As part of continuous work to improve digital security at the University, we are enabling the Microsoft ‘Report Message’ feature within Outlook and Outlook on the web.

The ‘Report Message’ button will allow people to easily report ‘Phishing’ and ‘Junk’ emails. Microsoft uses these submissions to improve the effectiveness of email protection. This will also help our IT Security team with the detection of multiple phishing emails.

Note, once an email is reported you won’t receive confirmation of this.

The new feature will be introduced from Friday 26 February.

How does it work?

The ‘Report Message’ button has three options:

• Junk (Spam)
• Phishing
• Not Junk (Spam)

Reporting a message as Junk will move the email to your ‘Junk Email’ folder and reporting as Phishing will move the email to your ‘Deleted Items’ folder. When reporting, you will be asked:

“Do you want to send a copy of this message to Microsoft to help the research and improvement of email protection technologies?”

You will be given the option to ‘Report’ or ‘Don’t Report’ – please choose ‘Report’ to ensure the message is submitted to both Microsoft and the University IT Security team. Both options will move the email to the relevant folder as mentioned above.

What does it look like in Outlook?

From Friday 26 February, you will notice the new ‘Report Message’ button appear in all versions of Outlook. For details of how to report in each version, visit our SharePoint site

How to spot phishing

For information on some tips to spotting phishing attempts and email scams, visit our information security website. Please remain vigilant and report suspected phishing emails using this new feature. Thank you for your support.

If you require advice and guidance with phishing emails, please contact the IT Service Desk or Smart Bar.