Refresh outlook emails

Question

There are about 100,000 emails in Outlook. Can you suggest how to select and delete multiple emails. It appears there is a 75 item limit. I have selected and deleted the same items multiple times. They do not seem to be deleted.

Thank you

Bob Guice

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Moved from Microsoft 365 and Office | Other

Answer 1

Hello

You can use this method to delete the content in the entire inbox or folder: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/delete-all-email-in-outlook-on-the-web-050de480-7908-4132-90f2-6de3a81f5e4b

Please note - for deletion of such quantity, it can take easily quite a few minutes.. it will NOT Be instant. After you do that, leave the page open, go do your things, come check back after some time.

Answer 2

To delete large numbers of emails in Outlook, use multi‑selection and then empty Deleted Items so they are actually removed.

1. Delete multiple emails in a folder (desktop Outlook)
   • For consecutive emails:
     1. In the message list, select the first email.
     2. Press and hold Shift, select the last email in the range.
     3. Press the Delete key.
   • For non‑consecutive emails:
     1. Select the first email.
     2. Press and hold Ctrl, click each additional email to select.
     3. Press Delete.
   • To select all emails in the current folder: press Ctrl+A, then press Delete.
2. Delete all email from a folder (desktop Outlook)
   • Make sure the Folder pane is expanded.
   • In the Folder pane, right‑click the folder to clean up and select Delete All.
   • When prompted to move everything to Deleted Items, select Yes.
3. Delete all email in all folders (desktop Outlook)
   • There is no single global command; repeat right‑click → Delete All on each folder that needs to be cleared.
4. Permanently delete (so they do not come back)
   Deleted items remain in Deleted Items and still exist until that folder is emptied.
   • In the Folder pane, right‑click Deleted Items → Empty Folder → confirm Yes.
   • Alternatively, to permanently delete selected messages directly, select them and press Shift+Delete.

If messages appear to “re‑appear,” verify that:

• They are not just being moved to Deleted Items and left there.
• The view is not filtered and that the correct folder is being checked after deletion.

For Outlook.com on the web, similar bulk deletion is available by selecting the checkbox above the message list and using Empty folder, then clearing Deleted Items.

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References:

• Delete all email messages in Outlook
• Delete email in Outlook.com
• Mailbox storage limits in Outlook