Google Block and a filter are two ways to block unwanted email from specific senders in Gmail. To unblock an email address from a filter in Gmail, remove it from the filter. If the filter contains multiple email addresses and you want to keep blocking others, edit the filter to remove only the addresses you want to unblock while keeping the others blocked. After updating the filter, new emails from addresses removed from the filter appear in your Inbox.
This article applies to the desktop version of Gmail accessed via a web browser.
- Find the Filter to Unblock
- Edit the Filter
- Delete the Entire Filter
- Unblock a Blocked Address
- Can’t Unblock an Email
- Verify That No Other Filters Exist
- Fix It With a Safelist
- Consider These Before Unblocking
Find the Filter to Unblock
Remove an email address or domain from your list of blocked addresses in Gmail’s settings. The first step is to find the email filter.
- Go to Settings (gear icon) and select See all.
- Select Filters and Blocked Addresses.
- Locate the filter you want to edit or delete in the section All incoming mail filters. Name or address in bold
Edit the Filter
After locating the filter that blocks the email address, decide whether to delete it (halting the action) or edit it (removing the email address) (to unblock messages from that address only).
- Select Edit next to the filter to view its details.
- In the From field, remove all blocked addresses. The filter will continue to block any addresses left in.
Stop blocking all email addresses in the filter and proceed to Step 6, Delete the Entire Filter.
- Press Next.
- You can choose to delete emails from blocked senders, for example. Then select Update filter to save your work.
Delete the Entire Filter
Remove the filter to completely remove it and unblock all email addresses.
- Go back to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab in settings.
- Delete the email filter.
- Click OK to confirm deletion.
Unblock a Blocked Address
It’s easier to unblock senders if you use the Gmail Block feature.
- Click on the Settings gear icon and select See all settings.
- Choose Filters and Blocked Addresses from the Settings page.
- A section for blocked addresses is at the page’s bottom. Block automatically filters these addresses to Spam.
- Unblock the desired address by selecting it.
- Select Unblock to confirm you want to unblock the address and have future mail sent to your Inbox.
- Any future emails from the unblocked address will go into your regular Inbox unless another filter directs them otherwise. 7.
Can’t Unblock an Email
A filter that blocks emails can be unblocked by removing an email address from it or by deleting it altogether. You can try these steps if you still don’t receive emails from that sender.
Verify That No Other Filters Exist
Possibly another filter blocked or redirected the email you unblocked. Do a search for that address in the settings’ Filters and Blocked Addresses page. In this case, you can edit or delete the other filter to ensure that the emails go to your Inbox folder instead.
Maybe it’s spam.
This filter may be sending unwanted emails to the Trash folder. Because Gmail might be marking these messages as spam if they don’t go to your Inbox after removing the filter,
- Go to the Spam box. Look for the Spam folder in the More section if you have custom Gmail folders.
- Read the non-spam email.
- Select Inbox in the banner at the top of the message.
If the banner isn’t visible, look for the Spam label next to the subject line. Remove the label and send the message back to the Inbox.
- Your Inbox will now receive this message and others like it.
Fix It With a Safelist
You can also safelist an email address to stop Gmail from classifying it as spam. Safelisting will unblock emails if there is no filter sending them to the Trash or another folder.
Consider These Before Unblocking
A filter that blocks an entire domain should not be deleted. Domains hold many email addresses and potential emails. Don’t delete the whole filter if you want to keep blocking the @spamsite.org domain from sending spam.
Notify me of updates to this page. The removal of all filter options results in an error message. To stop auto-deleting emails, remove the entire filter.