How to Set up Spam Quarantines in Google Workspace

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Workspace administrators

What are spam quarantines

You can set up custom quarantines outside of Gmail, at https://email-quarantine.google.com/adminreview, where you can send spam emails or emails affected by your routing rules.
Admins and users who have permission to access quarantines can review spam emails and approve them for delivery to Gmail or reject them before delivery.

When to set up spam quarantines

Anytime you want spam (or other specific emails) to go to a separate space where moderators can approve or reject emails before delivery to the intended recipient

Settings that allow you to quarantine emails

The following email rules have the option to quarantine emails:

How to create a spam quarantine in Google Workspace step-by-step with images

Step 1

In the Admin console at https://admin.google.com, click the Apps icon.

Step 2

Select Google Workspace.

Step 3

Click Gmail. Make sure not to check the box to the left; just click the service.

Step 4

Select Manage quarantines.

Step 5

Click ADD QUARANTINE.

Step 6

On top, give it a name and description.

By default, only users with the Super Admin role can access quarantines.

However, by clicking Select Groups and adding one or more Groups to the quarantine, you grant Group members access to the quarantine.

Step 7

In addition, you can follow the steps here to create a custom admin role that grants users access to quarantines by adding the privileges enabled in this image to the admin role. Users can either have access to all quarantines or only ones that you choose.

Access Admin Quarantine – a user with this admin role can access any quarantine.

Access restricted quarantine – a user with this admin role can access restricted quarantines.

Step 8

Inbound denial consequence:

Drop message – send incoming messages to the quarantine without notifying the sender.
Send the default reject message – send a rejection notification when a message is quarantined.

Outbound denial consequence:

Drop message – send outgoing messages to the quarantine without notifying the sender.
Send the default reject message – send a rejection notification when a message is quarantined.

Check ‘Notify periodically when messages are quarantined’ to receive alerts when new messages go to the quarantine. The alerts will tell you how many emails are in each quarantine, as well as the total number of quarantined emails during the notification interval.

Google will notify you of newly quarantined emails within an hour of their appearance in the admin quarantine. The frequency and timing of the alerts vary based on how often new quarantined emails arrive but will never be more than once hourly.

Click SAVE.

Step 9

Done, the quarantine has been created. You can Edit or Delete it at any time, or click ADD QUARANTINE again to add more – you can add a total of 20 custom quarantines.

Clicking GO TO ADMIN QUARANTINE will take you to the quarantines site, https://email-quarantine.google.com/adminreview.