Steps to avoid emails going to Spam

Email providers can occasionally flag IdeaScale notifications as spam if the sender is not yet recognized as trusted. Informing members to whitelist community emails and configuring filters in commonly used email providers helps ensure notifications, such as password resets, idea updates, and broadcast emails, are delivered reliably.

General Steps to Prevent Community Emails from Being Marked as Spam

Community emails can be kept out of the spam folder by following a few general steps, in addition to setting up a provider-specific filter (see Setting Up Filters for Different Email Providers below).

1. Whitelist Community Emails: The Community Administrator informs members that community emails should be added to a trusted or whitelisted senders list to help ensure delivery to the inbox.
2. Add the Sender Address to Contacts: The email address "noreply@ideascale.com" is added to a personal contact list. See Note below regarding custom sender addresses.
3. Move to the Primary Tab (Gmail): Gmail users can drag a community email into the Primary tab. A message then appears asking whether to apply this placement to future messages from the same sender; selecting Yes applies the change going forward.
4. Create a Filter: Setting up a filter in the email provider used is another way to prevent community emails from being marked as spam. See Setting Up Filters for Different Email Providers below for provider-specific directions.

Help Article for Workspace Email Settings

Setting Up Filters for Different Email Providers

Filters can be configured directly within an email provider to prevent community emails from being marked as spam. Directions are provided below for Outlook, Yahoo, and Gmail.

Outlook

The community's sender email address is added to the Safe Senders list, located under Tools >> Options >> Preferences >> Junk E-mail. The option to automatically add anyone emailed to the Safe Senders List can also be selected from the same location.

Yahoo

A filter is created to prevent community emails from being flagged as spam, using Mail Options >> Filters >> Add new filter. In the "From header" rule, the community's sender email address is entered, and the "Choose Folder" destination is set to Inbox.

Gmail

Advanced spam controls can be applied using a filter, created through Settings >> Filters and Blocked Addresses >> Create a new filter. The sender's email address, the sender's name, or just the domain can be entered along with other criteria, and the "Never send it to Spam" checkbox is selected.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are community emails going to a member's spam folder?

Email providers can occasionally flag community emails as spam if the sender is not yet recognized as trusted. Whitelisting the sender address and setting up a provider-specific filter helps prevent this.

What should be done if a member reports that community emails are going to spam?

The member can be directed to whitelist the community's sender email address and to follow the provider-specific filter directions in Setting Up Filters for Different Email Providers.

Which email providers have specific filter directions provided?

Provider-specific directions are provided for Outlook, Yahoo, and Gmail.

What happens when a community email is dragged into the Gmail Primary tab?

A message appears asking whether to apply that placement to future messages from the same sender; selecting Yes applies the change going forward.

Can a sender address other than "noreply@ideascale.com" be used?

Yes. A custom sender address can be configured in Workspace Email Settings in place of the default "noreply@ideascale.com" address.

Related Articles

• Help Article for Community Settings - Email Settings
• Help Article for Workspace Email Settings
• Help Article for Email Notifications Received By Users