Where is the junk mail folder in Gmail?

Gmail has no folder named Junk. Spam is it. On the web, look in the left navigation and click More if Spam is hidden. In the Gmail app, open the menu in the top left and tap Spam. Apple's Mail app has its own Junk mailbox, which is not Gmail's Spam label.

I'm Alec. I founded Gmail Unsubscribe, and 104,000+ people have installed it. A missing Junk folder is one of the first questions people ask after they switch from Outlook, Yahoo, or iPhone Mail. Those apps named the pile Junk. Google named it Spam, and it is a system label rather than a folder you create. The longer version of that model is in Gmail labels vs folders.

Does Gmail have a junk folder, or just Spam?

Just Spam. Gmail has no separate Junk folder, and there is no second junk pile hidden anywhere else in your account. Everything Gmail treats as junk mail goes to Spam, and Gmail deletes it after 30 days.

What people call junk is often in a different place: the Promotions tab. Sales emails from stores you have bought from usually land there, not in Spam. That is why a lot of "junk" never shows up in the Spam folder at all.

Where is the junk folder in Gmail on a computer?

As of 2026, this is the path at mail.google.com:

1. Open Gmail in your browser.
2. Look down the left navigation. Inbox, Starred, Snoozed, and Sent sit near the top.
3. Click More to expand the rest of the list.
4. Click Spam.

If the left nav is collapsed to icons, expand it first. You can also type in:spam in the search bar. That query opens the same messages even when the Spam row is hidden.

Spam is a system label. You cannot rename it to Junk, and you cannot delete it. You can hide it from the label list in Settings → See all settings → Labels, which is why some people think it vanished.

Where is the junk folder in the Gmail app?

iPhone and Android share the same menu. The steps differ only in which app people open by mistake.

On an Android phone

1. Open the Gmail app, the one with the red, blue, green, and yellow M.
2. Tap the three-line menu in the top left.
3. Scroll past your labels and tap Spam. That is Gmail's junk folder.

Many Android phones also ship with the maker's own mail app, such as Samsung Email. If your Gmail account is added there, that app may show its own Junk or Spam list, and it will not always match what Gmail filed. Open the Gmail app to see Google's Spam label.

On an iPhone or iPad

Same steps in the Gmail app: menu, then Spam. If you read Gmail in Apple's Mail app instead, its Junk mailbox is a different list. The next section explains why.

The Gmail app reads the same Spam label your browser does. Other apps keep their own junk lists. The full Block steps are in how to block an email address in Gmail.

iPhone Mail vs the Gmail app

This is the mix-up I see most on iPhone.

Apple's Mail app has a mailbox named Junk. If you added your Gmail account to Mail, that Junk mailbox is Mail's local junk handling. Moving a message to Junk in Mail does not reliably write to Gmail's Spam label. Opening Mail's Junk also does not show everything Gmail already filed in Spam.

If you want the Google copy of the truth, open the Gmail app or mail.google.com and go to Spam. Report spam and Block belong there too, because those actions live on your Google account and follow you to every device.

Empty Spam vs a missing Spam row

Two different problems get reported as "I can't find junk mail."

If Spam is missing from the list, it is usually collapsed under More, or hidden in Labels settings. Go to Settings → See all settings → Labels, find Spam under System labels, and set it to Show. Search in:spam as a check. If that search returns conversations, the folder exists and the row is only hidden.

If Spam is there and empty, Gmail's filter is catching little, or you already emptied it. Empty is normal on a new account and on an account that has not received much unsolicited mail. An empty Spam list does not mean the feature is off.

Gmail also files some promotional mail in the Promotions category, not in Spam. A store you bought from is usually Promotions. A stranger pitching a prize is usually Spam. Mixing those two is how people lose a receipt they later need. If the category tabs themselves disappear or mis-sort, see Gmail categories not working.

If you opened Spam because a specific email never arrived, the folder is only one of four places it could be, and a plain Gmail search skips two of them. How to check junk mail in Gmail has the searches that find it before the 30-day clock runs out.

How to mark a message Not spam

False positives happen. A shipping update, a password reset, or a newsletter you wanted can land in Spam.

On the web:

1. Open Spam and open the message.
2. Click Not spam in the toolbar at the top.

In the Gmail app:

1. Open the message in Spam.
2. Tap the three-dot menu and tap Not spam.

Not spam moves the conversation to Inbox and tells Gmail's filter the sender is legitimate. Future mail from that address is less likely to be buried. If a sender still misses the inbox after that, check Filters and Blocked Addresses. A leftover block or a filter that marks mail as spam will override the Not spam click.

Spam vs Trash

People empty the wrong one.

Spam is mail Gmail, or you, classified as unsolicited. Messages sit there for 30 days, then Gmail deletes them. Emptying Spam now is permanent in the same way emptying Trash is.

Trash is mail you deleted. It also lasts 30 days unless you empty it. A message you trash never goes to Spam. A message in Spam is not in Trash until you delete it.

If you are trying to free storage, emptying Spam and Trash both help, either after the 30-day clock or immediately if you empty them yourself. Archiving frees no space and does not touch Spam. For a larger cleanup of old promotions still sitting in the inbox, use the mass delete steps.

Spam vs unsubscribe

Filing mail in Spam does not tell a company to stop sending.

Unsubscribe is a request to a list you joined. Use it on stores, apps, and newsletters you recognize. The average first scan with Gmail Unsubscribe finds about 15 of those senders.

True spam is mail from a stranger. Report spam and Block. Do not click their unsubscribe link. That click tells them the address is live. Across our users, roughly a third of unsubscribe attempts hit senders with no working mechanism anyway. For that third, Spam plus Block is the finish. The split, and when to pick each action, is in how to stop spam emails in Gmail.

When the inbox is the real junk pile

If Inbox is noisy and Spam is quiet, you do not have a folder-finding problem. You have a subscriptions problem. Gmail will not move a store you once checked out with into Spam just because you are tired of the sale emails.

Scan, unsubscribe from the lists you joined, and archive or delete the backlog. The free plan covers 25 senders a month, unsubscribed and cleared out, plus unlimited scans. Pro is $35.88/year.

Common questions

Does Gmail have a junk mail folder?

No. Gmail has no folder named Junk. Spam is the system label that holds mail Gmail, or you, classified as unsolicited. Find it in the left navigation on the web (click More if it is hidden) or in the Gmail app menu.

Why is Spam missing from Gmail's left navigation?

It is usually collapsed under More, or hidden in Labels settings. Go to Settings, See all settings, Labels, find Spam under System labels, and set Show. Search in:spam to confirm the mail is still there.

What is the difference between Spam and Trash in Gmail?

Spam is mail classified as unsolicited. Trash is mail you deleted. Both auto-delete after 30 days. A message you trash never goes to Spam. A message in Spam is not in Trash until you delete it.

How do I get a message out of Gmail Spam?

Open the message in Spam and click Not spam (web toolbar, or three-dot menu in the Gmail app). That moves it to Inbox and trains Gmail's filter. Then check Filters and Blocked Addresses for a leftover block or a mark-as-spam filter.

Is Apple Mail Junk the same as Gmail Spam?

No. Mail's Junk mailbox is local to the Mail app. It does not reliably write to Gmail's Spam label, and it does not show everything Gmail already filed in Spam. Use the Gmail app or mail.google.com for the Google copy.

Where is the junk folder in Gmail on Android?

Open the Gmail app, tap the three-line menu in the top left, and tap Spam. Another mail app on the phone, such as Samsung Email, may show its own Junk or Spam list that does not match Gmail's.

Can I rename Spam to Junk in Gmail?

No. Spam is a system label, so you cannot rename or delete it. You can only show or hide it under Settings, See all settings, Labels.