How to Mass Delete Emails on Mac: 2024’s Guide
Even if you have plenty of storage for numerous messages, having too many unnecessary emails can clutter your mailbox and bury important mail. In this situation, it's helpful to know how to clear mail storage on Mac. Let's explore the available cleaning options.
How to delete multiple emails on Mac manually
- Open the Apple Mail app on your Mac.
- Select each message you want to remove while holding down the Command ⌘ key and then click the Trash can icon on the top bar.
- To delete consecutive emails, click the first email while holding the Shift ⇧ key, then click the last email you want to select. This highlights all messages in between. Finally, click the Trash can icon on the top bar to remove them.
- Search for messages by date, subject line, and other characteristics using the Search tab at the top right of the screen.
- Select multiple messages following steps 2 or 3 and click the Trash can icon on the top bar.
- To permanently delete all trashed messages, secondary click (right-click) on a Trash folder on the mail sidebar and select Erase Deleted Items.
How to delete emails on Mac with Clean Email
Manually searching for and deleting emails on Mac can be an overwhelming task, especially if your inbox is overflowing with messages. While the native features of your mailbox offer some assistance, they might not be sufficient for extensive clean-ups.
For a more efficient approach, consider using Clean Email. This inbox management tool offers features that meet various needs. Whether you're dealing with subscriptions, old mail, promotional newsletters, or spam, the app provides user-friendly ways to organize and delete them.
To easily get rid of multiple emails on Mac, follow the instructions below:
1. Apply bulk actions to your Inbox
Clean Email organizes messages by grouping them by sender. If you want to delete all messages from several senders at once, follow these steps:
- Go to https://app.clean.email and sign in with your mailbox credentials.
- Choose Inbox from the menu on the left.
- Tick the checkboxes next to the email groups you wish to delete.
- After selecting the message groups, hit the Trash button in the action bar at the bottom.
- A confirmation window will appear. Click Confirm to finish.
2. Use the Cleaning Suggestions feature
The Cleaning Suggestions feature provides prompt actions for managing your inbox, based on your past interactions and how other users have handled similar messages. This feature is ideal for quickly deleting old mail, managing messages from frequent senders, and archiving emails you no longer need.
- Go to https://app.clean.email and log into your account.
- Choose Suggestions from the panel on the left.
- Here you will find senders grouped by the number of their messages in your inbox, along with recommended actions.
- Utilize Clean Email's quick suggestions to move unwanted messages to Trash. From here, you can also Archive, move emails to the Read Later folder, or apply another custom action of your choice.
3. Using the Auto Clean feature
With Auto Clean, you are provided with the opportunity to delete any message that follows a specific rule. Once you set a rule, all existing and future emails matching the stated rule will be deleted. This feature can also be used for moving, labeling, and archiving messages that are already in your mailbox or new mail you receive.
- Go to https://app.clean.email and log into your account.
- Select Auto Clean on the left panel.
- If you're new to this feature, click Create Rule. If you already have some rules set up, click the + icon at the top.
- Choose the folder to which this rule will be applied and select the sender's email address or domain.
- In the Apply Action section, choose either Trash or Delete, where 'Trash' moves messages to the Trash folder, and 'Delete' means permanent removal.
- Click the Create Rule button to confirm.
How to Delete All Emails on Mac
While very uncommon, sometimes you might need to delete all emails on your Mac, such as when preparing for a fresh start, clearing out a heavily spammed account, or switching to a new email service.
These steps will show you how to mass delete emails on Apple Mail app on Mac:
- Open the Apple Mail app on your Mac.
- If you have several mailboxes added, choose the one you wish to clear.
- Press Command ⌘ + A to select all messages in your Inbox.
- Press the Trash can icon on the top bar to delete selected messages.
- In a pop-up window, click Delete to send all the selected messages to the Trash folder.
Learn how to delete all emails on iPhone, and how to delete all emails from one sender from our other posts.
How to Delete Archived Emails on Mac
People use email archiving for different purposes. Mostly, they revolve around the unwillingness to trash a particular email. Either due to its significance or its uselessness. However, when your archived mailbox has become unbearably clustered, it is time to have a clean slate.
Here is how to delete archived emails on Mac:
- Open the Apple Mail app on your Mac.
- Click the Archive folder on the left sidebar.
- Hold Command ⌘ while selecting multiple emails, or hold Shift ⇧ key to select messages in a range between the first and the last selected messages. You can also press Command ⌘ + A to select all archived messages.
- Click the Trash can icon on the top bar. This way you'll send the selected messages to the Trash folder.
- Right-click on the Archive folder and select Erase Deleted Items to permanently remove all the messages.
How to Unsubscribe From Emails on Mac
Unsubscribing from emails on your Mac is a proactive way to prevent your inbox from becoming overwhelmed. Sometimes, you may not even know how or when you subscribed to a particular newsletter. By reducing the influx of unwanted mail, you save time and avoid the hassle of deleting masses of messages at once.
To manually unsubscribe from emails on a Mac:
- Open the Apple Mail app.
- Locate a subscription email you want to opt out of and click the Unsubscribe button at the top right corner.
- A pop-up message will appear. Click OK to confirm.
How to unsubscribe faster with Clean Email
Clean Email’s Unsubscriber tool ensures that you won’t have to worry about unsubscribing from emails individually, while also preventing promotional mail and unwanted newsletters from reaching you again.
It conveniently allows you to view all the newsletters you're subscribed to in one place, enabling you to sort them by date, name, or number of messages. Then, when you click the Unsubscribe button, it either sends unsubscribe requests or fills out necessary forms on your behalf, saving you time for more important tasks.
Here, with just a few clicks, you can opt out of any newsletter or promotion at any time. To start, simply download Clean Email app for your Mac and begin unsubscribing for free.
Clean Email saves a list of all the newsletters you've unsubscribed from, which can be found in the Unsubscribed tab, allowing you to keep track of your recent actions.
Alternatively, you can use the Block Sender feature which prevents a particular sender from reaching you again.
How to set a reminder on multiple emails on Mac
Sometimes you receive an important email that you would like to revisit or save for future reference. Archiving it can and will help you isolate it, but without constant reminders, you can forget it was there in the first place. With Clean Email's Read Later feature, you can get a regular summary of emails in your Read Later folder.
Conclusion
Mastering how to delete multiple emails at once on a Mac is essential for maintaining an organized, clutter-free inbox. While manual deletion is an option, third-party cleaning apps like Clean Email can save you time with efficient bulk deletion features.
Prioritizing your privacy with third-party apps is crucial. Clean Email stands out by guaranteeing 100% privacy and security. It respects your confidentiality, never selling, sharing, or analyzing your emails, even anonymously.
If you also use Gmail, explore our guides on how to delete all promotions in Gmail and how to delete old emails in Gmail to keep your account organized and up-to-date.
How to delete multiple emails on Mac - FAQs
How to select multiple emails on Mac?
You need to hold down the Command key and click on each email you want to select, or hold down the Shift key to select a continuous range of messages.
How to delete multiple emails on a Mac?
After selecting them, delete multiple messages by right-clicking and choosing ‘Delete’ or pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.
How to delete all mail on Mac?
Press Command + A to select all emails in a folder, then press the Delete key or right-click and choose ‘Delete.’ For an even faster method, use Clean Email, which improves the process significantly.