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    Microsoft SNDS Guide: Setup and Color Codes (2026)

    Microsoft Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) is the free tool that shows how Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live rate your sending IP: message volume, complaint rate, spam-trap hits, and a filter result colored green, yellow, or red. Red means over 90% of your IP's mail to Microsoft is being filtered as

    Ashish RathodHead of GTM·8 min read·August 31, 2026

    Microsoft Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) is the free tool that shows how Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live rate your sending IP: message volume, complaint rate, spam-trap hits, and a filter result colored green, yellow, or red. Red means over 90% of your IP's mail to Microsoft is being filtered as spam, which is a crisis. The goal is to stay green.

    SNDS is IP-based, so it is most useful if you run a dedicated IP or dedicated cold email infrastructure. Pair it with the Junk Mail Reporting Program (JMRP), Microsoft's feedback loop. This post covers registering both, reading the data, and the 2026 changes that broke some old workflows.

    Microsoft SNDS is a free Microsoft service that reports how Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live evaluate a sending IP address, including daily message volume, spam complaint rate, spam-trap hits, and a green, yellow, or red filter result. It is paired with the Junk Mail Reporting Program, a feedback loop that forwards a copy of each message a Microsoft user marks as junk.

    What is Microsoft SNDS?

    Microsoft's equivalent of Google Postmaster Tools, for its consumer mail. It reports per sending IP: how much mail that IP sent to Microsoft, what share drew complaints, whether it hit any spam traps, and how Microsoft's filters treated it.

    Because it is keyed to IP addresses, SNDS tells you the most when you own your sending IP. On a shared IP, it shows the shared pool, not your slice. See dedicated IP vs shared IP email.

    SNDS vs JMRP

    Two separate Microsoft programs, and you want both.

    • SNDS is data about your IPs: volume, complaint rate, trap hits, filter result.
    • JMRP, the Junk Mail Reporting Program, is the feedback loop. When an Outlook.com user marks your mail as junk, Microsoft forwards you a copy so you can suppress that address.

    SNDS tells you the complaint rate is rising. JMRP tells you which recipients are complaining so you can act.

    How to set up SNDS

    1. Go to the SNDS portal. Microsoft moved SNDS to a new URL in 2026, so use a current link from Microsoft's postmaster pages.
    2. Request access for your sending IP ranges. Enter the individual IPs or CIDR ranges your mail leaves from.
    3. Verify ownership. Microsoft emails an authorization link to a standard address at the IP's domain, such as postmaster@ or abuse@, or to the network contact on record. Click it to confirm.
    4. Wait 24 to 48 hours for data to appear.
    5. Re-request access periodically. Automated access links now expire after 30 days, a 2026 change, so a link that worked last month may need renewing.

    How to set up JMRP

    1. Register at the JMRP portal with the same sending IPs and a contact email address for the reports.
    2. Confirm ownership the same way, via an authorization email.
    3. Feed the reports into suppression. Every JMRP complaint should remove that contact across your whole sending fleet, not just the mailbox that sent the message.

    2026 changes to JMRP: reports are now header-only, and as of June 11, 2026, Microsoft removed the X-HmXmrOriginalRecipient header and stopped appending the message body. You still get the complaint, with less detail attached.

    How to read the SNDS data

    The filter result color codes:

    ColorMeaning
    GreenNormal sending status
    YellowCaution: some of your mail is being filtered
    RedOver 90% of your IP's mail is filtered as spam

    The complaint rate column. Keep it well under 0.3%, ideally under 0.1%, the same thresholds Microsoft and Gmail apply generally. See spam complaint rate benchmark.

    Spam-trap hits. Should be zero. Any number here means you are mailing addresses no human opted into, which points at list quality. See how to clean a B2B email list.

    Message and RCPT volume. Your daily send count to Microsoft. Useful for spotting a spike that does not match your intended sending.

    The 2026 changes to know

    • New SNDS URL. Old bookmarks may not resolve.
    • 30-day access link expiry. Re-request access on a schedule so your data does not silently go stale.
    • A REST API was added, useful if you want to pull SNDS data into your own monitoring.
    • Tighter JMRP, header-only complaints. Less forensic detail per complaint, so lean more on the aggregate SNDS complaint rate for trend.

    Sources: Generator Labs and Blue Spirit Hosting.

    SNDS for cold email on shared IPs

    If you send cold email from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 mailboxes, you do not control the sending IP. It belongs to Google or Microsoft and is shared with thousands of other tenants. SNDS for that IP shows the pool, not you, so it is not actionable at the individual-sender level.

    For shared setups, lean on domain-level signals instead: your Gmail spam rate in Postmaster Tools, seed inbox placement tests across Outlook, and a monthly email domain reputation check. SNDS becomes directly useful the moment you move to a dedicated IP or dedicated cold infrastructure.

    Reading a yellow or red status: what to do

    If SNDS turns yellow or red, work through this in order.

    1. Stop sending from that IP or those domains. Continuing while filtered just deepens the hole. Pause campaigns.
    2. Read the complaint rate and trap hits. A high complaint rate points at list relevance and consent. Trap hits point at scraped or purchased data. See how to clean a B2B email list.
    3. Check for a blacklist listing on the IP and your domains with an email blacklist check.
    4. Confirm authentication. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC all passing on every sending domain.
    5. Fix the root cause, then re-warm. Once complaints and traps are addressed, resume at low volume and ramp slowly, watching the SNDS complaint rate daily. See how to fix domain reputation.

    Red often takes 4 to 12 weeks of clean sending to clear. On a dedicated IP that is badly burned, requesting a fresh IP and warming it can be faster than rehabilitating the old one.

    SNDS and Postmaster Tools together

    Each tool covers one provider's consumer mail. SNDS covers Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live. Postmaster Tools covers Gmail. Yahoo Sender Hub covers Yahoo and AOL.

    Run all three and you have direct provider data for most consumer inbox placement. What none of them covers is business mail: recipients on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 tenants, which is most of a B2B cold list. For those, seed placement tests are the only view you get. See email deliverability tools for the full stack.

    The Stay-in-Green Rule

    The Stay-in-Green Rule: by the time SNDS shows yellow, some of your mail is already being filtered, and red means the IP is mostly failing. Green is not a pass to relax; it is the only acceptable state, and a rising complaint rate inside green is where you act.

    Green with a rising complaint rate is the moment to act. Yellow is already late. Red is a fire.

    The rule reframes how to use SNDS. People treat the color as a report card: green is an A, so nothing to do. But the color is a lagging summary. A complaint rate climbing from 0.05% to 0.09% keeps the status green while your reputation degrades, and by the time it flips to yellow, Microsoft is already filtering a meaningful share of your mail.

    So watch the complaint rate number and its direction, not just the color. A green status with a flat, low complaint rate is genuinely fine. A green status with a rate that has doubled in a week is a warning the color has not caught up to yet. The quotable version: "The color tells you where you were. The trend tells you where you are going."

    Act on the trend inside green, and you will rarely see yellow.

    Where InboundLabs fits

    SNDS and JMRP tell you when Microsoft users are complaining. Keeping that from happening comes down to sending mail people actually want, to addresses that are real.

    InboundLabs is a sales intelligence platform built on a database of 280M verified B2B contacts with 98% email deliverability on verified contacts. It layers buyer intent signals on firmographic data and lets you filter by industry, headcount, region, and title, so your complaint rate stays low across every provider and your SNDS status stays green. Monthly plans, no annual lock-in. Free to start, no credit card required.

    See how InboundLabs finds verified contacts instantly → inboundlabs.app

    The bottom line

    Microsoft SNDS shows how Outlook.com and Hotmail rate your sending IP, with a green, yellow, or red filter status, a complaint rate column, and spam-trap counts. Register your IP ranges, verify ownership, and set up JMRP alongside it for per-complaint feedback. In 2026, the URL changed, access links expire after 30 days, and JMRP reports are header-only. SNDS is most actionable on a dedicated IP; on shared infrastructure, lean on domain-level signals and seed tests instead. Watch the complaint rate trend inside green, not just the color.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is Microsoft SNDS?

    Smart Network Data Services is a free Microsoft tool that reports how Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live evaluate a sending IP: daily message volume, spam complaint rate, spam-trap hits, and a green, yellow, or red filter result. It is the Microsoft equivalent of Google Postmaster Tools, keyed to IP addresses rather than domains.

    What do the SNDS color codes mean?

    Green is normal sending status. Yellow is caution, meaning some of your mail is already being filtered. Red means over 90% of your IP's mail to Microsoft is being filtered as spam, a critical state. Watch the complaint rate trend inside green, because the color lags the underlying reputation.

    How do I set up SNDS?

    Go to the current SNDS portal, request access for your sending IP ranges, and verify ownership through the authorization link Microsoft emails to a standard address at the IP's domain or to the network contact. Data appears in 24 to 48 hours. Access links now expire after 30 days, so re-request periodically.

    What is the difference between SNDS and JMRP?

    SNDS is data about your sending IPs: volume, complaint rate, trap hits, filter status. JMRP, the Junk Mail Reporting Program, is the feedback loop that forwards you a copy of each message an Outlook.com user marks as junk so you can suppress that address. Set up both.

    Does SNDS work for cold email on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

    Not at the individual level. Those services send from shared IPs you do not control, so SNDS shows the shared pool rather than your sending. It becomes directly useful on a dedicated IP. For shared setups, use Postmaster Tools spam rate, seed placement tests, and a monthly domain reputation check.

    What changed with SNDS in 2026?

    Microsoft moved SNDS to a new URL, made automated access links expire after 30 days, added a REST API, and tightened JMRP. JMRP complaint reports are now header-only, and as of June 11, 2026, Microsoft removed the original-recipient header and stopped attaching the message body.

    LSI keywords: Smart Network Data Services, JMRP, Junk Mail Reporting Program, sending IP reputation, filter result color codes, complaint rate, spam trap hits, Outlook.com deliverability, feedback loop, dedicated IP, Postmaster Tools, 2026 changes

    Sources

    • Generator Labs: Microsoft SNDS 2026 Changes, An Operations Guide (checked August 2026)
    • Blue Spirit Hosting: Microsoft SNDS and JMRP in 2026, Complete Guide (checked August 2026)
    • InboxAlly: How Do I Set Up Microsoft's JMRP and SNDS Feedback Programs (checked August 2026)

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