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Summary

Understanding Microsoft email headers is crucial for diagnosing why your messages might be landing in spam or junk folders. While headers provide valuable metadata about an email's journey and filtering verdicts, pinpointing the exact reason for spam classification can still be challenging. Microsoft employs various proprietary headers, such as Spam Confidence Level (SCL) and Bulk Complaint Level (BCL), to assess an email's likelihood of being spam or bulk mail. However, these scores don't always offer a granular explanation of the underlying cause.

What email marketers say

Email marketers often find Microsoft's header information to be less transparent than desired when trying to understand spam classifications. While specific scores like SCL and BCL are present, they frequently do not provide enough actionable detail to pinpoint the exact cause of deliverability issues. This leads many marketers to look at other factors like IP reputation or to simply troubleshoot by trial and error, as the headers alone might not offer a complete picture.

Marketer view

A marketer from Email Geeks suggests that while Microsoft provides SCL (Spam Confidence Level) and BCL (Bulk Complaint Level) scores in email headers, these values often do not provide sufficient actionable insight into why an email was classified as spam. They indicate a general score rather than specific reasons. This limited transparency means that even if a message has an SCL of 5 or 6, which flags it as spam, the header itself won't explain what specific content, sender behavior, or reputation factor triggered that score. This lack of detail forces marketers to engage in more extensive troubleshooting.

2 Jul 2019 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

An email marketer from Spiceworks Community notes that understanding the various fields within an email header is crucial for identifying suspicious or fraudulent emails, including the subject field, which might contain obvious spam indicators. This granular analysis of specific header elements helps in flagging emails that deviate from expected norms and could be part of a phishing or spam campaign, providing an initial layer of defense.

15 Dec 2023 - Spiceworks Community

What the experts say

Experts in email deliverability emphasize that while Microsoft headers offer some diagnostic clues, they are often not the complete picture. The consensus among experts is that Microsoft's filtering prioritizes IP and domain reputation heavily. This means that even if header scores (like SCL or BCL) seem favorable, a poor reputation for the sending IP or associated IPs can still lead to immediate spam classification. Experts recommend a holistic approach to troubleshooting, looking beyond just header values to encompass authentication, sending patterns, and overall sender trustworthiness.

Expert view

An expert from Email Geeks states that when troubleshooting deliverability issues with Microsoft, the first and most frequent suspect for email classification problems is almost always the IP address reputation of the sender. This means that even if an email's content seems benign, a tarnished IP can override all other positive signals, sending the message directly to spam.

2 Jul 2019 - Email Geeks

Expert view

An expert from Word To The Wise advises that to maintain good deliverability, senders must continuously monitor their IP and domain reputation, as a single bad sending event or a listing on a blocklist can significantly impact Microsoft deliverability. This proactive monitoring helps in identifying and mitigating issues before they escalate into major inbox placement problems.

1 Apr 2024 - Word To The Wise

What the documentation says

Microsoft's official documentation and related technical resources detail various email headers that provide insights into spam classification. Key among these are the Spam Confidence Level (SCL), Bulk Complaint Level (BCL), and Phishing Confidence Level (PCL). These values, ranging from -1 to 9, indicate Microsoft's assessment of an email's likelihood of being spam or bulk mail. While these headers are intended to offer transparency, documentation also implies that the overall filtering process is complex, involving multiple layers beyond what is explicitly revealed in every header. Authentication status (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is consistently highlighted as a critical factor in these classifications.

Technical article

Documentation from FortiMail Workspace Security states that Microsoft employs the Spam Confidence Level (SCL) system to evaluate the likelihood of an email being spam, with SCL values ranging from -1 to 9, where higher numbers indicate a stronger probability of spam. This system helps to quantify the risk associated with an incoming email, guiding Microsoft's filtering decisions.

22 Jun 2025 - FortiMail Workspace Security

Technical article

CIAOPS documentation suggests that for emails falsely marked as safe (false negatives), the header might display a low SCL score and an SFV:NSPM (Spam Filtering Verdict: Not Spam) value, indicating that the system initially considered the email legitimate. This combination of indicators is key for understanding when a legitimate email might have bypassed initial spam checks but still ended up in junk due to other factors.

27 May 2025 - CIAOPS

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