How to Whitelist or Blacklist Email Senders in AOL

Technology often seems to have a mind of its own. It's supposed to make your life easier, but quirks can actually cost you time and opportunities, such as missing important emails because they go to your spam folder. It may be hours or even days before you think to check that folder.

But this is easy enough to fix. You can "whitelist" a sender or an entire domain name to make sure certain emails are sent to your inbox and nowhere else. A whitelist is a list of approved entities with authorized access to your inbox. Whitelisting is adding an email address to your Contacts list to ensure emails from that sender are recognized and received in your inbox.

Whitelisting or Blacklisting an Email Sender in AOL

You must add the email address or corporate domain of the sender to your address book or custom sender list to make sure email gets delivered to your AOL inbox. 

To whitelist a contact in AOL, click Contacts on the left navigation bar of your inbox screen. Then, click the New Contact icon on the top bar and add the new contact information to the required fields. Once completed, click the Add Contact button at the bottom.

To blacklist a contact in AOL, click the drop-down menu under Options, which appears in the upper right corner of your inbox, and select Mail Settings. Then, click Spam Settings on the left menu of your screen to add the contact to your "blocked" list.

Whitelisting Senders and Domains Using AOL Webmail

Replying to an email from a sender you want to whitelist will automatically add the list as a safe sender if you're using AOL webmail. Email from that domain will then be delivered straight to your inbox. The software will recognize that it's not spam. 

Mass or Bulk Emails 

AOL says it cooperates with individuals and organizations who send bulk emails, but only if those emails are solicited. AOL will recognize certain IP addresses automatically because AOL has its own whitelist. If you don't want these emails or didn't solicit them, you can notify AOL or you can effectively blacklist them or any other email you don't want to receive.

Go to Spam Controls to blacklist someone, just as you would if you wanted to allow an email. Then click "Block email from" and enter the name of the sender. Click "add" and "save." Or, on more recent versions of AOL, you can click on the "Report Spam" or "Notify AOL" link right there on the offensive email. 

AOL Will Alert You

Upgrade to the most recent version of AOL if you're not already receiving alerts when emails land in your spam folder. If all else fails, AOL will let you know that something new has arrived. If you've been waiting for an email that is not appearing in your inbox, this is effectively a reminder to check your spam folder. You can even tell AOL how often you want to receive these alerts.