How to stop Gmail blocking important e-mails as spam

• Problem: Gmail blocks/diverts/filters e-mail messages you really need to receive.
• Solution: Create a "Never Send to Spam" filter in Gmail for the source of those e-mails.

Gmail is a free e-mail service from Google that has various benefits. But also, in my experience, one big drawback: it has stopped me from seeing e-mails I needed to see, because it thinks it might be spam or have a virus.

Several times now I have missed crucial messages because:

1. Gmail diverted the messages to the Spam folder, thinking them spam or viruses.
2. Gmail hides the Spam folder. See the picture below of the menu on the Gmail web page.

To even see if there's anything being designated as Spam, first you have to click on "7 more". (I have no idea why!)

Then you'll see a link for "Spam". Click on it and finally you can see if and what e-mails are being blocked as spam.

I received successfully many e-mails from my work with an online teaching company, but several important messages had been diverted as spam or viruses, and I didn't even realize these messages existed.

These messages were not spam or viruses but did have one or more of the following characteristics:

• Sent to multiple recipients (i.e. a group of teachers)
• Contained attachments with software (i.e. the program for giving the online classes)
• Contained links to software (i.e. the program for giving the online classes)

Needless to say, missing important work messages is a very bad thing, and I considered giving up Gmail. But I eventually found a blog post about this issue and I think I've resolved it.

Stop Gmail diverting important messages: Create "Never Send to Spam" Filter

All the blocked messages came from email addresses of the online teaching company, hiknow.com. So here I show how to prevent messages from (xyz)@hiknow.com from being blocked. Do this process with any other domain (e.g. whatever.com) you need.

1. Click on "Settings" at the top of the Gmail page.

2. Click on "Filters".

3. Click on "Create New  Filter".

4. In the "From" box, write the domain you want to be sure to receive messages from. (I put an asterisk in front of @, I think that will include any username based at the domain.) (If you want, you can click test search to see what will be affected). Then click "Next Step".

5. Check "Never Send to Spam". Check "Apply to (x) conversations below" to restore earlier blocked messages. Then click "Create Filter".

That's it. Before,I received some messages but also missed several important messages from xyz@hiknow.com were diverted as spam and I didn't see them. Now I should receive all messages from anyone at that domain.