Make Sure You Get Those Emails: Whitelist Email Addresses in Microsoft Office 365

UPDATED: 7/22/2019

Sometimes Exchange can be a little overzealous in protecting you from spam and other unwanted email. To make sure messages get through, you can whitelist email addresses in Office 365.

We get this question a lot from IT Pros and people just getting started in the Office 365 Admin center. The first set of instructions is for the pros–no fluff. Use the second set of instructions for a few more details.

How to Whitelist Email Address in Office 365

1. Open the Exchange Admin Center.
2. Click on Protection.
3. Click on Spam Filter.
4. Double click on Default.
5. Click on Allow Lists.
6. Under Allow Lists, click the + to add a new email address.
7. In the window that pops up, add the address you’d like to let through.
8. Click Save.
9. Click Save again.

That’s it! Now email from that address will be delivered to your organization’s inboxes, not marked as junk.

More Detailed Instructions for Whitelisting Emails

1. Sign into Office 365: Go to https://portal.office.com and sign in.
2. Click on Admin from your list of apps.
   
3. In the left-hand column, click on the Admin Center icon, then click Exchange to open the Exchange Admin Center.
   
4. Click on Protection from the left-hand menu.
   
5. Click on Spam Filter.
   
6. Double-click on Default.
   
7. In the pop-up window, click on Allow Lists.
   
8. Under Allowed Sender or Allowed Domain, click the + to add a new email address. Be careful about allowing whole domains, as entering popular domains here like gmail.com can allow bad actors to bypass filtering.
9. In the window that pops up, add the address you’d like to let through.
   
10. Click OK.
11. Click Save.

That’s it! Now email from that address will be delivered to your organization’s inboxes, not marked as junk.

Jeff Kirvin, PEI