Handling Quarantine Emails in Outlook

As part of new cybersecurity policies, an email quarantine system has been implemented. This guide will help you navigate the quarantine tools and assess the status of quarantined emails.

Using the Microsoft Quarantine Email Tool

When Microsoft identifies a potentially harmful or unwanted email, it is placed in quarantine instead of being delivered to your inbox. You will receive a notification from quarantine@messaging.microsoft.com with details about the message. Here's how to navigate and manage quarantined emails effectively:

Quarantine Notification Email

You’ll receive an email summarizing messages that have been quarantined. Each quarantined message will have two main options:

• Review: Opens the message in the Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Center to give you more detail.
• Release: Delivers the email to your inbox, allowing you to interact with it like any other email.

Tip: If you recognize the sender and the subject looks familiar or expected, you can confidently click Release to have the message sent to your inbox.

Using the Quarantine Review Center

When you click Review, your browser will open the Quarantine Review Center, where you can analyze the message in more detail.

What You'll See

A detailed panel will appear with key information about the email, including:

• Sender
• Subject
• Recipient
• Quarantine Reason (e.g., Spam or Phishing)

Use these details to assess whether the message is safe and whether you want to release or delete it.

Actions You Can Take

At the top of the detail pane, you'll see several action options. Click the three dots (•••) for more management choices:

• Release Email: Sends the message to your inbox if you believe it’s safe.
• Preview Message: Allows you to view the content securely without releasing it.
• Delete from Quarantine: Permanently removes the message from your quarantine list.
• Allow Sender: Adds the sender to your safe list, helping prevent future emails from the same source being quarantined.

Navigating the Quarantine Review Center

To close the message detail view, click the X in the upper right corner or click outside the panel. You’ll return to the full list of quarantined emails, where you can select and review additional messages.

Reporting Suspicious Emails in Your Inbox

If a suspicious email bypasses quarantine and arrives directly in your inbox, it’s important to still take action. Use the Phish Alert Button (PAB) located in your Outlook toolbar to report the email immediately. This helps improve email filtering and protects others in your organization.