If you aren’t receiving expected emails from staff or you’re subscribed to one of our weekly newsletters but not getting it, a firewall or spam filtering service is likely the cause of the issue. These steps should resolve the problem.

  1. Check your spam/junk folder.
  2. If you’re using Gmail, check to see if our emails are under the “Promotions” tab. If they are, copy and paste the address in the “From” field to your Contacts list so our emails push to your “Primary” tab.
  3. If you still can’t find our emails, add the email addresses to your contact list. This should permit future emails through your email provider’s filter.

Have you tried these steps and are still not getting our emails? You may need to “whitelist” the domains listed here. Select your email provider from the list below for instructions on how to whitelist a domain.

afumc.org

(Emails from Alpharetta Methodist pastors and staff will come from this domain.)

afumc.ccsend.com
constantcontact.com
files.ctctcdn.com
files.constantcontact.com
rs6.net
r20.rs6.net

(Newsletters, like our Friday E-news and updates from our Children’s, Student and Prayer Ministries are sent through Constant Contact and may be delivered from any of these domains.)

How to whitelist an email
address in a security program:

Certain firewall and intrusion prevention security programs can interfere (or block) emails from being delivered. If you already have added afumc.org and the domains listed above to your whitelist but are still not receiving emails from us, you may need to also update the whitelist in your security program as well. This is less likely to affect web-based email programs — Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL — and more likely to affect desktop-based email programs, like Outlook, because they sit behind the firewall for an operating system or network. If your security program isn’t listed below, please visit the support webpage for your security program and search for instructions to add “safe senders” to the whitelist.

Note: Some security programs prompt you to restart your computer to allow the changes to take effect.

How to whitelist
an email address:

AOL (Vers. 9.0 or higher)

  1. Copy the “From” address from the latest email.
  2. In the pop-up box, select “Add.”
  3. Paste the copied address or type the address required in the “Other email” field.
  4. Make the newly added address the “Primary email address” by checking the checkbox.
  5. Select “Save.”

Bellsouth /AT&T Web Email

  1. Select “Options” on the upper right side of your email. Then select “Mail Options,” “Filters” and “Add Filter.”
  2. Select “Filters.”
  3. Click “Add Filter.”
  4. In the top row, labeled “From Header,” select “contains” from the pull-down menu. Enter the address in the text box next to the pull-down menu.
  5. Example: You can either give a specific email address or use @xxxxx.com or *xxxxx.com to whitelist the domain (replace the xxxxx with the domain name).
  6. Move down to the bottom where there is the option “Move the message to.” Select “Inbox” from the drop-down menu.
  7. Select the “Add Filter” button once again.

Comcast

  1. Sign into your account.
  2. At the upper right, click the “Mail” icon to reach your inbox.
  3. Click the “Address Book” tab.
  4. Click “New Contact” on the left sidebar.
  5. Add the sender’s email address.
  6. Click “Save” to save the contact.

Gmail

  1. Click the cogwheel icon in the upper right corner of your Inbox, and then click “Settings.”
  2. Click on “Filters and Blocked Addresses” and then “Create a new filter.”
  3. Enter one of the domains listed above in the “From” field OR click “Create filter with this search.”
  4. In the box headed “When a message arrives that matches this search” and select “Never send it to spam.”
  5. Click the “Create filter” button.
  6. To whitelist all of the domains listed at the top of this page separate them with the word “OR.” For example, “afumc.org OR afumc.ccsend.com OR constantcontact.com.”
  7. You should also check that the email address or domain is not in your “Blocked Addresses” list. To find this list, click the cog icon in the upper right corner of your Inbox, and then click “Settings.” Click on “Filters and Blocked Addresses” and look under “The following email addresses are blocked.” If you see an email from afumc.org or any of the domains listed above, select it and click the “Remove” button.

Mindspring (EarthLink)

  1. Open the Address Book.
  2. Click “Add.”
  3. Enter your contact’s domain.
  4. Click “Save.”

MSN (Hotmail)

  1. Open your mailbox and click “Options” (upper right hand corner).
  2. Click the “Junk E-Mail Protection” link.
  3. Select the “Safe List” link.
  4. Either enter a specific email address or use *xxxxx.com or @xxxxx.com to whitelist the domain (replace the xxxxx with the domain name).
  5. Select “Add.”

Outlook (2003, 2007, Express)

  1. Open the email.
  2. In the Toolbar options at the top, click the Safe Lists drop-down.
  3. Note: This is located in the “Junk Email” section.
  4. Select “Add Sender’s Domain (@example.com)” to Safe Senders List.
  5. Click OK.

Outlook 2010

  1. In Outlook, go to the “Home” tab.
  2. Click the “Junk” button.
  3. Choose “Junk E-Mail Options” from the drop-down list.
  4. Go to the “Safe Senders” tab.
  5. Type in either the email address or the domain name you wish to add.
  6. Click “OK.”

Yahoo! Mail

  1. Create a filter for the address
    1. Mouse over the “Settings” menu icon and select “Settings.”
    2. Click “Filters” and then “Add”
    3. Enter a “Filter Name.”
    4. Enter the domain in the “Sender” field.
    5. Click “Save” and then click “Save” again.
  1. Create a new filter for each domain or email address you want to whitelist.

McAfee SpamKiller

  1. Click “Friends.”
  2. Click “Add.”
  3. Enter the “From Email” address.
  4. Click “OK.”
  5. For additional help with whitelisting email addresses in McAfee, please contact McAfee’s support.

Norton AntiSpam

Norton AntiSpam works along with Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape and Yahoo, MSN/Hotmail to block spam emails before they reach your inbox. To make sure emails reach you, you can add us to your “Personal Friends” list or “Global Friends” list. Here is how you can do that:

  1. Start Norton AntiSpam, select “Status & Settings” tab.
  2. Select “AntiSpam.”
  3. Select “Configure” button on the bottom right-hand side of the screen.
  4. Select the “Allowed List” tab.
  5. Select “Add.”
  6. Enter the “From Email” address in the Email address box.
  7. Select “OK.”

For additional help with whitelisting email addresses in Norton, please contact Norton’s support.

SpamAssassin

  1. Find the SpamAssassin folder on your hard drive, and open it.
  2. There will be a file named “user_prefs.” Open it with a text editor (such as Notepad).
  3. If there is no such file, create it. Instructions are available from SpamAssasin.
  4. Make a new line in the file. On that line, enter “whitelist_from,” followed by the “From Email” address that you wish to whitelist. To whitelist the domain, enter “@xxxxxx.com” (replace the xxxxx with the domain name).
  5. Save and close the file.
  6. For additional help with whitelisting email addresses in SpamAssassin, please contact SpamAssasin’s support.