Using Trusted Senders to Avoid Blocking Important Emails
Email is a critical communication channel for businesses and individuals alike. Unfortunately, the rise of spam and phishing attacks has made it difficult to filter out unwanted messages while ensuring important emails get delivered. Email service providers often use complex algorithms and filters to determine whether an email should be delivered to a user's inbox or sent to their spam folder. In this article, we'll explore how trusted senders can help prevent important emails from being blocked and provide tips for identifying trusted senders.
The Importance of Trusted Senders
Trusted senders are email addresses or domains that have a good reputation for sending only legitimate emails. Email providers like Google and Microsoft often use email authentication protocols like SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) to verify that emails are being sent from a trusted sender. These protocols help to prevent spam, phishing, and other malicious emails from being delivered to users' inboxes.
When an email from a trusted sender is received, it is more likely to be delivered to the user's inbox rather than being filtered into spam. This is because email service providers trust that the sender is legitimate and that the email is not malicious. Users can also add trusted senders to their contact list, which tells the email provider that any emails from that sender are safe and should be delivered to the inbox.
Identifying Trusted Senders
Knowing how to identify trusted senders is an important skill for anyone who relies on email for business or personal communication. Here are some tips for identifying trusted senders:
Check the sender's email address and domain: Look at the email address and domain name to see if they match the company or organization that the sender claims to be from. For example, if an email claims to be from your bank, but the email address is from a different domain, it's likely a phishing attempt.
Look for signs of authenticity: Check for signs that the email is authentic such as personalized greetings, accurate information, and a professional tone. Legitimate emails are usually well written and free of spelling or grammatical errors.
Check the email header: Email headers contain information about the sender, recipient, and routing of the email. You can view the header of an email by clicking on "Show Original" or "View Message Source" in your email client. Look for clues such as email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, or DMARC.
Check the email content: Look for content that is relevant to you and matches the sender's claims. Legitimate emails usually include information that is specific to you and your account.
Adding Trusted Senders
Users can add trusted senders to their contact list in their email client's settings. This tells the email provider that emails from that sender are safe and should be delivered to the inbox. Here's how to add a trusted sender in Gmail:
1. Open the email from the sender you want to add as a trusted sender.
2. Click on the sender's email address or avatar.
3. Click "Add to Contacts" in the pop-up window.
4. Enter any additional information you want to save about the contact.
5. Click "Save" to add the contact to your Gmail contacts.
Conclusion
Trusted senders can help prevent important emails from being blocked by email service providers. By verifying the authenticity of the sender and the content of the email, email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help to prevent spam, phishing, and other malicious emails from being delivered to users' inboxes. Users can also add trusted senders to their contact list to ensure that important emails are always delivered to their inbox. By following these tips for identifying and adding trusted senders, users can ensure that their important emails are never lost in a sea of spam.