Often, technology appears to have a mind of its own. It’s supposed to make life easier, but quirks can actually cost you time and opportunities, such as missing critical emails that get filtered into your spam folder. It could be hours, if not days, before you consider checking that folder.

However, this is a simple fix. You can “whitelist” a sender or an entire domain name to ensure that certain emails are delivered exclusively to your inbox. A whitelist is a list of approved entities that have been granted permission to access your inbox. Whitelisting is the process of adding an email address to your Contacts list in order for that sender’s emails to be recognized and delivered to your inbox.

How to Whitelist or Blacklist Email Senders in AOL

To ensure that email is delivered to your AOL inbox, you must add the sender’s email address or corporate domain to your address book or custom sender list.

To whitelist a contact in AOL, click Contacts on your inbox’s left navigation bar. Then, on the top bar, click the New Contact icon and enter the new contact information in the required fields. At the bottom, click the Add Contact button.

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

How to Whitelist or Blacklist Email Senders in AOL

If you’re using AOL webmail, replying to an email from a sender you want to whitelist will automatically add the sender to your safe sender list. After that, email from that domain will be delivered directly to your inbox. It will be recognized as non-spam by the software.

Mass or Bulk Emails

AOL states that it collaborates with individuals and organizations that send bulk emails, but only when the emails are requested. AOL will automatically recognize certain IP addresses due to the fact that AOL maintains its own whitelist. If you do not want to receive these emails or did not solicit them, you can notify AOL or blacklist them or any other email you wish to avoid.

To blacklist someone, navigate to Spam Controls, just as you would to allow an email. Then click “Block email from” and type the sender’s name. Select “add” and then “save.” Alternatively, on more recent versions of AOL, you can click directly on the offensive email’s “Report Spam” or “Notify AOL” link.

AOL Will Alert You

Upgrade to the latest version of AOL if you are not already receiving notifications when emails are filtered as spam. If all else fails, AOL will notify you when something new becomes available. If you’ve been checking your inbox for an email that hasn’t arrived, this is effectively a reminder to check your spam folder. You can even specify how frequently you want to receive these alerts from AOL.