Software & Apps MS Office How to Quickly Clean an Inbox Folder in Outlook.com Swiftly deal with all messages in a folder by Heinz Tschabitscher Writer A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. our editorial process Heinz Tschabitscher Updated on February 11, 2020 Chunumunu / Getty Images MS Office Outlook Word Excel Powerpoint Tweet Share Email You can empty an Outlook.com folder quickly and easily in either of two ways: deleting all the contents, or deleting emails selectively. Instructions in this article apply to Outlook.com. When you delete items, they're not gone forever: They're moved to the Deleted Items folder so you can review them before permanently deleting them. To Empty a Folder Completely In the Folders pane, right-click the folder and select Empty folder. In the confirmation message that appears, select Delete all. The messages are moved to the Deleted Items folder. If you want to delete only some of the messages in a folder, select those messages and move them to the Deleted Items folder. Here's how: Select the folder you want to clean. Its emails will display in the messages list. Tick the checkbox to the left of each message that you want to delete. If you want to delete most of the messages, select the check box to the left of the folder name at the top of the list to select every message in the folder. Then, clear the check box next to the messages you want to keep in the folder. Select Move To > Deleted Items. You'll find the deleted messages in the Deleted Items folder. If You Accidentally Delete an Email You Want to Keep Find the message in the Deleted Items folder, select Move to, and choose the folder where you want to store the messages. If Outlook.com is set to empty the Deleted Items folder when you close your session and you want to recover one of these messages, open the Deleted Items folder and choose Recover deleted items from this folder.