My Mailbox Is Full. How Do I Empty My Inbox Fast?

What Happens If Your Email Mailbox is Full

Are you receiving a "mailbox is full" message when trying to send an email? Are senders getting a “mailbox is full and cannot accept any messages” alert when they try to email you?

No matter which web-based client or email management software you use, you can get stuck with a full email inbox.

The most impactful part of a full mailbox is the inability to send or receive new messages. This can be a detrimental situation especially if you use your mailbox for business purposes. You can miss crucial emails and be unable to send important messages to others.

Common reasons for an overloaded mailbox include the obvious which is many, many emails. But your storage space can take quite a hit with messages that include large attachments, excessive spam or junk emails, and subscriptions like newsletters.

With this in mind, we’ll not only give you tips for how to empty your mailbox now but also avoid the mailbox full message moving forward.

Know Your Limit and Check Your Storage

So that you can better keep track of how much storage you’re using, here’s how to check with the most common email providers.

Gmail Storage

Google provides users with 15 GB of free storage which spans across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. So, you may find your Gmail storage full faster than you expect.

To see how much storage space you’re using, visit Gmail on the web and sign in.

1. Scroll to the bottom of your Inbox and you’ll see the amount of storage used along with your limit.
2. If you click that storage amount, you’ll open a new tab that shows you the amounts you’re using for Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

Outlook Storage

Microsoft provides users with 15 GB of free storage for Outlook, with 50 GB for Microsoft 365 subscribers.

To see the amount of space you’re using, visit Outlook.com and sign in.

1. Select the Settings icon (gear) on the top right.
2. Choose General on the far left and Storage to the right.
3. Expand the Email storage section. You can then see the total amount used, your storage limit, a percentage of what you’ve used, and a breakdown of how much each folder consumes.

Yahoo Mail Storage

Yahoo provides users with a whopping 1 TB of free storage for Yahoo Mail. But without proper email management, you can still hit your limit, especially if you’ve had your account since its launch in 1997.

To see the storage space you’re using, visit the Yahoo Mail website and sign in.

1. Select the Settings icon (gear) on either the far right or next to your account in the left-hand menu.
2. You can view the percentage of storage you’ve used along with the total you receive with your account in the lower left corner.

How to Empty Your Email Inbox Quickly

Now that you know how to see the amount of storage you’re using, it’s time to get to work. The faster you clean up your inbox, the quicker you can start sending and receiving emails again.

Here are a few fast ways to reach an empty inbox in Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. We’ll also explain how Clean Email’s advanced features can not only help you free up space now, but manage email overload moving forward.

Delete Unwanted Emails in Bulk

Do you have many emails that you’ve read, already acted on, and no longer need? Consider cleaning up your mailbox and regaining storage space by deleting them.

Bulk Delete Emails in Yahoo

Yahoo Mail gives you a pretty simple way to delete multiple messages at once by sending them to the Trash.

1. Select your Inbox using the left-hand menu.
2. Check the boxes next to all emails you want to delete. If you’re confident you can delete them all, mark the checkbox at the top of the list to select all.
3. Click the Delete button (trash can) in the toolbar. Note that you won’t be asked to confirm.
4. To empty the Trash folder, select it in the left-hand menu and click the Delete button to the right.

Bulk Delete Emails in Clean Email

To save time, you can use Clean Email to delete Yahoo emails in bulk. For example, you can immediately delete the emails rather than send them to a Trash folder that you then have to empty to regain space.

1. Select your Inbox using the left-hand menu.
2. Optionally, group the messages by size, sender, date, or another option to more easily spot the one you can delete. Simply use the Group By drop-down box at the top.
3. To the right of the group you want to remove, use the arrow next to Trash to choose Delete.
4. Click Confirm in the pop-up window to proceed.

⚠️ Warning: Remember that Delete permanently removes the emails whereas Trash allows you to recover messages if necessary.

Unsubscribe From Mailing Lists

Because newsletters, promotional emails, and marketing messages can weigh down your inbox, you can simply stop those you no longer want to receive.

Although the unsubscribe process can take a few days, you should still administer the request now. You can then immediately clear your inbox of the existing messages at the same time.

Unsubscribe in Gmail

If you spot a subscription email in Gmail that you want to stop receiving, follow these steps:

1. Select the Unsubscribe button at the top of the message.
2. In the pop-up message, choose Unsubscribe or Go to website. The option you see depends on the settings provided by the sender and may require you to complete the process on the sender’s website.
3. You can then choose Move to Spam to clear it from your inbox.
4. Gmail doesn’t offer a bulk unsubscribe feature, so continue this process for additional emails you want to stop receiving.

To empty the Spam folder, select it in the left-hand menu and choose Delete all spam messages now at the top of the email list. Be sure to check your Spam folder and delete the messages regularly to keep your storage under control.

Unsubscribe in Clean Email

For a timesaving alternative, you can unsubscribe from Gmail messages in bulk using Clean Email’s Unsubscriber feature.

1. Select Unsubscriber in the left-hand menu.
2. You’ll see the emails grouped with the total number of messages received and can do one of the following.
   • To unsubscribe from multiple groups, click Select at the top and mark the messages or pick Select All. Then, choose Unsubscribe at the bottom.

1. Optionally, turn on the toggle to move existing messages to the Trash and click Confirm.

Future emails you receive before the unsubscribe process completes go to the Trash folder to keep your inbox clean.

To empty the Trash folder, select it in the left-hand menu. Pick Select and then Select All at the top followed by Delete at the bottom.

Set Up Rules and Sweep Your Inbox

A fantastic way to keep your mailbox clean and storage under control is by setting up inbox rules. This not only allows you to automatically delete new messages from senders as they arrive, but also quickly remove the existing emails in your inbox.

Set Up Rules in Outlook

Here’s how to create a rule to automatically delete emails from a certain sender and remove that “Outlook mailbox is full” message.

1. Select an email for the rule and click the More options button (three dots) in the top toolbar.
2. Move to Rules and choose Create Rule.
3. You’ll see the sender in the pop-up window and can use the drop-down list to choose where to send future emails such as Deleted Items to remove the messages.
4. Click OK.
5. In the subsequent window you have the option to run the rule now. This applies the rule to existing messages in your inbox which helps you perform a quick cleaning. Check the box and click OK.
6. To empty the Deleted Items folder, right-click it below Folders in the left-hand menu and choose Empty folder.

Important: Be sure to erase the Deleted Items regularly as messages in this folder count toward your storage.

Set Up Rules in Clean Email

Clean Email provides the Auto Clean feature for creating inbox rules with more options than Outlook’s offering. For instance, you can immediately delete the emails instead of sending them to a Delete Items folder that you then have to empty.

1. Select an email from the sender, click the Settings arrow on the right, and choose Create Rule.
2. You’ll see the sender in the pop-up window and can use the drop-down list to choose what to do with their emails such as permanently Delete them. You can also send them to the Trash if you want the ability to recover the messages later.
3. To apply the rule to existing emails and quickly clean up your inbox, turn on the Apply to existing messages toggle.
4. Click Create Rule to finish.

Wrap-Up

Whether you want to achieve inbox zero with an empty mailbox or simply free up enough space to send and receive emails again, these tips should start you on the right path. But is knowing how to clean the mailbox now enough?

Regular email maintenance can help you stay within your storage limit and avoid that “mailbox is full” message before it’s too late. This is where Clean Email saves you time and aggravation with tools that help you maintain a clutter-free mailbox.