How to Block a Number or Contact in Skype for Business

Skype only allows you to block communications from individual phone numbers if they’re in your contacts, so we’ll need to create a new contact in Outlook in order to block the number in Skype for Business.

  1. In Outlook, click New Items at the top left of the ribbon and choose Contact from the drop down. Then
  2. Enter the number you’d like to block.
  3. Give your contact a name and email address. You can make up anything you want for these, but make sure your made-up email address is in typical email address format.
  4. Hit Save and Close in the top left corner and navigate back to Skype for Business.
  5. Find your new contact in Skype for Business by searching for them in the search bar.
  6. Right click on your new contact, hover over Change Privacy Relationship, and choose Blocked Contacts.
  7. Click OK to Confirm.

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18 Comments

  • shane says:

    “Change Privacy Relationship” does not exist. Cant block spammers/scammers

    • Stephanie Hamrick says:

      Hi Shane,

      A person must be in your Outlook contacts before you can block them. Can you let us know what you’re doing? We can try to help you figure it out. Thanks for reading!

      • Sergius Tunes says:

        Even after adding the number to the contact list, there is no “Change Privacy Relationship”. I strongly suggest adding a button on Skype to block phone calls.

        • Stephanie Hamrick says:

          Hi Sergius,

          Thanks for reaching out with your problem. One area where people get off track here is forgetting that their contact needs either an email address or an IM address when you build it in Outlook. These can be anything you like as long as they are in standard email address format–you can make one up as I demonstrate in the video. Additionally, please right click on your contact to block them. Using the Ellipsis Icon for “more options” after hovering over the contact’s image will not give you the option to Change Privacy Relationships.

          You can also now block numbers that have called you in Microsoft Teams without having to add them to your contacts. If this is a feature you’re looking for or highly interested in, I suggest giving Microsoft Teams a look!

          Thanks!

        • Michael says:

          Same here. Added the contact on outlook. It shows up in Skype for Business but when I right click over it all options are greyed out and NOWHERE is there anything that says anything about privacy or bock numbers as an option.

          • Stephanie Hamrick says:

            Hi Mike,

            Thanks for reading and letting us know about your problem. We’ve been made aware that this solution does not solve the problem for all users and are working to get to the bottom of this.

  • Mary Pea says:

    I just received an incoming call at work, via Skype for Business. The gentleman introduced himself by first name only, and said he represented ABC company, which provides financial advice services, including “wealth management.” I explained that I already have a financial adviser. Knowing how persistent such people can be when their job is to sell services, I decided to find out if there was a way to block incoming Skype calls.

    This video is clear, concise, and provided the step-by-step process I needed to do just that! I want to thank the videographer and the narrator for a JOB WELL DONE. Congratulations!

    I’ll likely visit PEI.com again if I have future questions about Microsoft Office programs.

  • Dennis says:

    Doesn’t work for us. We have an on-premise SFB server. I can add a contact and change the privacy to blocked, but the calls still come in. Does it take some time to propagate?

    • Stephanie Hamrick says:

      Hi Dennis,

      Can you verify this is still happening? Additionally, can you verify that the privacy relationship does not automatically switch back to the normal privacy relationship after you select “blocked”?

  • Adam Fowler says:

    Hi,
    This doesn’t work when you have Enterprise Voice. It might block pure Skype calls, but not actual standard telephone calls – at least that’s the results of my testing. I waited 3 days 🙂

    This university has the same conclusion https://answers.uillinois.edu/34136

    • Stephanie Hamrick says:

      Hi Adam!

      Thanks for reading and for sharing your experience! We are aware from comments like yours that this fix does not work in all cases for all users. We are unable to replicate your issue, but we’re working with Microsoft to find a solution for cases like yours, because we are seeing similar results for many of our users. If you’re a Skype for Business Online user, know that SfB Online will soon be replaced by Microsoft Teams, where a much more reliable way to block numbers and specific PSTN callers is already available in the settings menu.

      Let us know if you have any questions!

  • Su says:

    It works for me. Thank you so much.

  • Matt says:

    Solution worked perfectly. May need to restart SFB to get it to pick up the new contact for blocking.

  • Diego says:

    The solution has worked, but it is too time demanding.
    As suggested in a comment above, one button for block phone calls would be a much better solution.

    • Stephanie Hamrick says:

      Hi Diego. Thanks for reading! We agree that a more streamlined solution would be much easier. Luckily for us, this procedure in Microsoft Teams just takes two clicks. We’d recommend considering a move from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams to take advantage of the most advanced calling functionality from Microsoft.

  • Mauricio says:

    Thanks!
    Just follow the video and the Change Privacy Relationship option appears. People don’t like to read / watch.

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