How to Delete Gmail Promotions All at Once
To regain Google Mail storage space or simply declutter your mailbox, you can delete emails labeled as Promotions in Gmail on the web and in the mobile app. But you can also use Clean Email to remove those messages with additional features for managing the ones you want to keep.
If you’d like to see a hands-on walk-through, check out our video for deleting promotions in Gmail using its built-in tools and with the help of the Clean Email app.
Keep reading to learn:
- How to delete all promotions in Gmail: step-by-step
- Why use Clean Email to delete all promotions in Gmail
- Other actions to apply to promotional emails in Clean Email
- How to delete promotional emails in Gmail by sender
- How to delete Gmail promotions by keyword
- How to delete old promotions in Gmail
- How to automatically delete promotional emails in Clean Email
- How to move emails from Promotions to Primary
- How to add and remove a Promotions tab on Gmail
How to delete all Promotions in Gmail on the web
Deleting all promotions in one fell swoop in Gmail on the web takes only a few steps. However, if you prefer, you can choose to delete only the promotional emails you no longer need.
- Select the Gmail Promotions tab at the top of your inbox (left of the Social tab), or Promotions below Categories in the left-hand menu.
- Mark the Select checkbox on the top left to select all promotional emails on the page.
- If you have over 50 (or 100) promo emails to delete, click Select all … conversations in Promotions.
- Click Delete (trash can) in the toolbar. Note that you are not asked to confirm.
How to delete all Promotions in Gmail app on mobile
For users who frequently use mobile devices, here’s how to delete all promotions in Gmail on your phone.
- Launch the Gmail mobile app.
- Select the menu bar on the top left corner to navigate to the Promotions category.
- Select Promotions.
- Long-press one message to select it, then mark the Select all checkbox at the top.
- Tap Delete (trash can icon) on the toolbar.
💡 Note: This will select only the first 50 emails. To select more, scroll down to load all emails under the Promotions label, then tap Select all again to choose all messages.
Deleted promotions in the Trash still take up space, so if you're looking to free up storage immediately, select the Trash folder in the left-side menu and empty it.
📌 Tip: Unlike Gmail, Clean Email allows you to clear all promotions at once without extra steps by selecting more than 50 emails at a time, both on desktop and mobile. What’s more, Clean Email lets you group promotions by sender, subject, date, or recipient. This is ideal if you want to mass delete Gmail messages for a specific group.
Simplify Deleting All Promotional Emails with Clean Email
With the Clean Email app, you can bulk delete all promotions in just a few clicks, right from your smartphone or computer. The app also provides features for managing promotions like archiving, unsubscribing, and keeping only the newest messages.
To quickly delete promotional emails, follow these steps:
- Launch Clean Email on your iOS, Android, or Mac device, or open it on the web.
- Select Inbox in the left-hand menu.
- Locate the emails labeled Promotions by using the Open Menu button (funnel icon) at the top and choosing Promotions under Labeled as.
- Pick Select at the top and then Select All or mark the individual messages.
- Choose Delete (permanently remove) or Trash (move to Trash) at the bottom and confirm.
📌 Hint: The Delete option allows you to skip sending promotional emails to the Trash folder. Simply confirm that you understand the emails can’t be recovered, and enjoy achieving Inbox Zero.
Additional features for managing Promotions in Clean Email
Check out these features of Clean Email you can use to manage promotional Gmail messages. Once you locate and select the emails as described above, you can do the following:
1. Archive instead of delete
Choose Archive in the Trash menu on the right for individual emails or in the blue action bar at the bottom for multiple messages.
Access the Archive tab from the menu to view and manage archived emails anytime.
2. Unsubscribe from future emails or block them
To permanently get rid of promotions in Gmail, you can opt to unsubscribe from promotional emails or block unwelcome senders.
Choose Unsubscribe in the Settings menu on the right to stop receiving unwanted Gmail messages from that sender.
Sometimes, you may continue receiving emails from the same sender, even from different addresses, after unsubscribing. To stop this, blocking the entire domain can help.
To block a domain in Clean Email, open the app, go to Auto Clean, and create a new rule. Select Sender Domain from the dropdown, type the domain you want to block, and choose an action like moving emails to the Trash.
3. Keep the newest messages
Choose Keep Newest in the blue action bar at the bottom. This will clean out the older emails and leave you with just the most recent message.
How to Delete Specific Promotional Emails in Gmail
Some promotional emails are useful, especially if you look forward to online sale announcements or news from your favorite websites. With this in mind, you may only want to delete emails in Gmail from a certain sender, with a keyword, or in a date range.
Based on sender
- In Gmail on the web, click the Show Search Options button on the right of the Search box at the top.
- Enter the email address for the sender in the From field.
- Select Promotions in the Search drop-down box.
- Click Search.
- Mark the Select checkbox in the top left to choose all email results. If you have more than 100 emails from that sender, you will need to click the Select all conversations that match this search button.
- Click Delete (trash can icon) in the toolbar.
Based on keyword
- Click the Show Search Options button in the Search box at the top.
- Enter the keyword in the Subject field, Has the words field, or both.
- Select Promotions in the Search drop-down box.
- Click Search.
- Mark the Select checkbox on the top left for all emails.
- Click Delete.
Based on date
Here’s how you can delete old promotions in Gmail, such as those older than a year:
- Click the Show Search Options button in the Search box.
- Enter or choose the timeframe in the Date within fields.
- Select Promotions in the Search drop-down box.
- Click Search.
- Mark the Select checkbox on the top left for all emails.
- Click Delete.
How to Automatically Delete Promotional Emails in Gmail
To save time, you can get rid of promotional emails automatically by setting up a filter in Gmail or a rule in Clean Email.
⚠️ Warning: It’s recommended to include at least one condition so that you don’t delete everything labeled Promotions.
How to automatically delete Promotions in Gmail
To automatically delete emails in Gmail on the web, follow these steps to create an automated filter for promotions:
- Click the Show Search Options button on the right of the Search box at the top.
- Enter the condition(s) for the promotions you want to delete like sender, keyword, or date. Remember, without criteria, the filter applies to all promotions.
- Select Promotions in the Search drop-down box.
- Click Create filter.
- Check the Delete it box.
- Click Create filter.
The filter then automatically deletes promotions based on your conditions as the messages arrive.
If you think you missed a promotional email because of the filter, select Trash in the left-hand menu to find and recover the message. Items in the Trash are automatically removed after 30 days unless you manually empty it first.
How to automatically delete Promotions in the Gmail app
Unfortunately, you cannot currently set up filters in the Gmail app on your phone. Instead, you can create an auto-delete rule in the Clean Email app on Android, iPhone, or iPad. The steps are the same as those described in the next section for setting up a rule on the web or desktop.
Use More Customizable Automated Rules in Clean Email
With Clean Email, you can auto-delete Gmail promotions by setting up an inbox rule with additional filters, such as selecting only unread emails, those older than a certain date, by size, and more. The advantage is that you can choose from many more criteria than in Gmail and pause your rule at any time.
Here’s how to delete all promotions in Gmail automatically:
- Select Auto Clean in the menu and Create Rule or the plus sign on the right.
- Use the Open Menu button (funnel icon) to pick Promotions below Labeled as and optionally, select another condition.
- Choose additional criteria like Unread, Old Mail, or Large Mail if you like.
- Pick Trash or Delete as the action.
- Select Create Rule.
The rule automatically removes promotions based on your chosen criteria as the emails arrive.
💡 Hint: Remember, if you prefer to send the promo emails to the Trash rather than immediately Delete them, you’ll be able to recover any message you like within 30 days. And if needed, you can temporarily disable a rule in the Auto Clean section.
Clean Email also features an Action History Summary to review all actions applied to your messages, ensuring you won't miss anything important.
How to Move Emails From Promotions to Primary
Gmail comes with pre-set filters that identify which emails go into which tabs i.e., category:promotions. However, this filter is not perfect, and as such, the wrong message can be sent to the Gmail Promotions folder. Below is how to move emails from Promotions to Primary category or vice versa:
- Log into your Gmail account on the web.
- Drag the message from Promotions and drop it into the Primary inbox.
If you don’t have tabs on top, or are using gmail on mobile, there’s another way:
- Select the message(s) you want to move and click the three dots at the top.
- Go to Label as and uncheck the Promotions checkbox.
- Click Apply.
All the selected emails will be moved to your Primary inbox at once.
How to Add and Remove a Promotions Tab on Gmail
Gmail custom tabs are categorization tabs used to organize messages as they hit your mailbox. With Default inbox type, your mailbox comes with three built-in tabs, which are primary, social, and promotions. These tabs are visible underneath the search bar on your inbox when you are signed in on the web.
How to add tabs in Gmail
To add tabs, simply follow the instructions below.
- Log into your Gmail account.
- In the top right corner beside your profile image, select the Settings gear icon, then choose See all settings.
- In the next screen, navigate to Inbox.
- Here you will find the tab list on default. Beneath that, you will find the current tab options selected under categories.
- To add, simply tick the box in front of your preferred category. This is how to add a category in Gmail.
How to remove Promotions tab in Gmail
The Promotions tab mainly contains emails from marketers and retailers, but Gmail is now showing more ads in this section. To remove ads from Gmail, simply disable the Promotions tab.
- Log into your account.
- Select Settings → See all settings → Inbox.
- Here you will find the tab list. Simply untick the boxes in front of the categories you will no longer need to display.
Recover accidentally deleted promotional emails
If you accidentally delete a message in Gmail, it isn't gone forever. Deleted emails go to the Trash folder for 30 days before being permanently removed. You can restore them by moving the message back to your inbox or another tab, as long as it's within that 30-day window.
📌 Tip: Not sure you have all the right steps in order? We can help you learn more about how to recover deleted emails from Gmail.
Tips to Prevent Receiving More Promotions in Your Inbox
- Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters: Regularly unsubscribe from promotional emails you no longer need.
- Use Gmail’s filter feature: Create filters to automatically move promotional emails to your Spam or Trash folder.
- Mark emails as spam: Report unwanted promotions as spam to train Gmail’s filter system.
- Block specific senders: Block Gmail senders whose promotions keep filling your inbox.
- Use a dedicated email address: Sign up for promotions using a secondary email to keep your primary inbox clean.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Gmail custom tabs are great for sorting your emails into various tabs. However, if you are looking for a more professional email management tool, we recommend using the Clean Email app to make your Gmail inbox clean and free of clutter.
Successfully managing promotional emails in Gmail requires a combination of native features and Clean Email's tools. With these, you can efficiently delete unwanted promotions, unsubscribe from newsletters, block annoying senders, and set up automatic actions to maintain a tidy inbox.
📌 For more insights on how to delete multiple emails and how to delete all emails from one sender in Gmail, head back to our blog.
How to Empty Promotions In Gmail - FAQs
Can you delete all promotions in Gmail at once?
You can delete all promotions in Gmail on the web. Go to the ‘Promotions’ tab, select all emails, and click ‘Delete’. For more than 100 promotions, use the ‘Select all conversations’ option. However, on mobile, selecting all promotions at once in Gmail isn't possible, requiring a time-consuming manual selection. The Clean Email app can help you delete all promotions in bulk with just a few clicks.
How to delete all promotional emails on my iPhone?
To delete all promotion emails on your iPhone, you'll need to manually scroll through them if you have more than 50, as there's no option to select all at once in the Gmail app. Alternatively, you can use the Clean Email mobile app to bulk delete promotions all at once.
How to mass delete promotions in Gmail?
To mass delete promotional emails, Clean Email is a great solution. It enables you to quickly select and delete thousands of promotional emails in bulk, saving time and effort compared to manually deleting them through Gmail.
How to schedule the automatic deletion of promotions in Gmail?
To schedule the automatic deletion of promotions in Gmail, use the Auto Clean feature in the Clean Email app. This lets you set up rules to automatically delete promotional emails as they become old or outdated.
Where is the Promotions tab in Gmail?
On desktop mode, you can find all tabs which include promotions, social, and primary underneath the search tab. On the Gmail mobile app, you will have to select the menu bar at the top left corner to see the various tabs.
How do I stop emails from going to Promotions in Gmail?
You can manually move emails from Promotions to Social or Primary categories to ensure all future messages enter the new tab. You can also remove the Promotions tab from settings to stop emails from going to promotions.
How do I add categories to my Gmail inbox?
You cannot add more categories than the in-built categories: primary, forums, social, promotions, and updates. However, you can choose to add or remove any of these categories from tabs. Simply enter Settings → choose ‘See all settings’ → Inbox tab and select or deselect any category you want to appear or disappear.
How do I delete all categories in Gmail?
On the web, simply select Settings beside the profile image → select ‘See all settings’ → Inbox, and deselect the categories you no longer need. Keep in mind that you can remove all categories except Primary. When others are removed, all emails will go into the Primary category.
How do I unsubscribe from all promotional emails in Gmail?
To unsubscribe from all promotional emails in Gmail at once, you need to use the Clean Email app, as the Gmail app doesn't have an option to unsubscribe from all at once—you need to unsubscribe one by one.
How to mark all Gmail Promotions as read?
To mark all Gmail promotions as read, go to the Promotions tab, click the 'Select all' checkbox, then choose 'Select all conversations in Promotions'. Finally, click the 'Mark as read' icon (envelope) in the toolbar.
