Lollipop Local

Even when I have an effective method for dealing with email spam, I still end up with a very full inbox and now I want to get rid of a load but have no idea how to do a delete inbox function without having to trawl through pages of old emails to check the ones I want to remove.

So, I googled the problem and discovered that there is a bulk delete inbox function on both gmail and yahoo – the two services where I have the biggest problems, stretching to thousands of old emails.

Delete Inbox In Gmail

With gmail, you use the filter function as I discovered through a couple of handy posts on delete inbox that I found on the PC World blog.

It would seem that what I really want to do is to create a filter that deletes mail which is older than a specific date and they advise that, unless I am reaching the limit of my allowance, I should archive rather than delete.

So, when signed into my Gmail account, I should click the create a filter button which you now find via the cog menu by clicking Settings in the dropdown and then Filter in the list of horizontal options.

In the “Has the words” field, type “before: *date of your choice in the format YYYY/MM/DD*“.

Click Next

Check the box marked Delete it, then check the box for Also apply filter to ### conversations below. (Tip: If you want to preserve your mail while still getting it out of your inbox, choose Skip the inbox (Archive it) instead.)

Finally, click Create Filter. Depending on how many messages meet the filter criteria, the deletion process may take a minute or two.

January 2013 OK, I actually did this today and discovered that it has removed all the items from my Folders as well and, when I try to get things back using the All Mail option, it doesn’t seem to work. I would say, handle this option with care if you think there is stuff that you might want to keep.

In the end, I had to go into trash to try to rescue all the important mail that gmail had unilaterally junked from my folders. I think the thing to remember is that gmail doesn’t have folders, only labels! So you have to keep the stuff in your inbox but give it a coloured label so it stands out.

For more ways that you can use the Gmail Filters Function.

Delete Inbox In Yahoo Mail

There was a way to delete inbox in Yahoo Mail by checking boxes but according to MakeUseOf.com you can show up to 200 messages / results per page which will, at least, cut down on the amount of times you have to perform the process.

Go to > Options (top right) > Mail Options > General, select the number of messages to display from the > ‘Messages/results per page’ drop-down menu, and click > Save Changes (top left).

Next you can switch to > Filters (left-hand menu) and set up filters to sort mail into pre-defined folders in the future. Unfortunately, this only works for incoming mail. You cannot run the filter on mail that already sits in your inbox.

However, further research showed an even better way with this video on how to delete inbox in Yahoo. You click that rather strange button next to the move to option and check ‘In Scrolling List (Show Preview). The screen will need to refresh and then you will see a very small screen with just a few emails showing. Check the delete box at the very top left and it will automatically select all your emails for deletion. For mine, a number over 10k came up at the bottom of the selected area ready for me to approve the deletion.

January 2013 Yahoo seem to have updated their layout again and I can’t find the button mentioned in the video – it looks like we’re back to deleting 200 at a time, unless anyone else has a better solution.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2012 at 10:45 am and is filed under Email. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.