How to Purge Deleted Emails from Outlook

Ok. I know this is off the wall, but it’s important. If you’ve ever seen an inbox full of emails with lines through them, and they don’t go away, you’ll know how frustrating it can be. Yes it’s petty and insignificant, in the grand scheme of things. However, little annoyances add up. At least they do in my life. So here’s my story of me learning how to purge deleted emails from outlook.

After I set up my email account for TopLocal.org, I added it to my Outlook, along with several others. In total, I have 8 accounts managed by Microsoft Outlook. (SIDE NOTE) Microsoft, if you’re listening….please, please, please add the “all inboxes” function. It’s silly you don’t have it in Outlook but it’s free with Windows 10 mail. So, come on and get with the program. Anyway, back to how to purge deleted emails from outlook. My story continued…

Then, I noticed a ton of emails from the site, asking me to moderate comments on my posts. So I deleted them like normal. However, the only thing that happened was that I got a line through them. They didn’t go away no matter what I tried.

I tried everything I normally would try. I tried right-clicking on the folder, the inbox, etc. and looking at settings but I couldn’t figure out what to do. I tried the main Outlook settings and preferences. I scanned every settings page or menu I could find. I even went into the account settings for my toplocal email account. Nothing, Nada, Zilch, Zero!

Then, I remembered the good old menu at the top of the page. You know, the one with File, Edit, etc. Which brings me to step 1 of how to purge deleted emails from outlook.

Step 1

Just click to highlight the inbox folder for the account you want to purge. Then go to Edit/Purge/Purge Options.

Step 2

Once you’re in the Purge Options, just check the box to purge. See the image below

That’s it.

Step 3

Then hit OK and once you click to another folder and back again, to your inbox, the command will force a purge of all deleted email.

So, remember, if your inbox treats delete as “mark for deletion” and just puts a line through the email subjects, then you need to set it to purge those and really really delete them.

Annoying I know. But that’s just another annoyance solved by thinking smart.

Cheers. 🙂