How to find emails automatically removed from spam

Asya Karapetyan
Content marketer, who specializes in Mac how-to guides
August 31, 2023
7 minutes to read

Every day, we usually receive dozens or hundreds of email messages, including unwanted messages that are called spam. Most email clients have an excellent spam management system, sorting the messages and putting spam into the appropriate junk folder. However, some important messages can be mistakenly put into the Spam folder and removed. This article explains how to find out emails automatically removed from the Spam folder.

emails automatically removed from spam

Contents:

  1. What is spam?
  2. Where is the Spam folder in Gmail and Mail on Mac?
  3. How to stop getting spam emails
  4. Can I retrieve emails automatically removed from spam in Gmail?
  5. FAQs

Before we start

If you notice some issues with your Apple Mail on your Mac, for example, the search works incorrectly, or it has become very slow, it’s time to reindex your Mailbox to fix these issues. You can do this with MacCleaner Pro. You can download it for free and use it also to clean up and speed up your Mac.

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MacCleaner Pro

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What is spam?

Spam means unwanted messages in any form that are sent in large numbers to users who have not given their consent to receive them. Spam is most often sent in the form of commercial emails, instant and text messages (SMS), social media, or even voicemail. This article covers only email spam.

Spam messages can be safe or dangerous. Safe spam means that messages don’t have any malware links, they just take your valuable time and space in your mailbox. Dangerous spam can harm your computer or steal your personal data.

Types of safe spam:

  1. Messages advertising legal goods or services.
  2. Messages advertising goods or services prohibited by law.
  3. Compromising letters. These may be related to politics or a company’s competitors, designed to change your opinion about something.
  4. Letters with a request to forward the text to other users.

Types of unsafe spam:

  1. Phishing. Emails that contain a link to a fake site that looks the same as (or very similar to) the original site. Their aim is to steal personal data and money.
  2. Malicious programs – emails with links that can infect a computer, give hackers remote access to the computer, or perform some other task.

To prevent receiving spam to your email address, try not to leave your email address on different resources. Do not respond to emails you didn’t subscribe to. When you open or click anything in spam messages, you confirm that your mailbox really exists and is active. Even if such emails contain unsubscribe links, they might be fictitious and created to mark real accounts. You’re better off marking such messages as spam, or setting a filter for the sender’s address in your mailbox settings.


Where is the Spam folder in Gmail and Mail on Mac?

When you open your Gmail account in any browser, all the folders with emails are displayed in the sidebar. However, your Spam folder might be hidden. Here is how to find the Spam folder in Gmail:

  1. Open your Gmail account.
  2. Hover your mouse on the sidebar. It will open the list of folders in your mailbox.
  3. Scroll down and click More.
  4. Scroll down and find Spam. Click It.

You will see the list of all messages in the Spam folder.

Gmail account showing where is a spam folder

If you use the Mac Mail client for your Gmail account, the Spam folder is called the Junk folder. Here is where to find it.

  1. Open the Mail app.
  2. Scroll down the sidebar.
  3. Click Junk. You will see the list of spam emails here.
Mail app showing where are spam messages

I marked an email as spam by mistake. What should I do?

If you marked any address as spam by mistake, do the following to stop email from being marked as spam. We will show the steps in Gmail. However, if you have another mail client, the steps should be similar:

  1. Open your Gmail account.
  2. Go to the Spam folder.
  3. Select the messages that you want to mark as not spam.
  4. Click Not Spam.
how to mar as not spam in Gmail

After that, the letters will be moved to the Inbox folder, and your anti-spam system will remember your choice and put future letters to the Inbox.

If you use Apple Mail, do the following to uncheck messages as spam:

  1. Open the Mail app.
  2. Go to the Junk folder.
  3. Select messages and click Not Junk in the top menu.
 junk folder in Mail showing how to mark as not spam

How to stop getting spam emails

The main characteristic of spam emails is that you don’t want to receive them, but you receive them anyway. However, there are some tips that you can use to stop getting spam emails or at least reduce their number.

  1. Don’t post your email address in any online public resources.
    If you have a personal website or a page on a popular online resource, don’t publicize your email there. Many spammers use programs that automatically visit websites and collect email addresses.
  2. Create an email for personal letters
    The more sites that know your email address, the more spam you will receive. It’s a great idea to have a separate email for registrations on various Internet resources, and trust your personal email address only for work and personal correspondence.
  3. Train your spam filter.
    Instead of just deleting unwanted emails from your inbox, it’s better to mark them as spam. For example, in Gmail, this can be done by highlighting the letter and clicking the “Spam” button. The same works for Apple Mail app. Also, we recommend that you check your Spam folder from time to time for messages that aren’t really spam and mark them as Not Spam. This will educate your mail software’s spam filter.

Can I retrieve emails automatically removed from spam in Gmail?

Note
If you use the free version of Gmail account, you can’t recover messages removed from the Trash and Spam folders. If your Gmail account is part of a Google Workspace, you can recover deleted emails even after 30 days.

By default, when you remove messages in Gmail, they go to the Trash folder. Messages in the Trash folder automatically get removed after 30 days without a possibility of recovering them. The same happens with messages in the Spam folder.

Messages that have been in Spam for more than 30 days will be automatically deleted.

Messages in Spam will be automatically deleted

You can see that even when you manually delete messages from the Spam folder, there’s a Delete Forever button, which means that messages from the Spam folder are deleted irrevocably.

You cannot recover and figure out emails deleted from spam in Gmail. However, you can try one method, which doesn’t guarantee success but it usually works for attacked Gmail accounts.

How to retrieve deleted emails with the Gmail message recovery tool

  1. Open the Gmail Message Recovery page.
  2. Click Continue and fill in the form.
  3. Click Submit.
Gmail message recovery tool page

Conclusion

Now you know how to take control of spam emails you get every day and reduce their number. We want to remind you that if you’re looking for some email messages and can’t find them, try to reindex your mailbox to fix the search issues. You can do this with MacCleaner Pro.



FAQs

Can you have spam automatically deleted?
Where do spam emails get removed?
Can I recover my Spam folder?
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