Email Declutter Checklist

Five phases to inbox zero — from the big archive to ongoing maintenance.

How to use: Check off each task as you complete it. Print this page or save as PDF for offline use. Your progress is saved in your browser.

📋 Before You Start 2 items

Note current inbox count: emails
Note current storage used: GB of GB

📦 Phase 1: The Big Archive— 10 mins 5 items

Select all emails older than 30 days → Archive
Mass-delete all Promotions/Marketing emails
Mass-delete all Social notification emails
Empty Trash / Deleted Items folder
Empty Spam folder

🚫 Phase 2: Unsubscribe— 15 mins 5 items

Search "unsubscribe" to find all newsletters
Unsubscribe from newsletters you haven't read in 2+ months
Unsubscribe from store/retail promotional lists
Unsubscribe from event/conference lists you no longer attend
Block persistent senders that don't honour unsubscribe

💾 Phase 3: Free Up Storage— 10 mins 5 items

Search for emails with large attachments (>5 MB)
Download important attachments to local/cloud storage
Delete the emails with large attachments you no longer need
Search for old file-sharing notifications (Dropbox, Google Drive links)
Delete old calendar invitation emails

⚙️ Phase 4: Set Up Systems— 15 mins 5 items

Create 3–5 labels/folders: Action, Waiting, Reference, Archive, Receipts
Set up a filter: newsletters → skip inbox, label "Newsletters"
Set up a filter: receipts/orders → label "Receipts"
Set up a filter: notifications → skip inbox, label "Notifications"
Enable "Send & Archive" for faster processing

🔄 Phase 5: Maintain— ongoing 5 items

Process inbox daily using the 2-minute rule
Schedule 15 minutes weekly for inbox maintenance
Unsubscribe immediately from anything new you don't want
Review filters quarterly — update or remove stale ones

Final Check

Inbox count after: | Storage freed: GB

Progress

0 / 27 tasks completed