How to delete unwanted emails in Gmail? – Easy Tips & Tricks in 2025

In today’s digital world, unwanted emails have become a daily headache. Our inboxes which were once reserved for important emails are now full of plenty of offers, advertisements and Newsletters. The volume of these emails can be overwhelming, burying genuine emails beneath the weight of the unwanted emails. We will learn about the tips & tricks to know how to remove unwanted emails from your inbox in this article.

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Impact of unwanted emails on our daily life

Receiving unwanted emails isn’t just a matter of inconvenience, it is also an emotional torture. And detecting and deciding which unwanted email to remove is an additional time consuming task. Each unwanted email is a signal of a lost control over your mailbox space. These messages can range from annoying promotional offers, advertisements to potentially harmful phishing attempts. The irrelevant content can lead to feelings of helplessness and irritation. This irritation cause not only unnecessary stress and anxiety, but also violates our privacy.

These spammy unwanted emails may also result in identity theft, phishing attacks, financial fraud, data breaches, disruption to productivity, information overload, potential for malware infection and damage to a company’s reputation by cluttering inboxes and causing important emails to be missed etc. The major irriatation comes when you run out of your inbox space allotted by your Email Service Provider. Let’s learn about how to delete unwanted emails in gmail using smart tips and tricks in 2025!

What are the common characteristics and types of unwanted emails?

The most likely reason when Email Service Provider flag any email as spam, when it detects unusual words in subject line or email body. These words are marked / flagged as spam which mislead users and prevents them from phishy attacks.

Congratulations, Free, Guarantee, Viagra, Win, Pharmacy, Lottery, Gambling, Make money online etc. are the words which are usually flagged as spam by ESP’s. If the email is coming from unknown sender for the first time, then check if the emails contains suspicious words or phrases like “Free“, “Win“, “Gambling“, “Viagra”, “Pharmacy”, “lottery” and “Make money online”.

How to identify which emails is unwanted?

Identifying unwanted emails is a difficult task in managing your email inbox efficiently. And ensuring that you don’t fall victim to phishing or other email related threats, Here are some tips to help you recognize and identify unwanted emails and remove them:

• Check Sender’s Address: Pay close attention to the sender’s email address. Beware of email addresses that look suspicious, contain random characters, or illegitimate domains.
• Subject Line: Unwanted emails often have subject lines that are overly promotional, use excessive capitalization or exclamation marks, or promise unrealistic offers.
• Content & body of email: Pay close attention to the content of the email. Look out for poor grammar, misspellings, and generic or vague language. Be cautious of emails that ask for personal or financial information, especially if they claim to be from reputable institutions (banks, government agencies, etc.).
• Attachments & Suspicious links: Be extremely cautious with email attachments, especially if they are from unknown senders. Malicious attachments can contain viruses or malware. Hover your mouse over links in the email without clicking to see the actual URL. Beware of shortened or disguised URLs.
• Unsolicited Offers: Be cautious of unsolicited offers, especially those promising miracle cures, prizes, Lottery, Gambling etc. you didn’t enter to win.
• Phishing Indicators: Be cautious if an email requests sensitive information like passwords, credit card details, or Social Security numbers. Look for phishing indicators such as urgency (e.g., “Act now or attach your account”), threats (e.g., “Your account will be suspended”), or requests for confidential information.
• Spoofed Emails: Be aware of email spoofing, where scammers act like legitimate senders addresses to make you believe that they are original one. Verify email addresses if you have doubts.
• Trust your alertness: If something feels odd about an email, trust your gut & alertness power. It’s better to be cautious and investigate further than to fall victim to a scam.

Solution – How to remove unwanted emails in your Gmail?

Delete unwanted emails by category

Easy way to clear out thousands of unwanted emails from your Gmail Promotions tab in just a few steps:

1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Navigate to the Promotions tab (tap More, then Categories if the tab is hidden).

3. At the top-left corner of the email list, click on the checkbox to select all the emails on the page (50 or 100 messages).

4. Click the Select all [number] conversations in Promotions link.

5. Once you have selected all the messages, simply click on the Trash bin icon to delete them.

Delete unwanted emails by read/unread emails

1. Log in to your mailbox.
2. Type “is:unread” in the search bar and hit Enter.
3. Click the top checkbox.

4. Select the Select all messages that match this search option.

5. Click the Trash bin icon to delete all unread Gmail emails that you no longer need.

Delete unwanted emails older than 1 year

1. Open Gmail and go to the search bar at the top.
2. Type older_than:1y and press Enter.
   
3. Click the checkbox at the top left to select the displayed conversations.
4. To select all messages that match this search (not just the first 50 or 100), click Select all conversations that match this search.
5. Click the Trash can icon in the toolbar to move the selected emails to Trash.
   

Delete unwanted emails by size

1. Open your inbox and go to the search bar at the top.
2. In the search bar, type “larger:4M” (with or without quotes) to search for messages larger than 4MB. You can adjust the number according to your preference.
3. Gmail will display messages that match the size criteria. You can select individual messages by checking the box next to each one, or click the top checkbox to select all on the page. If you have more than 50 or 100 messages displayed and are sure you want to delete them all, click Select all conversations that match this search.
   
4. Click on the Trash bin icon to send them to Trash.
5. Confirm the bulk deletion by selecting OK in the pop-up window.
   

Delete unwanted emails by Label

1. Open your mailbox.
2. On the left hand side, click on the label you want to clean up.
   
3. At the top of the email list, click the checkbox to select all emails on the current page.
4. If there are more emails, click Select all conversations in [label] to select all emails under that label.
5. Click the Trash icon at the top to move the selected emails to the Trash.
   

Tips to avoid unwanted emails to be landed in your Gmail inbox

To get rid of these unwanted emails requires not only a alot of manual efforts approach, but also a smart work. Here are a few strategies you can consider to remove unwanted emails out of your mailbox and keep your inbox hygiene:

1. Using Filters: Most email providers allow you to set up filters or rules that automatically sort incoming emails based on certain criteria. For example, you can set up a filter to automatically move emails from specific senders to designated folders. Use flags or stars to mark messages that require follow-up or attention. Periodically review this folder to ensure you don’t miss critical information.
2. Unsubscribe from promotional emails: If you receive regular emails from mailing lists or subscriptions that you no longer find valuable, consider unsubscribing/blocking them. This process will prevent your inbox from receiving all those unwanted emails.
3. Reporting Spam: Reporting spam emails is an important step in helping your email provider improve its spam filters and protect users from potentially harmful messages. Reporting spam emails not only helps you reducing unwanted emails but also helps your email service provider to detect spam effectively in the future.
4. Regularly clean your inbox: Make de-cluttering a regular habit. Set aside time every week or month to go through your inbox and repeat the above steps to keep it organized. Research new techniques to learn how to remove unwanted emails from your inbox. Schedule specific time slot for email management everyday, every week or every month. During this time slot, focus solely on your inbox, avoid distractions, and prioritize essential messages.
5. Using third party apps: Using email management apps to de-clutter your inbox is a smart way to clean up your inbox fast. There are hundred of Email Management apps available out there and Instaclean is one of them.

The battle against unwanted emails is not one that can be won overnight, but armed with knowledge, tools, and determination.

How to bulk delete emails on the Gmail app

Here’s how it works for both Android & iOS devices:

1.  Tap and hold any email.
2. Tap the Select all box that appears at the top.
3. Tap the delete icon.

How to remove unwanted emails out of your inbox with Instaclean?

There are alot of Email cleaner tools available out there and Instaclean is obviously one of them. This Anti-Spam tool will help you to bulk Delete & Block 1000’s of Unwanted & Promotional emails in 1 go. InstaClean is an effective solution to bulk delete unwanted emails and block them instantly. Its user friendly interface and powerful features empower you to swiftly clear out the clutter. Below are the steps to remove unwanted emails effortlessly with InstaClean:

• Install & Link your mailbox: Install Instaclean & link your mailbox with the app by logging in to your inbox.
• Efficient Email Scanning: Once you register & link your mailbox with Instaclean, It will scan your mailbox automatically.
• Selecting Unwanted Emails: Now you can group emails by sender & select them to delete in 1 go.
• One-Click Bulk Deletion: Just select all unwanted emails by sender and remove within just a 1 click.
• Block spam/junk emails: You can also Block all unwanted emails after grouping them by sender.

FAQ

How to recover deleted Gmail emails?

If you’ve already followed the above steps to permanently delete emails in the Trash folder, your emails can’t be recovered. If you haven’t done that step yet, here’s how to recover your emails.

1. If you only want to recover select emails in the Trash folder, check the boxes next to those emails.
2. Click the Move icon (a folder with a right-facing arrow).
3. Choose the folder you want to move the selected emails to.

How do you permanently delete emails on Gmail?

When you delete any of the emails in Gmail, they first get sent to a separate folder called Trash. Emails in the Trash folder will permanently delete after 30 days or you can delete them yourself permanantly. Here’s how you can do:

1. Click More in the left-hand sidebar to drop down more options.
2. Click on Trash.
3. Click Empty Trash now to permanently delete emails in the Trash folder.

Also read about How to Mass Delete Emails in Gmail? It is easy with Instaclean now!