Email is heavily relied on for both personal and professional lives. However, not all emails are useful or relevant, and many are unwanted newsletters or spam. This results in wasted time deleting or blocking emails, but Spark can help.
Spark’s Gatekeeper tool lets you decide who can email you by allowing you to accept or decline new senders. This guide will teach you how to control unwanted emails and block specific senders on a Mac.
Note: By default, Spark accepts all senders except those you previously blocked. You can turn on the Gatekeeper in Spark Desktop Settings > Inbox > Gatekeeper.
Access the Gatekeeper settings
Open Spark Desktop and use the ⌘, shortcut (press and hold ⌘ and press , ). Then, open the Inbox section > Gatekeeper.
Alternatively, open Spark Desktop, click the Settings icon at the bottom left > Inbox > Gatekeeper.
Setting up Gatekeeper
Once you accessed the Gatekeeper settings, you can choose where to accept or block senders:
- Screen new senders before inbox
- Screen new senders inside inbox
- Don't review (Accept all new senders)
Tip: If you would like to bulk accept or bulk block new senders, select the “On top of the Inbox” option.
Using Gatekeeper
Once the Gatekeeper is on, you will be asked whether to accept or block the sender every time somebody with a new email address emails you. The senders are not notified regardless of your choice. For them, it looks the same as if they have never received a reply from you.
Note: Gatekeeper blocks email addresses but not other general domains such as gmail.com or outlook.com. To block a domain, open the incoming email in Inbox (under the New Senders section) > tap the arrow next to the Block button and select Block NAME or Block all from @domainname.
Bulk accept or bulk block
Besides accepting or blocking senders separately, you can bulk accept or bulk block all the senders with just a few clicks. To do so:
1. Open Inbox and click New Senders above the new sender cards or the … > Show All at the top right.
2. At the top right, click the thumb-up to accept all the senders or a thumb-down to block them.
Note: This option is available if you choose Gatekeeper to be on top of the Inbox.
Unblock the sender
To unblock the sender, open the Blocked section of the sidebar, open an email from the sender you want to unblock, and click Accept. If you don't see the Blocked section on the sidebar, you will need to Edit the sidebar (by opening the sidebar and tapping Edit list) and add the Blocked selection.
That’s it! Spark is now ready to work on ensuring your inbox remains free from unnecessary spam & irrelevant emails. Now every time someone with a new email address sends you an email, you will get to choose if you’d like to receive emails from them in your inbox.
That’s how easy it is to filter and block emails on a Mac. Download Spark for Free and switch to the best email app for Mac.