Three things are certain as the holiday season approaches: overeating, overspending, and my inbox being overloaded with marketing emails from virtually every brand I’ve seen.
With the hubbub of Black Friday and Cyber Monday fading, now is the time the best time to scan your inbox, find out which brands you didn’t even know had your email address, and purge them from the face of the planet. (Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but you know what I mean.)
Also: I’m drowning in spam! How to make it stop?
The unsubscribe process is quick and easy, and the time it takes will really depend on how many emails you want to opt out. Here’s how to do it on Gmail, Outlook, and other platforms.
How to unsubscribe on any messaging platform
No matter what email service you use, there is a universal way to unsubscribe.
The standard way to unsubscribe involves scrolling to the bottom of the selected email, scrolling through the oddly smaller lines of text, finding and clicking the keyword “unsubscribe”. It may take a second or two for you to find the linked text, but every subscription-based mailing list is required to give you this option.
The process is the same on mobile as on the web.
June Wan/ZDNET
Depending on the company, clicking the Unsubscribe link may direct you to a form page asking you to confirm the deletion of your email address and/or to check the boxes corresponding to the messages and alerts you wish to deactivate.
The best case is when the unsubscribe link automatically removes your email from the mailing list when clicked.
More: How to better manage Gmail labels (and why you should)
How to unsubscribe on Gmail
Gmail has been on my “beautiful” list ever since it introduced the Promotions tab, a dedicated section that automatically stores incoming marketing emails so they don’t clutter up your main inbox. That alone should make unsubscribing from emails much easier on the platform.
Use the Unsubscribe shortcut
Although the traditional method works in Gmail, there is an easier way to unsubscribe from emails that you may not be familiar with. Once you click on a promotional email, instead of scrolling all the way down, there should be an unsubscribe button next to the sender address at the top (see image reference below).
All you have to do is click the button and then confirm that you no longer want to receive similar messages from the sender.
How to Unsubscribe in Outlook
Outlook also has its own shortcut. The only problem is that the feature is only available on personal accounts and not organizational accounts. Here is the recap.
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Subscription management
Buried in Outlook’s settings is a Subscriptions tab that lets you manage all your incoming emails from marketers. The list is curated by scanning your inbox for repetitive messages and those that include keywords such as “promotion”, “sale” or “unsubscribe”.
To access this list, click the gear icon in the top right menu bar and from this list choose “Show all Outlook settings” at the bottom, then Mail > Subscriptions. From there, you should see all the mailing lists your email is subscribed to. Simply click Unsubscribe next to each business to stop receiving their messages.
FAQs
How long does it take to unsubscribe from emails?
The process will depend on the company, but unsubscribing from a mailing list usually happens instantly. However, if you are still receiving emails even after unsubscribing, chances are you need to give them more time to process the change, or you may have an old email address that is still on the mailing list and whose messages are redirected. to your current one.
Should I unsubscribe from spam?
As solid as it seems to unsubscribe from unwanted messages and spam, the best practice is to not open suspicious emails and delete them instead. Clicking on spam and, even worse, interacting with the links in it, you can expose your device to malicious attacks and viruses.
Is there a way to unsubscribe from mass emails?
Probably the easiest way to unsubscribe from messaging groups is to use a plugin/extension. For example, there are Google-certified Chrome extensions like unroll.me which syncs with your Gmail account and will allow you to unsubscribe from emails and delete previously sent messages in one go. These add-ons usually come with a free trial and will cost money the more you use them.
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