When an unwanted email lands in your inbox, most people just hit delete. That clears it from view, but it teaches Gmail nothing, so the next one just like it sails through again. Reporting does more. It moves the message out and feeds Gmail's filter, so similar mail gets caught before it reaches you next time. The same click also helps protect everyone else on Gmail.
Gmail gives you two separate report actions. Choosing the right one matters. Report spam is for ordinary junk, the promotions and bulk mail you never asked for. Report phishing is for something more dangerous, a message trying to trick you into handing over a password, card number or login. They look similar in your inbox, but they do different things behind the scenes. This guide covers how to use each, which to pick, plus how to rescue a real email that got caught by mistake.
Report spam
Use this for unwanted bulk mail that is annoying rather than dangerous.
- Open or tick the email in your inbox.
- Click the Report spam icon in the toolbar at the top, the stop sign with an exclamation mark.
- The message moves to your Spam folder.
Behind that click, Gmail studies what you flagged and gets better at spotting the same kind of mail. The more you report, the sharper your filter becomes, so future junk from similar senders is caught on its own. Reported spam sits in the Spam folder and is deleted automatically after 30 days. Google describes the same steps in its help on marking spam.
Report phishing
Use this when an email is not just junk but a scam, anything trying to steal your details or break into an account.
- Open the suspicious message. Do not click any links inside it.
- Next to Reply at the top right, click the three dot More menu.
- Click Report phishing.
This sends the message and its technical details to Google's security team for review, which is the extra step that plain spam reporting skips. When enough people report the same scam, Gmail can attach a warning banner to it for other recipients, so your report can shield people you will never meet. For a genuine fraud attempt, this is the right button, not Report spam. Google explains how in its help on reporting phishing.
Reporting on your phone
The Gmail app handles both reports too, which is handy when junk arrives while you are away from a computer.
Open the message, tap the three dot menu at the top right, then choose Report spam or Report phishing from the list. As on the web, Report spam also offers a combined Report spam and unsubscribe option for mailing lists, which leaves the list as it files the message away. The reports travel to the same place and train the same filter, so it makes no difference whether you flag mail on your phone or your laptop.
Spam or phishing: which to pick
The simple test is intent. Spam wants to sell you something. Phishing wants to steal something. All phishing is unwanted, but not all unwanted mail is phishing.
If a message is a pushy newsletter, a promotion or a sales pitch you never signed up for, report it as spam. If it pretends to be your bank, a delivery service, a colleague or a brand and asks you to log in, confirm details or open an attachment, report it as phishing. When in doubt, lean towards phishing, since that path triggers the extra security review and does no harm if the mail turns out to be merely annoying. Choosing phishing for a real scam matters, because that is what lets Gmail warn other people about it.
Why reporting beats deleting
Deleting feels like the same result, the email is gone either way. The difference is what Gmail learns. Delete a message and you have simply tidied your own inbox. Report it and you have told Gmail's filter what unwanted looks like, so it can intercept the next batch before it ever reaches you.
That training compounds. Each report nudges the filter. Over weeks the junk reaching your inbox thins out without any extra effort from you. With phishing, the case is even stronger, since your report can lead to a dangerous campaign being flagged or blocked for a huge number of other people. A two second report does far more good than a one second delete.
Rescue a real email caught by mistake
Filters are not perfect, so a genuine email sometimes lands in Spam. It is worth checking that folder now and then for anything important.
When you find a wrongly flagged message, open it and click Not spam. Gmail moves it back to your inbox. Future mail from that sender should arrive normally. If a particular contact keeps getting caught, there are sturdier fixes. Add them to your Google Contacts, which tells Gmail to trust them. Or build a never send to spam rule for their address, using the same filter system in our guide on auto-deleting old emails in Gmail. If you ever wrongly report something as phishing, open it and choose Report not phishing to undo it.
How to spot phishing before you report it
Knowing the signs helps you catch the dangerous ones. A phishing email usually does at least one of these.
- Asks for secrets. It wants a password, a card number or a one time code. A real bank or service never asks for these by email.
- Pushes you to act fast. It warns your account will close or a payment failed, hoping panic stops you thinking.
- Hides a bad link. On a computer, hover over a link without clicking. If the address that appears does not match the text, treat it as a trap.
- Does not quite match. The sender name says one company but the email address behind it is something else entirely.
If any of these ring true, do not reply and do not click a thing, not even an unsubscribe link. Just report it as phishing and move on. Reporting is different from blocking, which silently shelves one sender. For that per sender option, see our guide on blocking a sender in Gmail.
