reporting spam in Google will help reduce the volume of these messages for the entire MHC community by improving the system's spam filters.

Mark a message as spam in Gmail

Below, you will find instructions for marking an email as spam from a web browser.

1. Log into Google Mail in a web browser.
2. Select the email by either:
   • From the inbox view, checking the checkbox to the left of the star icon next to the message you want to report
   • Opening the email message 
3. Choose the Report Spam  button, located in between Archive and Delete/Trash

Block future messages from the sender

Below, you will find instructions for blocking future email messages from a specific sender in a web browser.

1. Log into Google Mail in a web browser.
2. Open the email
3. Select the three dot menu on the far right 
4. Select "Block [sender's name]"