[Updated] Outlook 'Focused Inbox' flooded with spam or junk emails? Here's how to disable or turn off

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 29, 2022) follows:

Among email clients, Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular. Originally known as ‘Hotmail’, the service has been around for many years.

Like other email clients, Outlook integrates anti-spam tools. These tools should prevent users from receiving spam or junk emails in their main folders.

Outlook also offers the ‘Focused Inbox’ feature. This seeks to offer a folder where the user receives the most important emails.

However, it seems that Outlook’s anti-spam tool is not working properly as the ‘Focused Inbox’ folder from multiple users is receiving spam or junk emails.

According to multiple reports, several Outlook users are getting spam or junk emails in the ‘Focused Inbox’ folder. This is very annoying since the folder should offer only the most important emails.

The problem has reportedly been present for weeks now, with no sign of improvement in the feature.

Does anyone else think that Microsoft have given up on spam filtering?

This has gotten intolerable over the last month or so. My Focused inbox has more junk than regular mail and it’s five taps on the phone to report this stuff. I’ve tried Edison and the gmail app to see if they filter any better —they don’t.

Can anyone recommend a way to filter this stuff?
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Anyone else seeing an increase in spam landing into inbox recently?

I am seeing a lot of spam emails in different languages arrive in my Outlook online inbox. Just wondering if anyone else is seeing the same behavior? About the same amount of mail is arriving in my junk e-mail box, but probably a tenfold increase for my inbox.
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In its current state, the ‘Focused Inbox’ Outlook is not fulfilling its purpose. So, multiple users are looking to disable the option and return to a more traditional Inbox folder.

The “focused” section of Outlook hurts my brain. I don’t think I’m getting student emails. Anyone know how to turn that off? #outlooksucks
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The settings that allow you to disable the feature vary according to the platform. First, if you are an Outlook user through a web browser, you will find the switch to deactivate it in Settings, by clicking on the gear icon:

On the other hand, if you use the Outlook desktop client, you can find the option in the ‘View’ tab.

In my version, when I click the gear wheel in the lower right, one of the setting options is “Focused Inbox.” I toggled it off.
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There is still no official acknowledgment of this issue from Microsoft team. We will update this story as events unfold.

01:41 pm (IST): According to fresh reports (1, 2, 3), some users are currently facing issues with the junk mail filter.

10:09 am (IST): Microsoft has resolved the issue where Outlook ‘Focused Inbox’ is flooded with spam or junk.

Hi there, thanks for reaching out. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused. The issue has been resolved. If you are still experiencing issues, please DM us for assistance.
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