What the Tech: Deleting email fast
Remember when getting an email was exciting? Back in the AOL days, that “You’ve got mail!” alert was something to look forward to. Now, for most of us, it’s more like “You’ve got thousands of unread messages.”
If your Gmail account looks like that — with a big red number showing hundreds or even thousands of unread emails — it’s probably slowing you down and eating up your Google storage space.
The good news? You can clear out years of old messages in just a few clicks.
Why You Should Delete Old Email
Every Gmail account comes with 15GB of free storage, shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. If you’ve ever gotten an alert that you’re “running out of storage,” your inbox may be the reason.
Industry data suggests the average Gmail user has over 5,700 emails, and about half of them are promotional or junk messages. Deleting those can free up gigabytes of space and make Gmail run faster.
How to Find and Delete Old Emails in Gmail
Instead of scrolling through page after page of old messages, Gmail’s built-in filters can help you find them instantly.
Here’s how to do it on a computer:
-
Open Gmail.
Go to mail.google.com and sign in. -
Click the search bar at the top.
On the right side of that bar, click the filter icon (it looks like sliders). -
Set a date range.
Under “Date within,” choose 1 year or any range you want. Then, under “Before,” pick a date like June 1, 2015 (or any year you want to start clearing out). -
Filter specific folders.
To start easy, switch to the Promotions or Social tab. Those messages are usually marketing emails and newsletters you don’t need. -
Click “Search.”
Gmail will display all emails older than your chosen date. -
Select All → Delete.
You’ll see a checkbox above your emails. Click it, then choose “Select all conversations that match this search” and hit the trash can icon.Done — you just deleted years of old messages in seconds.
Using Gemini AI to Help
If you have access to Google’s Gemini AI, it’s even easier.
Just type or say:
“Show all emails in my Promotions folder from before June 20, 2015.”
Gemini will pull up everything that fits that filter. You can then quickly review and delete them.
Important Tip for Mobile Users
While you can search for old messages in the Gmail app, it’s tough to delete large batches from a phone or tablet. If you’re doing a serious cleanup, it’s much faster and easier on a computer.
Cleaning out your Gmail inbox isn’t just about being organized — it can make your Google account run smoother and prevent that dreaded “storage full” message.
So if you’ve got emails from the early 2000s still sitting there, now’s the perfect time to say goodbye.
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