Don't you hate it when you are waiting on an email from someone, and it never seems to come through, then days later you realize it was in your junk or spam folder the whole time? This is a common occurrence, especially these days with all of the unnecessary spam we get. That why you should whitelist email addresses that you know are from senders who have valuable information for you or contacts that you use frequently!

What Does it Mean to Whitelist an Email?

Whitelisting an email address is essentially just a list of approved senders so that you don't lose anything important to the junk folder. This practice is best for people who are signed up for any email subscriptions. 

How to Whitelist Emails:

Whitelisting is an easy one-time process that allows you to never miss an email again. Though the process varies slightly based on the email platform, you use. Below are instructions on how to whitelist emails across the major email systems.

• Android Mail
• AOL Mail
• Apple Mail (OS X and iOS devices)
• Gmail (web and mobile)
• Outlook.com
• Outlook 20XX
• Windows Live Desktop
• Yahoo! Mail

Android Mail:

If you are using an android device, open an email from the sender you wish to whitelist, click their icon/picture, and then click "Add to Contacts."

AOL Mail:

If you use AOL, you will go to a message from the sender, in the preview you can highlight the sender's email address and a drop-down menu will appear. You then select "Add Contact."

Apple Mail (OS X and iOS devices):

For both OS X and iOS mail, you will select the "From," or "Reply-To" button in the email. Then you click, "Add to VIPs."

Gmail (web and mobile):

If you use Gmail, you have probably noticed they have separate tabs for "Primary" or "Promotions." In order to charge a sender's priority, you will click on an email from the sender you want to whitelist and drag it to the "Primary" folder. After that, a small box will pop-up asking you if you wanted to move that sender. Click, "Yes."

Outlook.com:

Open an email from the sender you are going to whitelist. An alert should show saying, "Parts of this message have been blocked for your safety." All you have to do is click, "I trust this sender. Always show content."

Outlook 20XX:

Open an email from the sender you are going to whitelist, and a message should appear at the header of the message saying, Click here to download pictures but then in the drop-down click, "Add sender to safe senders list."

Windows Live Desktop:

Open the message from the sender whom you want to whitelist. Where it says, "Some images in this message are not shown." There you can click the link that says, " Add to safe sender's list."

Yahoo! Mail:

In Yahoo! Mail, you can select a message from the sender you are going to whitelist. Next to their email address should be a "plus" sign (+). Click on the plus sign and select "Add to Contacts" and then click "Save."