In 2012 a team led by researchers from Microsoft conducted a study to understand the effects of email on office workers. For 12 workdays, 40 participants had their email usage tracked. Each had their heart rate continuously monitored and provided a daily report of their perceived productivity. The researchers found that spending more time on email significantly increased stress levels and decreased productivity.
For many of us, these results confirm what we’ve intuitively known for years - email is cluttered, email is overwhelming, email is frustrating. And it isn’t getting better. Today, up to 90% of the messages we receive are from automated mailing lists. 90%. They fill our inbox with persistent demands for our time and attention. Read this, buy this, share this, come back. Deflecting their insistence becomes your obligation. You’re getting a raw deal. Your inbox is a personal space. It’s time to reclaim it. We wrote this guide to show you how - so you can spend more time doing the things that matter. Let’s get started.
The term “unsubscribe” has become a catch-all for any of the tools used to stop receiving emails from a mailing list. Here we describe the pros and cons of each so you can craft a strategy that works best for you.
Blocking a sender routes new emails to the spam folder - these messages are eventually deleted automatically. Unblocking a sender routes new emails to your inbox - old messages will stay in the spam folder.
The CAN-SPAM act of 2003 requires business emails to provide a way for consumers to opt out of receiving additional messages. Senders that do not process opt out requests within 10 business days could be subject to a fine of up to $50,000 from the FTC. Most businesses include a link to their website where you can opt out at the bottom of each email.
It usually takes 2-4 business days for your request to processed. Messages received from the sender during this time will continue to land in your inbox. Some businesses may never process your request and continue to send emails. In this case you’ll need to mark the sender as SPAM, or use another unsubscribe tool.
A filter is a rule that tells your email provider what to do with an incoming message - using the email’s sender, subject, contents, and or metadata (e.g. the date it was sent, etc.). They provide precise control over your emails, but require more consideration and effort to use effectively. Each email provider writes their rules differently. Rules can’t be shared between accounts that use different providers. Providers ignore rules with typos. More complex filters may need to be manually tested to ensure they work correctly. Creating 100+ filters will severely affect the performance of your inbox. Filters must be consolidated or compressed if you create a large number of rules. We recommend avoiding filters if another unsubscribe tool will do the trick.
Third party services like Trimbox clean your inbox faster. Features like one-click and bulk unsubscribe save hours of time if you need to process a large number of mailing lists, or stick to a system like inbox zero. But, these services are not built equally. It’s important to understand how your data is secured, stored, and processed. Most services have data usage and security policies that tell you the fate of your emails (here’s ours) - use these to choose a service that aligns with your security and privacy goals. For example, Unroll.me and Clean Fox make their money by selling your email data to other companies, and store your email data on private servers. Trimbox stores your email data on your phone or computer. When you remove the app your data goes with it. If you find yourself frustrated with the built-in unsubscribe tools it may be time to invest in more firepower.
Here we describe how each of the unsubscribe tools can be used in Outlook
Most businesses include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email. The fastest way to find them is to enter Unsubscribe into your browser’s site search feature (CMD + F on Mac. Windows + F on Windows).
Outlook’s Sweep feature sends incoming emails to the trash can. To sweep a sender’s messages open an email they have sent or select the email in the inbox view and click Sweep on the toolbar above.
/As of December 2023 sweep is not yet supported in the Outlook mobile app.
Outlook’s move to feature sends incoming emails to a folder. To move a sender’s messages open an email they have sent or select the email in the inbox view and click Move to on the toolbar above and select a folder from the dropdown.
As of December 2023 Move to is not yet supported in the Outlook mobile app.
Outlook’s block feature sends emails from an email address or domain to the junk folder - after 14 days these emails are deleted. To block a sender:
1. Click the gear icon in the top right corner to open the Outlook settings
2. select “Junk email” from the “Mail” menu.
3. Enter the sender, which is an email address or domain, into the input field of the popup and click save. To remove a sender from the blocklist click the trash can next to their name.
As of December 2023 Move to is not yet supported in the Outlook mobile app.
To create a filter in Outlook:
1. Right click on a message in your inbox and select Create rule from the dropdown.
2. Select the folder you’d like to send these messages. If you’d like to create a more complex rule click More options from the menu.
You can follow this guide to learn more about rules.