Is your inbox overflowing with unread emails? You’re not the only one - ours is too! Between work updates, newsletters and the odd special offer, it’s pretty easy for things to spiral out of control. Don’t sweat it though. Tidying up that chocka inbox doesn’t have to be a complete chore. With a few smart tricks (and a little help from cool tech), you’ll turn that digital chaos into computing calm. Let’s dive in…

First things first, clear out the clutter. Old emails slow down your inbox and make finding important messages harder. Start by searching for emails older than six months, or by the name of the sender – think newsletters you never read or receipts you don’t need. Then send ‘em straight to the trash. 

If you’re worried about losing something important, use ‘Archive’ instead of ‘Delete’. Archiving keeps the email out of sight but means it’s still searchable later on. Most email platforms also let you bulk select messages, so you can clear out hundreds in seconds. Goodbye inbox overload! 

Next up, organisation. Creating folders (or labels) for work, personal stuff, bills and subscriptions makes life so much easier. No more scrolling endlessly to find that one specific invoice. By adding colour coding or tags, you’ll make things even clearer. You could use blue for your to-do list and red for urgent messages that need a quick reply. In Gmail, you can use labels, while in Outlook, folders work great. Once you’ve set these up, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without them. 

Want your inbox to tidy itself? Of course you do. That’s why filters are your best friend. These clever little rules automatically sort incoming emails into the right folders. For example, any newsletters could be sent straight into a ‘Read Later’ folder, while urgent work emails get flagged.

Both Gmail and Outlook make this super easy. Just head on over to ‘Settings’ and look out for ‘Rules’ or ‘Filters’. You can even auto-forward certain emails to colleagues or archive receipts instantly. It’s kind of like having a personal assistant for your inbox. 

If you’re serious about decluttering, apps can do a lot of the heavy lifting. Clean Email and Unroll.Me are pretty popular choices. They’ll help you to bulk unsubscribe, schedule clean-ups and will even smart sort your messages. Gmail and Outlook also have built-in tools for managing subscriptions and archiving messages if you’d rather not download anything extra. 

Clean Email, for example, groups similar emails so you can delete or archive them in one click. Whereas Unroll.Me creates a daily digest of newsletters so they don’t completely flood your inbox. These apps are lifesavers if your inbox is starting to look like a bit of a digital dumping ground. And what’s more, you’ll barely have to lift a finger. 

Here’s a quick win – unsubscribe from any emails you never read. Those exclusive deals and weekly updates you signed up to years ago add up fast! Do this during your clean-up session or use one of the apps we’ve mentioned to batch unsubscribe. Fewer emails mean less stress, and more space for the messages that actually matter. 

If you’re short on time, search for ‘Unsubscribe’ in your inbox. Most marketing emails include that word, so you can clear dozens of them out in a few minutes. 

Thanks to AI, inboxes are getting way smarter. Gmail now uses Google’s Gemini AI to summarise long emails into neat bullet points. No more wading through endless threads. Instead, you’ll have all the key info you need at just a glance. Apple Mail is doing something similar with Apple Intelligence, giving you quick previews and suggesting smart replies. 

These tools do save time, but they’re not perfect. AI summaries can miss key details or misjudge the tone. So, double check first before you act on them. 

Still, it’s super exciting to see how tech is making managing our inboxes easier. Opening up your emails and seeing only the highlights of a 20-message thread is already handy. And things will only get better as the tech develops. 

What’s your favourite inbox hack? Share it in the comments with us down below! And if you haven’t started your clear out yet, what are you waiting for?