Buzz
This article provides a guide on how to remove unwanted emails from your Gmail inbox. You can also enhance your experience by eliminating ads.
Steps
Delete Unwanted Emails
Open Gmail. Visit https://www.gmail.com/ using your computer's browser. You will see your inbox if you are already logged in.
- If you are not logged in, enter your email address and password when prompted.
Ensure you are using the latest version of Gmail.
- If you see Go back to classic Gmail in the options list, you are already using the new version of Gmail.
Delete individual emails.
Select multiple emails for deletion. Click the checkbox to the left of each email you wish to remove.
Click on Trash. This folder is located on the left side of the page.
Click on Empty Trash now. This option is located above the Trash folder.
Click on OK when prompted. Emails in the Trash folder will be permanently deleted after this action.
- If you do not delete emails from the Trash folder, they will be automatically removed after 30 days.
Clear the Spam folder. If your Spam folder contains emails, follow these steps:
- Click on the Spam folder on the left side of the page.
- Click on Delete all spam messages now located above the Spam folder.
- Click on OK when prompted.
Return to the inbox. Click on the Inbox folder on the left side of the page to do this. After deleting some emails, you can continue organizing your inbox using more thorough methods.
Block unwanted senders
Mark the email as spam. Since blocking a sender moves their emails to the Spam folder, you can simply mark the email as spam. This method isn't as definitive as blocking the sender but works well for emails from automated services (e.g., Spotify):
- Select the email by clicking its checkbox.
- Click the ! icon at the top of the page.
- Click Report spam & unsubscribe if available; otherwise, click Report.
Open the email from the unwanted sender. Click on the email from the sender you wish to block.
Click on ⋮. This option is located in the top-right corner of the email window. A dropdown menu will appear.
Click on Block "[sender]". This option is in the displayed menu.
- For example, if you opened an email from Twitter, you would click Block "Twitter" here.
Click on Block. This option is located at the bottom of the displayed window. This action will add the sender to your account's blocklist.
Delete multiple emails within a specific time frame
Choose a cutoff date. This is the date after which all emails received will be kept, while emails received before this date will be deleted.
- For example, if you want to delete all emails received before last year, the same date last year will be your cutoff date.
Click on the search bar. This bar is located above the inbox.
Enter the date filter. Type in:inbox before:YYYY/MM/DD (received before: day/month/year) - replace "YYYY/MM/DD" with the specific date in the correct format and press ↵ Enter.
- For example, to view all emails received before September 25, 2016, type in:inbox before:2016/09/25 in the search bar.
Click the "Select All" checkbox. You'll find this checkbox at the top-left corner, just above the email list. This action will select all emails currently displayed on the screen.
Click on Select all conversations that match this search. This option is located above the email list. All emails received after the date you entered will be selected after this action.
Click on OK when prompted. This will move the selected emails from the Inbox folder to the Trash folder.
- Emails in the Trash folder still occupy storage space.
Empty the trash. After deleting the selected emails from the inbox, you can remove them from the Trash folder as follows:
- Click on Trash on the left side of the page.
- Click on the Empty Trash now link.
- Click on OK when prompted.
Automatically delete spam emails
Select spam emails. Click the checkbox to the left of the email you want to filter out in the future.
Click on ⋮. This icon is located at the far right of the toolbar above the inbox. A dropdown menu will appear.
Click on Filter messages like these. You'll find this option in the displayed menu.
Click on Create filter. This option is located at the bottom of the displayed window.
Check the "Delete it" box. This option is near the top of the window. Checking this box ensures that all emails from the selected sender are deleted immediately upon reaching your inbox.
Check the "Also apply filter to matching conversations" box. This option is near the bottom of the window. Checking this box ensures that existing emails are also deleted.
