Microsoft Office Tutorials: Delete all email messages

Monday, July 19, 2021

Delete all email messages

What would you like to do?

Delete all email from a folder

Make sure that the Folder pane is expanded. To expand the Folder pane, click the arrow at the top left of the pane.
In the Folder pane, right-click the folder that you want to empty, and then click Delete All.
When you're prompted to move everything to the Deleted Items folder, click Yes.
All the selected items are now in the Deleted Items folder. See Empty the Deleted Items folder to permanently delete them.

Note: If you're trying to free up space in your mailbox, you must empty the Deleted Itemsfolder before you can reclaim that space.

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Delete multiple emails

You can quickly delete multiple emails from a folder and still keep your unread or important emails for later.

To select and delete consecutive emails, in the message list, click the first email, press and hold the Shift key, click the last email, and then press the Delete key.
To select and delete nonconsecutive emails, click the first email, press and hold the Ctrl key, click each email that you want to delete, and then press the Delete key.

Tips:

To unselect an email, press and hold the Ctrl key, and then click the email.
To select all the emails in the active folder, press Ctrl+A.

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Delete all email in all folders

The only way to delete all email in all folders is to right-click each folder in your folder list, select Delete All, and move the items to the Deleted Items folder.

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Empty the Deleted Items folder

The items that you delete are moved to the Deleted Items folder, but those items aren't permanently deleted until that folder is emptied. You can manually empty the folder any time.

In the Folder pane, right-click the Deleted Items folder, and then click Empty Folder.
You'll be prompted to confirm that you want to permanently delete the items. Click Yes.