Deleting inbox emails without deleting emails in folders

Question

I want to delete all of the emails in my inbox EXCEPT for the emails in the folders that I created. How do I do that? I selected them all, but it said you are about to delete all of the emails in your inbox. Will that delete the emails in my folders? Are they really folders "of my inbox?" I cannot delete those. Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Hello Lynn,

I hope you're doing well!

I wanted to drop you a quick note about your recent post on the Microsoft Community. Our team is actively looking into your situation, and we'll be sharing an update on the thread accordingly.

Your patience and cooperation mean a lot to us as we work through this. We truly appreciate your understanding.

Should you have any more questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to help!

Best regards,

Community Moderator

Answer 2

Dear Lynn the Librarian

Good day!

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist!

Based on your description, I understand you concern with deleting inbox emails without deleting emails in folder.

May I double confirm whether you need to delete the emails only in Inbox except for the emails in the subfolder of Inbox? if yes, it may have solution to do this.

• Right-click the Inbox > Choose Delete all > it will delete all messages which in your Inbox, and do not delete the message in the subfolder of Inbox.
• Or you may Go to Inbox and choose all the email manually or Use Command + A > And then right-click delete.

If you have other questions, or I misunderstood your issue, please feel free to let me know, and I will continue to help you until the issue will be solved.

Thanks for your precious time and your understanding would be highly appreciated. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Allen | Community Moderator

Answer 3

This isn't my email - just an image from Google. This is is basically what I'm talking about. I've created folders underneath my inbox such as technology tips, etc. I don't want to delete those emails. But, I want my feed to be deleted.

Answer 4

Dear Lynn the Librarian

Thanks for your feedback! Very sorry for late reply!

Based on your further description, I double test: Right-click the Inbox > Choose Delete all > it will delete all messages which in your Inbox, emails in subfolders such as "Shane!" in the image you provided will not be deleted.

if you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know, I will continue to assist you.

Thanks for your precious time and your understanding would be highly appreciated. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Allen | Community Moderator

Answer 5

Regarding this issue, if we go into storage and delete everything in the inbox that is older than one year, will it also delete anything older than one year if it's in a folder? I want to set a retention policy to my inbox that deletes mail after a year (unless it's in a folder), but I can't get that to work either. Any guidance would be helpful! Thanks!