How to Delete Emails in Bulk Across Mailboxes

Email Management and Why It Matters

We know for a fact that spam accounts for 45 percent of all emails sent. We also know that about 14.5 billion spam emails are sent every single day, many being some form of advertising. To say that spam emails lead to a productivity loss would be an understatement.

But is there even a way how to fight against the onslaught of spam and not lose? Yes, there is: email management. In a nutshell, email management is a specific field of communications management for managing high volumes of inbound emails. While it would be outside the scope of this article to explain email management in detail, we can provide a concise description of several foundational principles of email management, the mastery of which will go a long way in helping you keep your mailboxes organized.

Stop Checking Your Email All the Time

Considering how many emails are spam, it should be clear that it’s not necessary to be instantly alerted to every new email that reaches your inbox, unless, of course, responding to emails is part of your job. Instead, we recommend you check your email regularly—but not too regularly—during the day to keep the level of distraction and interruption low. You might also want to consider disabling desktop notifications in your email client of choice, so you’re not tempted to open incoming emails.

Respond Instantly

There are several categories of emails. Some emails can be deleted even without opening them, some take just a few seconds to reply to, and others are huge time-thieves. You should train yourself to instantly sort all emails you receive into these three categories and learn how to delete all emails that don’t deserve your attention without opening them. It’s also advisable to respond to easy emails instantly and to postpone difficult emails until you really have enough time to handle them.

Aim for Inbox Zero

Developed by productivity expert Merlin Mann, Inbox Zero is an email management technique aimed at keeping the inbox empty all the time. Mann argues that email users should learn how to mass delete emails and do so as often as possible, leaving only important emails that should be responded to instantly.

Inbox Zero is not easy to achieve without proper tools, which is why we introduce Clean Email, an email management software in the next chapter. With Clean Email, anyone can achieve Inbox Zero in no time and enjoy email without constantly feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of unopened emails just sitting in the inbox and waiting to be opened.

How to Delete Multiple Emails and Not Lose Your Mind

In this section, we would like to explain to you how you can delete multiple emails in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other major email services. Knowing how to do this will save you a considerable amount of time and allow you to clean up your inboxes in much less time than it would take you if deleted emails individually.

How to Delete All Emails in Gmail

Gmail makes it easy to delete multiple emails both from its web app and mobile app. When deleting multiple emails in Gmail, always double-check that you’ve selected only the emails you actually want to delete and nothing else.

How to delete all emails in the Gmail web app:

1. Open Gmail and make sure your Primary inbox is selected.
2. Click the checkbox above the Primary inbox tab to select all displayed emails.
3. Now click on the Trash icon to delete them.

How to delete multiple emails in the Gmail mobile app:

1. Open the Gmail app on your phone or tablet.
2. Tap the icon next to each email you want to delete.
3. Tap the Trash icon to delete all selected emails.

As you can see, it is easy to delete all emails on Gmail and it takes just a few simple clicks. The biggest limitation of this method is that it deletes junk emails as well as important emails. To learn how to delete all emails from one sender, skip to the last section of this chapter, where we talk about Clean Email.

How to Delete Multiple Emails in Outlook

Outlook is available across all major platforms, and each of its versions is slightly different. Let's take a look at how to delete emails in bulk from the Outlook web app, desktop app, and mobile app.

How to delete multiple emails in Outlook web app:

1. Open Outlook.com and log in with your email address and password.
2. Choose the folder like Inbox where you'd like to remove multiple messages.
3. Click the small checkmark above your emails to select all messages at once or click the small icon next to each message you want to delete.
4. Click the Delete button located in the top toolbar.

How to delete multiple emails in the Outlook desktop app:

1. Open Outlook and make sure that the Folder pane is expanded.
2. Right-click the folder that you want to clear and then click Empty folder.
3. Confirm the action when prompted. All the emails you've chosen to be deleted will be moved to the Deleted Items folder.

How to delete multiple emails in the Outlook mobile app:

1. Open the Outlook app on your mobile device.
2. Hold tap and hold one of the emails.
3. Select all emails you want to delete.
4. Tap the Trash can icon to delete all selected emails.

If you would like more granular control over your Outlook inbox and the ability to instantly delete all email messages of a certain type (such as newsletters, social media notifications, or emails from a specific sender), you should skip to the end of this article to learn more about Clean Email, a bulk email cleaner with many useful features.

How to Delete All Emails on Yahoo

If you have multiple Yahoo emails that you don’t need anymore, you can get rid of them in one go from the Yahoo web or mobile app.

How to delete multiple emails on Yahoo web app:

1. Open your Yahoo account on web.
2. Choose the Inbox folder or any other folder which messages you want to be removed.
3. Click the empty checkboxes near the messages to select multiple emails for deleting.
4. Click the Delete button to get rid of the selected messages.

How to delete multiple emails on Yahoo mobile app:

1. Open the Yahoo app on your mobile device.
2. Tap the boxes or bubbles next to the emails you want to be deleted.
3. Tap the Delete icon at the bottom of the screen.

You can also, tap the grouping box or bubble to select emails in a set timeframe, such as by day, week, or month, but you can’t quickly and easily select all emails of a certain type. To do that, you need to use a bulk email organizer like Clean Email.

How to Delete Multiple Emails at Once in AOL

Wondering how to delete AOL emails? In this section, we explain how you can do just that from any web browser or mobile device.

How to delete multiple emails from the AOL web app:

1. Log in to your AOL account.
2. Open the folder with the email messages you want to delete.
3. Click the boxes next to the messages you want deleted.
4. Click the Delete icon to delete all selected messages.

How to delete multiple emails at once using the AOL mobile app:

1. Open the AOL mobile app and go to your inbox.
2. Tap the boxes next to the messages you want deleted.
3. Click the Delete icon to delete all selected messages.

How to Delete Multiple Emails in Bulk from ProtonMail

As a privacy-oriented email service, ProtonMail not only allows its users to delete emails in bulk, but it ensures that the deleted emails can’t be recovered once they’re removed from Trash, preventing unauthorized access to sensitive information.

How to delete multiple emails in ProtonMail from any web browser:

1. Log in to your ProtonMail account.
2. Enter your inbox.
3. Click the checkbox in the toolbar to select all emails or click the checkbox next to each email message you want to delete.
4. Select the Move to trash option from the toolbar to delete all selected emails.

How to delete multiple ProtonMail emails from a mobile device:

1. Open the ProtonMail app on your device.
2. Tap and hold on any email you want to delete.
3. Select other emails for deletion by tapping the checkboxes next to them.
4. Tap the Trash icon to delete all selected emails.

ProtonMail automatically moves all deleted emails to the Trash folder, where they stay until the user manually empties the Trash folder by clicking More in the toolbar and choosing the Empty trash option.

Conclusion

Knowing how to mass delete emails on Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other email services is essential in the day and age of mass email spam. Clean Email is by far the most convenient way how to mass delete emails on Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other email services, offering advanced automation features and an easy-to-use user interface suitable even for complete beginners.

Wondering how to delete multiple emails on Mac or how to delete old emails? Check out our blog to learn how to reach Inbox Zero!