Today is clean up your Inbox day . . . or any day you feel overwhelmed by thousands of emails!
It’s time to end the mental debate “Should I take the time to delete emails” vs. “What if I delete something I might need?”
Personally, the last thing on my Priority List was to “delete email” . . . until last night. Furthermore, I searched online, as well as found a solution that deleted 22,704 emails in 3 minutes! I felt like I lost 100 pounds.
Here’s how you can do it too, relieving all the anxiety of a full In-Box without tediously deleting by category, topic, or person.
How to Delete Thousands of Emails in Your Gmail In-box in Minutes!
Of course, you can set up your Gmail to view 100 emails per page, even that is painful to delete a page of 100 at a time, especially if you have thousands of old emails.
1) Click on the left column heading “All Mail” and write down the number in the upper right which says, “1 of xyz.”
That’s the total number of emails cluttering up your Email program that you’ve Sent & Received. (Gasp and breath as you write that number down with today’s date!)
2) Type this exact phrase in the “Search all conversations” box: “older_than:1y”
Then hit your “Return” key. Now you are looking at all emails older than 1-year-old, which is usually the amount you can feel safe about deleting.
You can change the search by changing the ending of the phrase to be any of these:
* older_than:1y = Older than 1 year
* older_than:6m = Older than 6 months
* older_than:90d = Older than 90 days
3) Now click on the “SELECT” dropdown to highlight all those emails. Then click on the phrase to the right of it “Select all conversations that match this search.”
It may feel like you are going “Cold Turkey” cleaning up your In-box deleting all this group, but remember you still have a year’s worth of emails. can start a new system limiting your email to 1 year going forward. It’s a new day and you’re now in control!
One More Cool Tip!
You can change the search phrase letter “y” for years to be “m” for months or “d” for days. Further Just substitute with the letter “y” out in this phrase: older_than:1y. As swell as you can change the number as well. Experiment and check the dates on what shows up before you delete.
How Can I Unsubscribe Faster & Avoid the In-Box Mess?
Signup for a program I love and use called: unroll.me. You can “Unsubscribe” from multiple newsletter and advertising emails quickly through this program rather doing it by one email at a time at the bottom of a page.
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I just cleaned 2500 emails from my inbox alone plus social 1500 (which I never read) plus promotions! I am amazed! Many pounds lighter!
Beth Brunson
P.S. I have all Marcia’s books.
Beth, I’m so proud of you! You did it and I’m so glad it feels 100 lb lighter! Try unroll.me to sort all those newsletters you may not want to keep. You can also stop Social Promotions by deleting that tab on your gmail Inbox. You’re on your way!
I am so glad I went back to posts I missed while away without internet. This is one on deleting emails is dearly needed. I have 10,000 to clean up before I can feel lighter and organized. But… I am on my way now. Putting this on Facebook it is valuable. Thank you. I learn something new every time I read your articles.
Thanks, Sherry, for sharing the article on Facebook and for seeing the value in clearing email. It’s going to be amazing relief for you! Wish we could get the word out to everyone. Keep sharing my articles and we will!
Thanks so much Marcia. I’ve shared it everywhere and will be doing my own tomorrow, possibly after swallowing a couple of tranquilizers—just kidding. 😇