How to Unblock a Sender in Gmail

Blocking a sender sends every message from that address to Spam. To let their mail back into your inbox, remove the address from the blocked list on the Gmail website, then pull their recent messages out of Spam.

Open the blocked addresses list

Open Gmail in a browser, click the gear icon in the top right, then click See all settings. Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab and scroll past your filters to the section that lists blocked addresses.

Unblock the address

Find the address and click Unblock to the right of it. To remove several at once, check the box next to each one and click Unblock selected addresses. The change takes effect immediately, with no save button to press.

Check for a filter that deletes their mail

If you ever set up a filter to delete or archive mail from this sender, unblocking alone will not fix the problem. On the same tab, look through the filter list for any rule that mentions the address and click delete next to it.

Rescue their recent messages from Spam

Open Spam in the left sidebar (click More if it is hidden). Open a message from the sender and click Not spam at the top. Gmail moves it to your inbox and learns from the correction. To handle several at once, check the boxes next to them and click Not spam once.

Send a test message

Ask the sender to send a new message, or send one yourself from another account. It should arrive in the inbox. If it still lands in Spam, open it and click Not spam one more time so Gmail's spam filter stops flagging that address.

On the phone app. The Gmail app for Android and iPhone can block a sender from the three-dot menu inside a message, but it cannot show or edit the blocked list. Use a browser, or open the desktop site in your phone's browser.

If their older mail is gone. Gmail permanently deletes anything in Spam after 30 days. Unblocking does not bring those messages back, so ask the sender to resend anything important from before then.