How to Delete Multiple Emails on Outlook (Desktop, Web, Mobile Guide)
25 juil. 2025
Learn how to delete multiple emails on Outlook using desktop, web, or mobile. Clean up your inbox fast with bulk actions and rules.
If your Outlook inbox feels like a never-ending sea of newsletters, promotional emails, and unread threads, you know how paralyzing clutter can be. It hampers your ability to find important messages and slows you down every time you open your email.
Thankfully, deleting multiple emails in Outlook isn’t as tedious as it seems, especially if you know the right tricks across desktop, web, and mobile platforms.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to bulk-delete emails efficiently, and we’ll walk through all major methods based on your Outlook platform.
Quick Summary:
On desktop, use Shift or Ctrl/Command keys to select and delete emails in bulk
On the web, leverage Select and the handy Sweep tool for smart cleanup
On mobile, long-press to multi-select, but note limits on batch size
Use filters by sender, date, or unread status to focus your cleanup
Automate with rules or Sweep for ongoing inbox maintenance
How to Delete Multiple Emails on Outlook
Outlook gives you more than one way to tackle a messy inbox. Whether you’re sorting through years of unread messages or decluttering your inbox, Outlook offers tools for quick cleanups across all platforms.
In this guide, you’ll find step-by-step instructions to delete multiple emails in bulk using:
Outlook on Desktop
Outlook on the Web (New and Classic)
Outlook Mobile App
We’ll also cover how to use filters, create auto-delete rules, and restore deleted emails, so you can stay ahead of inbox overload, no matter where you check your mail.
5 Ways to Delete Multiple Emails in Outlook Desktop
If you mainly work from your laptop or PC, Outlook’s desktop app offers the most granular control over bulk deleting emails.
Desktop Outlook supports advanced keyboard shortcuts and organizational tools that can save you hours compared to deleting emails one by one. But bulk deletion here also carries risk; you might accidentally erase something important.
That’s why it’s important to select thoughtfully and review your choices before confirming.
1. How to Select & Delete Emails Manually
Mastering selection tools is key to fast, accurate bulk deletion. Here are the two main ways to do it:
Deleting consecutive emails: Click the first email, hold Shift, then click the last email in the group. This selects all emails between the two clicks, perfect for clearing batches at once.
Deleting non-consecutive emails: Hold down Ctrl (Command on Mac) and click individual emails you want to remove. This way, you can skip emails you wish to keep.
Pro Tip: Don’t rush to press Delete! Take a moment to scan your selected emails. Keyboard shortcuts make selection fast, but mistakes can happen.
2. Deleting All Emails in a Folder Quickly
Need to clear everything inside a folder? These two options get the job done:
Right-click the folder and select Delete All to move everything to the Deleted Items folder.
Or inside a folder, press Ctrl + A (select all) and then Delete.
3. Using the “Clean Up” Tool (Windows Only)
Outlook has a handy “Clean Up” feature that removes redundant emails in long conversations—so you keep a concise thread without duplicates or repeated content.
Go to Home > Clean Up and select to clean the conversation, folder, or subfolders.
4. Filter, Sort & Delete for Targeted Cleanup
To avoid erasing important emails, try organizing your inbox by date, sender, or size.
Use View > Arrange by > Show in Groups to group emails (e.g., by date).
Then right-click on a group (say “Older than 6 months”) and delete that group in one go.
5. Search & Bulk Delete
Outlook’s search bar is powerful. If you want to remove all emails from a sender or on a specific topic:
Enter from:sender@example.com to view all their messages.
Press Ctrl + A to select all results, then hit Delete.
Still need more guidance to oragnize your inbox? Check out our guide on 6 Fundamentals of Email Inbox Organization
If you primarily use Outlook in your browser, the web app has its own strengths for organizing emails, especially if you prefer automation.
5 Ways to Clean Up Your Inbox in Outlook Web and Outlook.com
If you’re juggling multiple devices or prefer using web apps, Outlook’s online interface provides quick cleanup tools that can both delete current emails and set rules for future ones. It’s perfect for people who want easy, no-fuss inbox management.
1. Delete All Emails in a Folder in a Blink
Navigate to your chosen folder.
Click Select > Check the box at the top to select all emails displayed.
Then, click Empty Folder to move all emails to the Deleted Items folder.
2. Sweep Tool: Automate Bulk Deleting
The Sweep tool is a gem for quickly clearing out emails from recurring senders.
Select an email, click Sweep( broom icon), and choose options like:
Delete all messages from this sender.
Remove all existing and future messages.
Keep the latest message and delete the rest.
Delete messages older than 10 days.
Additionally, Sweep can create rules to automatically clean new emails from that sender.
Notes: The Sweep tool works only in the Inbox and any custom folders you have created, but is not available in Junk Email, Drafts, Sent Items, or Deleted Items folders.
3. Filter, Search & Delete by Condition
Use the Search box with date ranges (e.g., received:2025/01/01..2025/01/31) or filters for unread mails or specific senders.
Click Select All once filtered, then delete.
4. Bulk Delete Unread Emails
Open your Inbox, tap Filter > Unread.
Select all and delete to clear unread noise.
5. Storage Cleanup for Auto-Delete by Age
Outlook on the web allows age-based email cleanup through the storage section:
Go to Settings > Accounts > Storage.
Find the folder you want to clean and click the arrow next to Empty.
Choose to delete emails older than 3, 6, or 12 months automatically.
Want to go a step further? Once you’ve deleted the clutter, take it to the next level with a true inbox reset. Try our guide to achieving Inbox Zero, with practical steps to maintain a clean inbox every day.
Got a packed inbox but always on the move? Let’s look at how Outlook’s mobile app handles multiple email deletion and what you should know.
How to Delete Multiple Emails on Outlook Mobile (iOS & Android)
Outlook’s apps on phones make it easy to clear out some emails during downtime. However, mobile apps typically limit you to selecting around 50-60 emails at a time, making them best suited for quick tidy-ups rather than deep purges.
How to Multi-Select and Delete
Tap and hold one email to enter selection mode.
Tap more emails to add them to your selection.
Tap the Trash icon to delete all selected items.
Delete All Emails in a Folder (With a Catch)
Long-press an email, then tap Select All (only selects the first ~60 emails).
Scroll to load more, then repeat the process until the page is fully loaded.
Hit Delete.
Heads-up: Due to this cap, for heavy-duty cleanup, mobile is more of a quick fix than a comprehensive solution.
Want an even easier way to stay organized? Managing email overload can feel like an endless battle, but it doesn’t have to. NewMail AI helps you stay ahead by automatically grouping emails by priority and setting custom filters that triage emails for you. Stop drowning in clutter and start focusing on what really matters. Start Free Today
Automate Email Deletion with Rules on Any Outlook Platform
If you want Outlook to automatically delete emails that meet certain criteria—like promotional newsletters or old alerts—you can set up a rule. This is useful when you want to keep your inbox clear without manually deleting the same types of messages every time.
Steps to create an auto-deletion rule:
Create a new rule:
Web and New Outlook: Go to Settings > Mail > Rules > Add new rule
Classic Outlook: Click Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts > New Rule
Set your condition(s). You can target emails that:
Are from specific senders (e.g., “noreply@news.com”)
Contain keywords in the subject (e.g., “Sale” or “Promo”)
Were received before a specific date
Choose the action: Set the action to Delete
(Optional) Apply to existing emails: Some versions let you run the rule immediately on your current inbox
Save the rule.
From now on, any new emails matching these conditions will be deleted automatically.
How to Restore Accidentally Deleted Emails in Outlook
Accidentally deleting an important email happens to everyone. Fortunately, Outlook provides built-in safeguards to help you recover deleted messages—but only within certain time limits.
Understanding where to look and how long you have to restore these emails can save you hours of stress and lost information.
1. Locating Emails in the Deleted Items Folder
When you delete an email in Outlook, it first moves to the Deleted Items folder instead of being removed permanently. This folder acts as a temporary holding place, allowing you to easily find and restore mistakenly deleted emails.
To check this folder, simply open Outlook and locate the Deleted Items folder in your folder list.
Deleted emails remain in this folder until you manually empty it or Outlook automatically clears it based on your settings.
2. Restoring Emails to the Inbox
To bring deleted emails back to your main mailbox:
Open the Deleted Items folder.
Select one or multiple emails (hold Ctrl or Shift to multi-select).
Right-click and choose Move > Inbox, or drag and drop the emails back to your Inbox or any other folder you prefer.
If the email is no longer in Deleted Items, don’t panic—you may still have a chance.
Look for the Recoverable Items folder by clicking on Deleted Items and then selecting Recover items deleted from this folder (Outlook web) or using the Recover Deleted Items option (Outlook desktop).
In Outlook, deleted emails are subject to retention periods that determine how long they can be recovered. By default, items in the Deleted Items folder remain for 30 days.
After that, they move to the Recoverable Items folder, where they are kept for another 30 days. After the retention period expires, the items are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered through standard Outlook tools
Wrapping UP
Cleaning a cluttered inbox may seem daunting at first, but with the right approach, it can take just minutes. Whether you prefer keyboard shortcuts on desktop, smart tools on the web, or quick cleanups on mobile, Outlook gives you plenty of ways to take back control.
Want to go beyond manual sorting? Try NewMail AI, your AI-powered inbox assistant that flags priorities, clears distractions, and keeps you focused on what actually matters.
