# I accidently hit "unread mail" in Outlook

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 27, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303 "2015-07-27T06:39:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![McGuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@McGuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGuffy)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/1 "2015-07-27T06:39:17Z")

</div>

Shit!  
7,220 unread emails.  
Sigh…I’m going to bed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/2 "2015-07-27T07:06:49Z")

</div>

Okay. We’ll see you again after you’ve read all that mail.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/3 "2015-07-27T14:59:59Z")

</div>

Note to self: important communication with **McGuffy** is not to be sent via email

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![McGuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@McGuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGuffy)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/4 "2015-07-27T17:18:41Z")

</div>

Okay, down to 193 unread emails.  
Had 12 subscription/newsletter folders. Deleted them. Obviously not taking the time to keep up.

The rest were dupes of already read items…don’t know how that happened. Must have set up a rule incorrectly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/5 "2015-07-28T03:12:41Z")

</div>

Do you know the “clean up folder” or “clean up conversation” function? It’s the bees knees. Automatically merges either the entire folder or conversation. You can have a group email with 20 different replies and it merges those and deletes the duplicates. Sweet.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![McGuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@McGuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGuffy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/6 "2015-07-28T03:24:53Z")

</div>

> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> Do you know the “clean up folder” or “clean up conversation” function? It’s the bees knees. Automatically merges either the entire folder or conversation. You can have a group email with 20 different replies and it merges those and deletes the duplicates. Sweet.

Thank you, I will investigate that. (especially for my business stuff)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/7 "2015-07-28T03:37:13Z")

</div>

I have 8,428 unread Gmail emails. This has been accumulated over a 10 year period, so about two emails a day unread. It sounds lie a lot at first, but it’s not really, and I’m still only using 21% of my allotted space.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-accidently-hit-unread-mail-in-outlook/726303/8 "2015-07-28T04:00:57Z")

</div>

> [@McGuffy](#):
>
> Thank you, I will investigate that. (especially for my business stuff)

Outlook 2013. Home tab \> clean up.