It's not hard to end up with a cluttered inbox. Despite the best intentions to manage your email, it all piles up: coupon codes, newsletters you've forgotten about, and marketing spam alike. These little things become a huge thing over time.
It's time for a spring clean. This guide will help you cull the clutter and reclaim inbox zen as quickly as possible.
Why do I have so much junk in my inbox?
There are many ways that junk can easily worm its way into your inbox. The volume of junk email probably snuck up on you. There are many instances where you may not even realize that you've been roped into an email subscription that you never wanted.
You bought something from a store
When you sign up to make an online purchase, you need to give the retailer your contact information. You may inadvertently wind up receiving a lot of marketing emails, like abandoned cart reminders.
Now that the physical and internet worlds are heavily connected, you may receive emails from physical stores you visit by joining their loyalty programs or signing up for email receipts.
You accidentally allowed partner emails
Some websites sneakily add your email address to mailing lists for partner brands or the parent company's other brands to lure you into receiving more marketing emails.
Even if you intentionally subscribed to one list, you may have unintentionally subscribed to more lists than you bargained for.
Your information was part of a data breach
Some untrustworthy companies and scam groups will collect email addresses and other personal information that was leaked in a data breach.
If your data was part of a leak, there's a good chance that it was passed on to bad actors who used it unethically. You may find evidence of phishing schemes in your inbox.
Spambots collected your email address from the internet
There's a reason so many businesses and website owners don't post their email addresses in plain text on the internet. They use contact forms to obscure their email from spambots that crawl the internet for email addresses to add to lists.
If you type out and post your email address, you may have been grabbed by an email address-hunting robot.
Random targeting
Some unreputable companies will attempt to guess as many email addresses as possible. If your email address is your name or something with a common theme, spammers may have randomly guessed it and started sending you spam emails in bulk batches.
What does "bulk unsubscribe" mean?
When you notice that your inbox has been overrun with spam emails, you have two options. The first option is to scroll down to the bottom of every email and look for an "unsubscribe" prompt that's likely hidden and nearly impossible to find. You click the link, follow the prompts, and remove yourself from the mailing list.
Your second option is to bulk unsubscribe. Rather than hunting for the cleverly hidden unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, you can automate the process. A bulk unsubscribe tool will locate the link for you and submit unsubscription requests on your behalf.
Many email providers offer tools to help you clean up your inbox. Some emails will be flagged and sent to your spam folder before they ever reach you. Your email service may offer an easy-to-spot unsubscribe option next to the offending sender's name. And the good news is, an AI-powered email experience like Superhuman makes the bulk unsubscribe process even easier.
How to bulk unsubscribe in Gmail
Gmail offers tools to help you keep your inbox organized. Automated filters flag emails and sort them for you, allowing you to shift between tabs of your inbox to separate important emails from promotional emails and social media updates. While the automated sorted feature is super helpful, it isn't perfect. A few things may slip through the cracks.
The Gmail unsubscribe feature is easy to find. Gmail places an "Unsubscribe" button at the top right of every email sent from a mailing list. It's right at the top, so there's no need to scroll down. The one-click unsubscribe feature allows you to skip the search for the hidden link and complete a form to unsubscribe. You'll need to go sender by sender, but the process will still be quick.
How to bulk unsubscribe in Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook uses a similar system to Gmail. At the top of every email sent from a mailing list, you'll see an "Unsubscribe" link. All you need to do is click the link and confirm your unsubscription preference.
How to bulk unsubscribe in Yahoo mail
Yahoo doesn't have many of the same key features that make Gmail and Microsoft Outlook so convenient, but they do have a process that allows you to clear out your inbox via flagging junk emails as spam. Click the shield icon that says "Spam" and select "Block senders" to keep unwanted messages from reaching your inbox.
Yahoo may offer different options on Android or iOS apps. Some app interfaces offer an unsubscribe option in place of a block option. It may be more convenient to unsubscribe from your iPhone or Android device than to use the desktop options.
How to use bulk unsubscription tools
There are plenty of third-party bulk unsubscription tools that promise to help you clean up your inbox quickly. Each tool works a little differently, but the general idea is that all potential junk mail senders are recognized, and you're presented with the option to remove yourself from as many mailing lists as possible with just a few clicks.
Some of these tools are paid, and some are free. Each comes with its own level of trustworthiness. You need to give bulk unsubscription tools permission to read the content of your inbox and dig through your entire back catalog of emails. Some of them may gather data, and you don't always know what they’re going to do with it.
It's best to be wary of free tools. They need to make money somehow, and you're taking a big leap of faith when you assume your data has nothing to do with their bottom line. Always read a company's privacy policy before sharing information with them.
Superhuman inbox management
Superhuman offers a bulk unsubscription option with our inbox optimizing tools.
We make it easy to unsubscribe from unwanted emails — just hit Cmd+U (Mac) or Ctrl+U (Windows), or simply swipe down and tap Unsubscribe if you’re on mobile. You can also delete or mark emails from a particular sender as "done" to archive them while you're unsubscribing.
You can also use Split Inbox to divide your inbox into different areas of focus based on the types of emails you receive most often. That means it’s easy for you to streamline your inbox and section out junk mail or promotional mail from what really matters.
Plus, with Get Me to Zero, you can save your messages older than seven days to the Done folder, where they are always searchable and never deleted. We make it easy for you to get to Inbox Zero.
How long does it take to stop receiving unwanted emails?
Even if you mass unsubscribe, it could be a while before you stop receiving unwanted newsletters and other bulk emails that clutter up your inbox. Many senders give themselves a grace period to comply with unsubscribe requests.
You may receive new emails from spam senders for a few days to a few weeks. It all depends on how long it takes them to update their lists and unsubscribe people who have made requests.
If you're still receiving emails more than two weeks after you've unsubscribed, report the sender to your email provider. If enough people report a sender as spam, your email provider may change the way it handles incoming emails from addresses on their domain. They may forward them directly to spam or include a flag at the top of the message to alert recipients that the sender is untrustworthy.
The bottom line
Don't let the junk get in your way. Your attention is precious, and unwanted emails are standing between you and the most productive version of yourself. Bulk unsubscribing can fix the problem in the blink of an eye.
Superhuman is the fastest email experience ever made. Get Superhuman and get rid of the junk, focus on what matters, and fly through your inbox twice as fast.
