Increase Gmail Storage: Learn How to Delete Old Emails in Gmail

Summary: There are simple steps users can take to keep their Gmail accounts free of clutter and help avoid additional storage fees. Reducing the number of emails can free up storage space in your Gmail account. Learn how to delete old emails in Gmail to increase storage capacity.

Many people open their emails for the first time every day to an ocean of unwanted mail, from relentless advertisements to probable cyber security scams. Mixed in with all the junk are important emails from known senders. Users tend to keep old emails, creating an almost insurmountable cleanup job. However, many email providers offer valuable tools and strategies for sifting through the junk and pairing it down to focus more on legitimate email exchanges. For example, Gmail offers several helpful remedies for cluttered Gmail storage:

• Archiving – Managing Gmail is not just about deleting old emails. Gmail offers the “Archive” function, which removes selected emails from the inbox and transfers them to your general mailbox or “All Mail” section. From there, you may search for them at any time. However, they will no longer clutter your inbox and distract you from the more critical tasks at hand. This might be good for meeting minutes or weekly recap reports.
• Create Separate Accounts for Personal and Business Gmail – Recognition of legitimately important business emails should not be hindered by a whirlpool of distracting personal emails. Separating accounts for business and personal emails makes the user more efficient at responding to business emails promptly and helps better delineate the boundaries of work time vs. personal time.
• Boomeranging – The Boomerang extension for Gmail is a terrific tool for scheduling the redelivery of selected emails at a later time or date. To add this feature:
  • Download “Boomerang for Gmail”
  • Grant Permission for Installation and Click “Continue to Installation”
  • Install the Boomerang Extension and Click “Add”
  • Reopen Gmail in a New Tab
  • By Clicking on “Boomerang” in the top right corner of the page, you can start scheduling redelivery for emails you select.
• Unsubscribe or Mark as Spam – In many cases, simply “Unsubscribing” to regular newsletters and email blasts will significantly reduce cluttered storage. “Mark as Spam” is another feature built into Gmail. However, use this feature judiciously and only mark suspicious emails as spam. It will put all future emails from this sender into the spam folder, which should be checked and emptied frequently.
• “Mute” Group Email Threads – Before getting distracted by an endless loop of “Reply-Alls,” including forwarded emails and replies from people you might not even know, By muting these emails, they will be automatically archived and available in “All Mail” if you need to retrieve them on a later date.
• Increase Gmail Storage – Gmail offers 15GB of email storage for free. Once you have done some cleaning up, click on the account icon in the upper right corner of the page, select “Manage Your Google Account” and then scroll down to “Account Storage” to see how much storage space you have left. If you are close to the 15GB limit, you may either pay to increase your storage or delete enough emails to stay at the free 15GB level.
• Bulk Delete Gmails – Google Support https://support.google.com/mail/thread/14875498?hl=e offers these steps for bulk deleting Gmails. Mark your calendar to bulk delete Gmails every three months or so:
  • “First, open your Gmail webpage interface
  • Using the Search box at the top, look down to the Search settings near the bottom of the box. Ensure that All Mail is selected. This could be used for daily news outlet updates, out of office notifications and more
  • Click Search
  • If you wish to selectively delete, use the checkbox beside each email to selectively choose emails for deletion.
  • Use the master check box at the top of the page to select all emails on that page
  • Press/choose the Trash icon to delete
  • Remember to purge your Gmail Trash if you do not wish to wait 30 days for the emails to be permanently deleted. Remember, permanently deleted emails cannot be recovered
  • If you wish to mass delete, or if you have more than 1 page of results, and you are very sure that you wish to select all the found results:
  • Use the master check box at the top of the page to select all the emails on that page
  • Now a new option is shown below that master check box: All 50 conversations on this page are selected. Select all conversations that match this search. Click that to expand to include all found emails, not just the 50.
  • Click the option to select all conversations found
  • Press/choose the Trash icon to delete
  • Remember to purge your Gmail Trash folder if you do not wish to wait 30 days for the emails to be permanently deleted

Small and Midsized Business (SMB) IT Professionals Can Manage and Protect Company Email Accounts

Whether you work from home or in-office, you should be aware of all the new cyber threats to emails, data, computers, network and devices. SMB IT experts can assess all your unique needs for your computer systems and networks, recommend solutions and keep your business email running smoothly. A modest investment in professional IT assistance is a smart way to protect your private and business data and reduce data breach risks and liability.

Business networks are no longer do-it-yourself projects. Regulators have placed the burden of data protection on those who collect and store it. Companies face fines for every record breached in a cyberattack. Getting the settings and network security correct can help you avoid the devastation and ongoing, significant costs of an attack. In addition to helping you increase email storage, your IT technician can help you utilize all the features on your email exchange, including security settings.

Most SMB cyberattacks (over 90%) start with an employee clicking on an email that has a malicious link containing viruses, malware and ransomware. Firming up security on business email and training employees in security awareness helps them recognize and avoid phishing emails will go far to protect your business.