I had 3,247 unread promotional emails in December. Newsletter subscriptions, daily deals, “limited time offers” – take your pick. Whenever I purchased something online or signed up for a free trial, I’d find myself on five new mail lists.
The worst part? Gmail does its best to make it a pain to get rid of this mess. You have to “unsubscribe” on each email individually, which takes an eternity. And half those unsubscribe links don’t work at all.
I tried everything. Unsubscribing them one by one manually (gave up after 20 emails). Using Gmail’s own built-in category tabs (still cluttered). Even used some fancy third-party unsubscribe services that asked for access to my whole email account.
Then I discovered how to take advantage of Simplehuman’s spam blocking functionality in order to bulk unsubscribe gmail without having to click through hundreds of separate emails. Now I clean promo junk in minutes, not hours.
Why the typical method of unsubscribing sucks
Be realistic about what you’re going to do when you attempt to clean up subscriptions the normal way. You sit down at Gmail, begin sorting through promotional emails, and start the agony of clicking “unsubscribe” on every single one.
Problem one: it’s brain-deadening. If you have a couple hundred promotional emails (which, odds are, you probably do), you’re talking hours of clicking. Time you could be doing real work with.
Second issue: too many unsubscribe links are broken or point to suspicious sites. Some companies intentionally make it hard for you by asking you to log in or verify your email multiple times.
Third issue: the unsubscribe action sometimes worsens the issue. Some spam emails employ spurious unsubscribe links to verify your email address is active, resulting in even more spam.
The old way is literally broken. You require a better method to manage how to bulk unsubscribe from emails gmail that will not make you spend your whole weekend.
The Simplehuman method to bulk unsubscribe
Simplehuman has this wonderful feature named “Nuke spammers in one click” which totally revolutionizes things. Rather than unsubscribing manually from marketing emails, you can block and wipe out whole groups of spam using the 🚫 button in your toolbar.
Here is how it actually works:
When you look at an unwanted promotional email, you simply hit the 🚫 button. Simplehuman doesn’t only remove that single email – it blocks future emails from the sender and removes comparable emails that you already have.
The best thing about it is that it learns from your decisions. If you filter out everyday deal emails from a particular store, it will automatically block similar promotional emails from other stores. You have a clever assistant that knows what you perceive as spam.
You can also use Ctrl+K to bring up the command bar and simply type “block” to access blocking. It’s all done with keyboard commands, so you can get through emails much faster than navigating menus.
Step by step: untangling thousands of promotional emails
This is precisely how I untangled my promotional email chaos using Simplehuman:
Step 1: Install Simplehuman from the Chrome Web Store (30 seconds)
Step 2: Open Gmail and search for promotional emails in your inbox
Step 3: Click on a promotional email you wish to get rid of
Step 4: Click the 🚫 button in your toolbar
Step 5: Sit back and watch Simplehuman block that sender and delete their emails automatically
Step 6: Repeat for other types of promotional emails
The elegance of this system is that not only do you clean up existing emails but you block future spam from the same senders. In a single click, you block the sender and clean up current emails from them.
To get rid of especially obstinate promotional emails, you can use the Del key to delete them immediately, or press E to archive them. No selection of emails beforehand is required – Simplehuman does it all.
Utilizing the command bar for bulk operations
The command bar (Ctrl+K) is where Simplehuman truly comes into its own as an unsubscribe utility for gmail. You can perform every action on your emails from one easy interface.
Press Ctrl+K and enter:
block” to get to spam blocking
“delete” to delete emails
“archive” to tidy up your inbox
“label” to sort emails
It’s all done with natural language commands. Rather than remembering difficult Gmail shortcuts or navigation through menus, you simply type what you’d like to do.
This makes bulk processing much quicker. You can sort through hundreds of promotional emails in a few minutes rather than hours.
The clever way to newsletter cleanup
Not every promotional email is spam. Some newsletters are useful, but they’re still filling up your inbox. Here’s how to deal with them:
Save the good ones: For newsletters you do read, keep them in your inbox or make a “Newsletters” label
Archive the maybe ones: For newsletters you may read in the future, archive them with the E key. They’ll be accessible but won’t overwhelm your inbox
Block the bad ones: For newsletters you never read, click the 🚫 button to block them entirely
The secret is quick judgment. Don’t think about it too long – if you hadn’t read a newsletter recently, you won’t begin now.
How this outperforms other unsubscribe solutions
Other unsubscribe solutions for gmail ask you to allow them access to all your email. That’s shady and not necessary. simplehuman exists as a browser extension, so it can get by without viewing your emails.
There are other tools that simply unsubscribe you from lists, which isn’t always effective. Simplehuman blocks senders at the Gmail level, which is significantly more successful.
In addition, Simplehuman does a whole lot more than spam blocking alone. You receive keyboard shortcuts, email scheduling, and productivity features that enhance your whole email experience.
Getting started with bulk unsubscribe gmail
If you’re fed up with promotion email mayhem, do the following:
- Install Simplehuman from the Chrome Web Store
- Open up Gmail and locate some promotional emails
- Begin clicking the 🚫 button on unwanted emails
- Press Ctrl+K to open up more blocking options
- See your inbox start getting cleaner on its own
The entire process takes perhaps 15 minutes to set up, then it operates on autopilot. New spam gets blocked automatically depending on your control.
Getting it to stick
The most excellent thing about bulk unsubscribe gmail with Simplehuman is that it adapts to your habits. The more often you use the block feature, the more effective it becomes at capturing similar messages.
You won’t have to continue with elaborate filter rules or keep reminding yourself to get off new lists. You just click the 🚫 button when you notice spam, and Simplehuman takes care of the rest.
Ready to tidy up your Gmail?
If you’re tired of the promotional email mess, check out Simplehuman. You can download it in the Chrome Web Store here.
The spam blocking feature is worth it on its own, but you also get the rest of the productivity tools that actually make Gmail fun to use. It’s like having an email personal assistant.
And if you’ve got questions about how to bulk unsubscribe from emails gmail with Simplehuman, just get in touch. I’d love to help get your email sorted out.
Email us at [email protected] or install Simplehuman on the Chrome Web Store to begin tidying up your spammy email chaos today.
