How to delete all emails from one sender in Outlook

One sender has filled your inbox with hundreds or thousands of messages, and you want them gone without clicking each one. Here's how to do it in every version of Outlook, and where each method falls short.

Updated October 14, 2026 · Outlook.com, Hotmail, new Outlook, classic Outlook, Mac, iPhone and Android

Short answer: In Outlook.com (including Hotmail and Live accounts) and new Outlook for Windows, select any email from the sender, then select Sweep and choose to delete all messages from them. Classic Outlook doesn't support Sweep, so search for the sender's address, select the results and delete them, or create a rule and run it on existing mail. Afterwards, empty Deleted Items, or the space isn't freed.

Which Outlook are you using?

The right method depends on which Outlook you have, because Microsoft gives each version different cleanup tools:

Version	Sweep	Best way to delete one sender's mail
Outlook.com in a browser (Hotmail, Live, MSN addresses)	Yes	Sweep
New Outlook for Windows	Yes	Sweep
Classic Outlook for Windows	Not supported	Search + delete, or a rule run on existing mail
Outlook for Mac	Not covered in Microsoft's Sweep docs	Search + select + delete, or do it on Outlook.com
Outlook mobile app	Not in Microsoft's Sweep docs (users report it doesn't work)	Small batches only; use Outlook.com for big cleanups

If your account is an Outlook.com, Hotmail or Live address, you can always sign in at outlook.com in a computer browser and use Sweep there, whatever app you normally read mail in. Changes sync to all your devices.

Outlook.com and new Outlook: use Sweep

Sweep is Microsoft's built-in tool for clearing out one sender. Microsoft describes it as a way to "quickly delete unwanted email in your Inbox or a subfolder", with options to delete all email from a particular sender, keep only the latest email, or delete email older than 10 days.

Open Outlook.com (or new Outlook) and go to the Inbox, or the subfolder where the sender's mail is.
Select one email from the sender you want to clear out.
Select Sweep on the menu bar (ribbon).
Choose what to do with that sender's messages. You can delete them all now, delete all of them now and in future, keep only the latest one, or delete anything older than 10 days. Microsoft notes you can send that sender's messages to any folder, "even your trash", once or for all future messages.
Select Sweep (or OK) to run it.

Things to know about Sweep:

One sender at a time. Sweep works from the message you selected. To clear 20 senders, you run it 20 times.
Not every folder. Microsoft says Sweep "isn't available from the following folders: Junk Email, Drafts, Sent Items, and Deleted Items."
Ongoing Sweep rules aren't instant. If you choose an option that applies to future mail, note Microsoft's line that "Sweep rules run once per day. Inbox rules run as soon as email arrives in your mailbox." New mail from that sender can sit in your inbox for a while before Sweep removes it.
It doesn't free space straight away. See After deleting below.

If the Sweep button is greyed out or nothing happens when you run it, see Outlook Sweep not working: why it fails and what it can't do.

Any version: search for the sender, then select and delete

This works in every desktop and web version of Outlook. It's also the method to use when you only want to delete some of a sender's mail.

In the search box at the top of Outlook, type the sender's email address and run the search. Searching the full address is more reliable than the display name, because the same name can belong to several addresses.
Make sure the search covers all folders if the sender's mail is spread around, not just the current folder.
Select all the results (Ctrl+A on Windows, Cmd+A on Mac), or use the select-all checkbox above the message list.
Press Delete or select Delete.
Run the same search again to check nothing is left. If results remain, repeat.

You can also skip search and sort the folder by sender. Microsoft's sort options cover "the name of the sender", in classic Outlook from the Filter dropdown on the message list, and in new Outlook and Outlook.com from Filter at the top of the message pane. Everything from that sender then sits together, so you can select the first message, Shift+click the last one, and delete the block.

Select All may not select everything. Users report that Select All in new Outlook and Outlook on the web only selects the messages that have loaded in the list, and many describe it stopping at 75 at a time. In a Microsoft Q&A thread, the accepted answer says that in their tests new Outlook "only selects visible emails (up to 75)". Microsoft's own documentation doesn't give a number, and this behaviour may change. If you have thousands of messages, plan on several passes, or use Sweep instead. For a full walkthrough of very large deletes, see How to delete thousands of emails in Outlook.

Classic Outlook: search, or a rule you run now

Microsoft's feature comparison lists Sweep as "Not supported" in classic Outlook for Windows. You have two good alternatives.

Option 1: Search and delete

Use the search method above. In classic Outlook, a search across the whole mailbox for the sender's address returns their mail. Results can load in stages, so scroll to the bottom before you select all, or repeat the delete until the search comes back empty.

Option 2: Create a rule and run it on existing mail

A rule clears the backlog in one go and keeps clearing new mail. Using Microsoft's steps for classic Outlook:

Right-click an email from the sender and select Rules > Create Rule.
Set the condition to mail from that sender, and the action to move the message to your Deleted Items folder.
Tick Run this new rule now on messages already in the current folder, then select OK.

To run an existing rule on another folder, go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts > Run Rules Now. Select the rule, choose the folder (tick Include subfolders if needed) and select Run Now. Microsoft notes that "certain rules will only run when Outlook is on", so a rule created this way may only act while classic Outlook is open on your computer.

Stop future emails from that sender

Deleting the backlog doesn't stop new mail. To deal with mail that hasn't arrived yet, use an inbox rule. Unlike an ongoing Sweep, which runs once a day, Microsoft says inbox rules run "as soon as email arrives in your mailbox".

In new Outlook and Outlook.com:

Right-click a message from the sender. In new Outlook, select Rules > Create rule; in Outlook.com, select Rule > Create rule.
Choose the folder to move their mail to (Deleted Items, or a folder you'll empty later) and select OK.
New Outlook can also run the rule on mail you already have: open More options and tick Run this rule now in Inbox, or run it later from Settings > Mail > Rules. Outlook.com may only apply rules to new mail, so use Sweep for the backlog there.

If the sender is a newsletter or mailing list, unsubscribing is often cleaner than a rule. Outlook.com shows an Unsubscribe option at the top of the reading pane for mail it recognises as a newsletter or promotion.

Outlook for Mac

Microsoft's Sweep documentation covers Outlook.com, new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web. It doesn't cover Outlook for Mac. On a Mac, use the search method: search for the sender's address, press Cmd+A, then delete. Users on new Outlook for Mac report hitting the same select-all limit described above, deleting 75 at a time and searching again. If your account is Outlook.com or Hotmail, the quickest route is to open outlook.com in Safari or Chrome and use Sweep.

Outlook on iPhone and Android

The Outlook mobile app is built for reading mail, not bulk cleanup. You can long-press a message to start selecting, tap more messages, and delete them, but menus differ between app versions and between iPhone and Android.

For one sender with lots of mail, the app is the slowest option. Users report they can't select messages from a search result in the Android app, and can't find a select-all control in the iPhone app. Instead:

Use Sweep on outlook.com from a computer browser. It's the same mailbox, so the change syncs back to your phone.
If you only have your phone, Microsoft's help for Outlook.com in a mobile browser says to press and hold a message to select it, tap Select All at the top of the screen, and tap the trash icon. That deletes everything in the current folder, not one sender, so it suits a folder you've already sorted with a rule.

Limits to know before you start

Big deletes can stall. Microsoft's own advice for Outlook.com is that if email "still fails to delete properly, select a smaller batch to delete", and that "if deleted email comes back, it could be because you have deleted a lot of email recently. Please try again later." If messages reappear after you deleted them, wait and run it again.
Focused and Other are separate. If you use Focused Inbox, Microsoft notes you need to clear Focused and Other separately when emptying the inbox. A sender's mail can be split across both.
Work and school accounts may be different. If your mailbox is run by an employer or school, retention policies set by IT can stop some mail from being permanently removed. Ask your admin before trying to purge mail you're required to keep.
Outlook won't tell you which senders are worth clearing. These methods assume you already know who the culprit is. To find the senders actually filling your inbox, see How to see who sends you the most email in Outlook.

After deleting: empty Deleted Items

Deleting a sender's mail moves it to Deleted Items. It isn't gone yet, and it still uses storage. Microsoft is explicit about this for Sweep: "Items deleted using Sweep will not count toward reducing your storage quota until they are also deleted from the Deleted Items folder."

Open the Deleted Items folder.
Above the message list, select Empty folder.

Microsoft says emptied items then move to a Recoverable Items store. To permanently erase them, open Deleted Items, select Recover items deleted from this folder, then Empty folder. Anything removed from Recoverable Items can't be restored, so only do this when you're sure.

If your mailbox still says it's full after all this, the problem is often a different quota. See Outlook storage still full after deleting emails.

FAQ

Can I delete all emails from one sender at once in Outlook?

Yes. In Outlook.com and new Outlook, select a message from the sender and use Sweep to delete everything from them in your Inbox or a subfolder. In classic Outlook, which doesn't support Sweep, search for the sender and delete the results, or create a rule and run it on existing mail.

Why did deleting emails from a sender not free up any storage?

Deleted mail moves to the Deleted Items folder first. Microsoft says items deleted using Sweep don't reduce your storage quota until they are also deleted from Deleted Items, so empty that folder afterwards.

Does Sweep work in classic Outlook?

No. Microsoft's feature comparison lists Sweep as not supported in classic Outlook for Windows. It is available in new Outlook and Outlook.com.

Can I delete all emails from a sender in the Outlook mobile app?

You can select several messages in the app and delete them, but users report they can't bulk-select from search results. For a large cleanup, use Outlook.com in a computer browser instead.