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How to Use Sweep to Clean Up Your Office 365 Inbox

< 1 minute read

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The Sweep feature was recently introduced to Outlook on the Web (formerly known as Outlook Web App) along with a wave of updates that enhanced Outlook for Office 365. It’s hard to miss in the new UI, but some Outlook users may overlook its power.

In fact, Sweep can help you manage your inbox with a simple set of actions.

What Sweep can do

When you select a message and click the Sweep icon, you’ll see four options based on the sender of that email.

  • Delete all messages from the Inbox folder (from that sender)
  • Delete all messages from the Inbox folder and any future messages (from that sender)
  • Always keep the latest message (from that sender) and delete the rest
  • Always delete messages (from that sender) older than 10 days

It’s up to you how and when to institute these rules, but one great use is for the ubiquitous coupon and sale emails that many of us get. Perhaps you do want to stay informed about deals at your favorite store, but after 10 days, many of those emails become outdated. You could choose the final option, Always delete messages older than 10 days, and you no longer have to take any action on those outdated emails–Sweep takes care of it for you.

Once you institute a Sweep rule, you’ll be able to see it by clicking on View rules in the sweep dialog box, or go to Options -> Mail -> Inbox and sweep rules.

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