How to Cleanup Office 365 Mailbox by Deleting Unwanted Emails ?

In this article, you will learn how to cleanup Office 365 mailbox. Microsoft Office 365 is the best solution to manage appointments, emails, plans, etc. But If you also get daily warnings like you’re about to run out of space, then you need a clean Office 365 mailbox.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, managing your Office 365 mailbox is essential to optimize productivity and ensure efficient seamless communication. At RecoveryTools, we understand the significance of a clean and organized mailbox. In this comprehensive guide, we will unveil a range of methods that will help you not only cleanup Outlook mailbox Office 365 but also optimize its performance for enhanced work efficiency.

Table of Contents 

1. Quick Steps on How to Cleanup Office 365 Mailbox
2. Understanding the Needs to Cleanup Outlook Mailbox Office 365
3. How to Cleanup Office 365 Mailbox
   • Clear Mailbox Option
   • Using PowerShell Script
   • Cleanup via Archiving Old Emails 
   • Deleting Unnecessary Attachments 
   • Organizing Folders and Subfolders
   • Utilizing Advanced Search and Filters
4. Limitations
5. Final Words

Understanding the Needs to Cleanup Outlook Mailbox Office 365

A cluttered Mailbox makes your workflow slow and can be risky due to security reasons. Here are some of the benefits of cleaning your mailbox –

• Improved Search Speed- If your mailbox has a good amount of space left, it works flawlessly as you can fetch your emails quickly saving a lot of time. Also, it increases the responsiveness as the client becomes fast.
• Enhanced Performance- A mailbox with a good amount of space enhances the performance of your email client if you receive a high volume of emails daily.
• Reduced Security Risk- Sometimes old, irrelevant emails can pose security risks if they contain sensitive information. Regularly clearing out these emails helps protect your data from unauthorized access.
• Efficient Collaboration: A well-maintained mailbox gets better collaboration with colleagues and clients. When everyone can easily find the information they need, improving the productivity and efficiency.

How to Cleanup Office 365 Mailbox

The mailbox capacity in Office 365 is limited to 100 GB. This means that if you have a full mailbox, you will not be able to receive new messages. There are a few things you can do to free up space in your mailbox, such as archiving old emails or deleting messages that you no longer need. We will discuss various methods to do so down below-

Method 1- Clear Mailbox Option

If you need to free up a lot of space in your mailbox quickly, you can use the Clear Mailbox option in Outlook Web Access (OWA). This option will delete all of the emails and messages in your mailbox, including deleted items. Follow the steps to use the Clear Mailbox option:

Step 1. Go to Outlook Web Access.

Step 2. Click the Gears icon.

Step 3. Select Layout.

Step 4. Click Empty Mailbox.

Note: Using this option will permanently delete all the emails and messages in your mailbox. If you need to keep any of these messages, you should archive them or move them to a different folder before using the Clear Mailbox option.

Method 2- Cleanup Office 365 Mailbox Using PowerShell Script

You can also cleanup your Office 365 mailboxes with the help of the following Microsoft PowerShell Script.

[PS] C:\> Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity TRedmond |  Format-Table Name, ItemsInFolder, FolderSize

Before deleting anything from your mailbox, make sure they are not useful for you. Because once you delete the emails from your Office 365 Inbox, they cannot be retrieved backup by any means. All of your forensic signatures of the email will also be removed from your account.

Also Read: How to Download All Office 365 Emails?

Method 3- Cleanup Outlook Mailbox Office 365 via Archiving Old Emails 

You can start by archiving old emails that are no longer relevant but may need to be referenced in the future. Office 365 itself provides an effective archiving system that allows you to store older emails in a separate location, freeing up mailbox space. Follow the steps to archive old emails-

Step 1. Open Outlook and go to your inbox.

Step 2. Select the emails you want to archive, you can also use the Command key to select multiple emails in one go.

Step 3. After selecting the emails, right-click and choose “Move” > “Other Folder”.

Step 4. In the list of folders, Select “Archive” and click “OK”, or simply drag and drop the selected emails into the archive folder.

Once the emails are moved to the archive folder, you can delete them from the inbox.

Method 4- Deleting Unnecessary Attachments to cleanup Office 365 Mailbox

Attachments consume a large amount of mailbox storage. Here’s what you can do to resolve this-

Step 1. Open Outlook on your Mac and type “hasattachments:true” in the search bar.

The search results will show all the emails carrying attachments.

Step 2. Save the necessary attachments by right-clicking and downloading them, or else, right-click on the attachment and select “Remove Attachment”.

Step 3. Repeat this process to delete big email attachments.

Method 5- Organizing Folders and Subfolders to Cleanup Microsoft 365

Users can create a well-maintained folder structure to categorize their emails and utilize subfolders to classify emails, here’s what to do-

Step 1. Open Outlook and, on the left pane, right-click on the mailbox or an existing folder where you want to create a new folder.

Step 2. Click on “New Folder” and name it accordingly.

Step 3. Select the emails you want to move by clicking on them, and just right-click on them and click “Move”.

Now, to set up a new rule, follow the steps down below-

Step 4. Go to the Home tab and in the “Quick steps” group, click on “Create New”.

Step 5. Configure an action for the Quickstep and click on “Finish”.

To set up rules,

Step 6. Go to File > Manage Rules and Alerts.

Step 7. Click on “New Rule” and choose a template, then click “Next”.

Step 8. Set up the conditions and actions for the rule, e.g., Move emails from a specific sender to a folder.

Step 9. Complete the setup and click on “Finish”.

Method 6- Utilizing Advanced Search and Filters to Cleanup Outlook Mailbox Office 365 

Office 365 offers powerful search and filtering capabilities that can be used based on keywords, sender information, and date ranges to quickly locate specific emails. Follow the steps given below-

Step 1. Open Outlook and click on the search bar.

Step 2. Click on the “Search Tools” tab and select “Advanced Search”.

Step 3. Set the search criteria for the emails you are looking for. (e.g. From, To, Subject, Time, Sender, has attachments, etc.)

Now, delete the emails you want to free up space.

Limitations of the Above Methods:

Here are some drawbacks to cleanup Office 365 mailbox using the above-mentioned methods,

• Time-consuming: Using these methods can be time-consuming, especially if you have a large mailbox.
• Error-prone: It is easy to make mistakes when following the steps to clean your mailbox manually. For example, you might delete an important email or archive a message that you need to keep.
• Subjective: The decision of what to delete or archive is subjective. This means that different people might make different decisions about what to keep and what to throw away, especially in an organization’s mailbox.
• Not scalable: Manual cleanup is not scalable. If you have a large mailbox, it can be difficult to keep up with the volume of emails.

Tips to Avoid the Limitations:

• Use a tool: There are several tools you can use to cleanup Outlook Mailbox Office 365. These tools can help you identify and delete old emails, attachments, and other items that you no longer need very quickly.
• Set up rules: You can set up rules in your email client to automatically move certain types of emails to specific folders, it helps to keep your inbox organized and reduce the amount of clutter.
• Back up your mailbox: Before you start cleaning your mailbox, you can back up your Office 365 mailbox so that you have a backup in case of emergency. This way, if you accidentally delete an important email, you can restore it from the backup.

All these tips point to a comprehensive tool with advanced features like selective deletion, date filters, promotional mail deletion, etc. Therefore, here in the following section, we present a tool suggested by experts.

Advanced Office 365 Cleanup Software by RecoveryTools

You can use RecoveryTools Email Cleaner Tool to cleanup Office 365 mailbox as it is one of the best solutions available at present. It provides users a direct option to delete all the required emails from their Office 365 account. It also gives users the option to filter & sort out only unwanted emails with the help of advanced filter settings. This utility is designed with a very user-friendly & simplified working interface.

Highlighted Features of Office 365 Inbox Cleaner Software:

There are a large number of features that come up with this software. Some of them are listed below:

• Choose Only Required Items to Perform Deletion of Selective Items.
• Delete Office 365 Emails in Bulk Mode to Save Users Overall Time.
• Delete Old Office 365 Emails Within the Date Range Using Advanced Filters.
• Cleanup Any of Your Office 365 Mailbox folders like Inbox, Drafts, Deleted Items, etc.

Final Words

In conclusion, maintaining an organized Office 365 mailbox is crucial for better communication and productivity. You can do it by implementing the methods explained in the guide above, you can free up your mailbox and optimize its performance. At RecoveryTools, we are dedicated to providing you with the tools and knowledge needed to succeed in today’s digital landscape.

In the above article, we discussed some perfect solutions to cleanup Office 365 mailbox folders. They support the deletion of Office 365 mailboxes in bulk mode to save time & effort. Talking about the best thing about the software, it will only convert specific Office 365 emails. Users can apply filter settings to perform deletion of Office 365 emails based on To, From, Subject, Date Range, or Delete all Attachments.

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