It can be annoying when your inbox is filled with marketing or newsletter emails that are no longer of relevance to you. You may also be getting unsolicited emails you never signed up for in the first place. It’s worse when you receive plenty of them every day.

Your email inbox is your home online. Most times, it is your first line of contact, where clients, employees, and other important entities can reach you. And just like any home, when it gets cluttered, life gets a lot less easy. Important emails can get buried in all that mess.

Why do I receive unwanted emails?

It could be that you bought something online and inadvertently gave permission to the company to send you new product notifications. It could also be that a site you subscribed to has sold your information to marketers, in which case you will be getting a lot of spam emails.

How to de-clutter my inbox

Before we go ahead to see how you can unsubscribe from all unwanted emails, there is an important tip you have to keep in mind: Never unsubscribe from spam. Doing so will result in more spam because it indicates to the spammers that your email is active. If you are sure you didn’t subscribe to an email, simply mark it as spam.

However, note that marking a legitimate email as spam may cause other people who benefit from it to stop receiving it.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to how you can unsubscribe from legitimate emails you actually subscribed to at one point or the other.

You have three options:

  1. Manually unsubscribe
  2. Unsubscribe through your email provider
  3. Use a bulk unsubscribing tool

Manually unsubscribe

There are two ways to do this. Keep reading to find out.

You can elect to stop receiving unwanted emails on a case-by-case basis. Email marketers are meant to comply with CAN-SPAM. This means they are supposed to provide you with an easy way to unsubscribe from their emails whenever you want.

Open an email you no longer wish to receive and scroll down to the bottom. You will find an unsubscribe link. You have to look carefully because it may be hidden in a block of text and made to blend in with the rest of the paragraph.

The software marketers use to the unsubscribe function in a different way. For some, when you click on the unsubscribe link, you are immediately removed from the recipients list. For others, you’d have to mark a checkbox to either unsubscribe completely or select which offers you still want to receive.

Method 2: Reply with “Remove me” or “Unsubscribe” in the subject line

Some companies may not have an automated process, in which case you will be instructed at the bottom of the email to manually reply with the subject line “Remove me” or “Unsubscribe” or other similar variations if you no longer wish to keep receiving their emails.

Since this requires a person to perform the action of removing you from the email list, you may have to resend the reply a couple of times before your request is settled. But if lucky, you only have to reply once.

Unsubscribe through your email provider

Here, we will look at how to unsubscribe from unwanted emails on Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo mail, and IOS mail.

How to unsubscribe from unwanted emails on Gmail

Gmail has made sorting your emails easier by recognizing marketing emails and filtering them to the Promotions or Social tab so they do not get mixed up with those in your main inbox. (Note that if you are a G-Suite user, this option may not be available to you unless activated by administrator).

However, important emails may be sent to these tabs and get mixed up in the heap.

Gmail makes it easy to unsubscribe from unwanted emails and get your inbox de-cluttered on the desktop. It detects when an email has an unsubscribe link and provides you with the option at the top of the message. You will find it right next to the sender’s information, below the subject line.

When you click on it, Gmail will prompt you to confirm your decision. Afterwards, emails from the sender will be rerouted to the spam folder.

This option is not yet available on Android and IOS devices. But there’s one on both desktop and mobile apps you can use:

  1. Click on the three dots on the right side of the sender’s information to open more options.
  2. Select Block to stop receiving emails from the sender.

There’s also a way to mass delete all unwanted emails before they enter your inbox. To set up the filter on Gmail:

  1. Open the email you want to unsubscribe from and click on More > Filter messages like these.
  2. Click on the Create filter with this search link.
  3. Mark the checkboxes: Delete it > Also apply filter to # matching conversation(s).
  4. Click the Create filter button.

How to unsubscribe from unwanted emails on Microsoft Outlook

Just like on Gmail, you can unsubscribe from irrelevant emails on Outlook through an option at the top of an opened email. It is available on both mobile and desktop apps.  You will see an unsubscribe link above the sender information. Click on it and confirm the action.

On the web, the option reads, “Getting too much email? Unsubscribe”.

Unlike on Gmail, you cannot block emails on the Microsoft Outlook mobile app. To do so, you have to log into your account from your computer and open an email from the sender you’d like to block:

  • Click the dotted icon.
  • Select Block to stop receiving emails from the sender.

How to unsubscribe from unwanted emails on iOS mail

Apple’s native mail app for iPad and iPhone detects newsletter and marketing emails. When you open an email, an unsubscribe option will be displayed at the top, just above the sender information. Click on the link and confirm the action.

However, you cannot block emails on the iOS Mail app. Why? It is just a tool for accessing emails on your Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo accounts. If you want to block a sender, use the app of these email clients (i.e. Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to access the option.

How to unsubscribe from unwanted emails on Yahoo mail

Yahoo handles the unsubscribe option differently on desktop and mobile apps.

On the mobile app:

  • Open the email you no longer want to receive and click on the dotted icon.
  • Mark the mail as spam or unsubscribe.

You won’t find an unsubscribe option on the desktop version of Yahoo mail. However, you can select the spam icon, which is displayed next to the delete icon at the top of an opened email. Or click on the dotted icon to find the block option.

Use a bulk unsubscribing tool

There are third-party apps you can use to opt out from receiving unwanted emails across several email service providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Using such a tool will be much easier than having to unsubscribe from each sender on all your email accounts.

The downside to using a third-party app is that you’d have to grant it permission to your inbox. It may sell your information to other marketers.

We hope this content has been useful to you.

By consistently marking spam emails and opening only those that are relevant to you, filters will begin to recognize which emails you care about.

To protect yourself from malicious items that may be hidden in emails, it’s important you install strong antimalware software on your device.

Auslogics Anti-Malware provides top-notch protection against data safety threats. It’s a user-friendly tool that performs automated scans to keep your device more secure. It is designed not to conflict with your main antivirus, for double protection, and can detect and eliminate malicious items your antivirus may miss.

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