Email bankruptcy sounds extreme, but it can be necessary. Whether you use Gmail or an email alternative, email overload can get you in trouble with coworkers, friends, and family when you can't find a message. A backlog of 100 emails can be sorted in a day. What do you do when that number reaches the thousands? Give yourself a fresh start by reaching inbox zero.

Every email client includes organization tools that restore order to your email inbox. Email messages can still pile up when you're busy or away from the computer for a few days. Here's how to declare email bankruptcy. You can do this with any email app. We recommend using Gmail from any browser. It's the best email app for the top budget Chromebooks.

What is email bankruptcy?

You'll delete all unread messages and uncategorized emails before a specific date when you declare email bankruptcy. Like financial bankruptcy, it's a time to reassess your habits and how you reached this position.

Declaring email bankruptcy requires a measure of self-reflection, rethinking a new email organization method, and acknowledging that it's best to start over with a clean slate. You might need to throw away essential emails to declare email bankruptcy. That's part of your journey to an empty inbox. We help you minimize the impact.

When should I declare email bankruptcy?

You should declare email bankruptcy when you can't catch up with your backlog. We're not talking about the emails that pile up after a holiday. You don't need to declare email bankruptcy if you can catch up on your emails in a couple of days.

There isn't a number of unread emails where we recommend declaring email bankruptcy. The best way to determine whether it's necessary is to count the unread emails in your inbox after an average day. If there are more than you started with, and that number stretches into the thousands, email bankruptcy may be the best option.

Don't declare email bankruptcy too often. Once a year should be the maximum. If you do it more frequently, you might cause more problems than you solve. Automate your inbox after declaring email bankruptcy. Automatically filtering out essential emails might be all you need to avoid declaring email bankruptcy in the future.

How to declare email bankruptcy

Declaring email bankruptcy is as simple as selecting and deleting messages. You should take additional steps to ensure you don't miss essential emails and keep your inbox from filling up again. These steps help you declare email bankruptcy with minimal disruption.

These steps work for Gmail. You may need to adjust the steps if you use a different email app. Import your emails into Gmail if you struggle to use your current app.

Notify people that you're declaring email bankruptcy

This isn't necessary, but it's the easiest way to ensure essential conversations aren't lost. While you can wait for someone to follow up, explaining why you haven't responded may prompt them to reply earlier. It's also good manners.

This method uses the Batch Reply extension for Chrome. You can't use extensions with Chrome on an Android phone or iPhone. You need a Chromebook, a Windows PC, or a Mac.

This tool adds an option to reply to selected emails in Gmail using a Chrome extension. Clicking this button creates an email with all the recipients in the BCC field. You can send a message along the lines of:

I have declared email bankruptcy to help me respond promptly from here on. Please reach out again if I did not respond to your last email. Thank you.

Arrows show the steps to select multiple emails to send a Batch Reply to all with the same content

The Batch Reply extension was updated in 2015. It doesn't have a privacy policy, and the average rating is 2.5 out of 5 stars. It worked without problems when we tested it, but note these concerns before using and relying on this browser extension.

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The Batch Reply extension doesn't work with Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, and other email clients. You might need to copy and paste your email bankruptcy declaration into individual emails to each of your important contacts.

Delete or archive your emails

You don't have to delete your emails to declare email bankruptcy. You can archive emails instead, removing them from your inbox without deleting them. Knowing emails are completely gone is integral to declaring email bankruptcy. Archiving emails may not relieve the pressure of an overflowing inbox.

Find the Select All button in your email app when you're ready to declare email bankruptcy. Delete the messages, go to your Deleted items/Bin folder, and delete them from there.

Arrows show the steps to select multiple emails in Gmail and delete them all.

Set up filters

You must set up filters to prevent your inbox from overflowing again. Set up filters so that emails containing specific keywords are automatically sorted into folders.

The filters you need depend on the sort of emails you receive. For example, add filters for keywords relating to your work (for example, we filters like "Android" and "Android Police"). Here are some helpful generic keywords:

  • "unsubscribe": Adding a filter for this keyword deletes your subscription to newsletters and marketing emails.
  • Specific domain names: Adding a filter for your custom workplace domain separates emails from colleagues. For example, we use an "@androidpolice.com" filter to filter emails from colleagues.
  • Individual addresses: Some people's emails are more important than others. Filter their addresses to ensure you never miss one of their messages.

Declare email bankruptcy when all other methods fail

Declaring email bankruptcy might seem drastic, but it might be the best thing for email overload. You can keep it from happening again. Use these Gmail apps and tools to manage your inbox and never declare email bankruptcy again.