Overview
Binghamton University email uses Google Workspace for Education as our email service provider. Many functions for managing messages for Binghamton University email accounts (BMail) are similar to Gmail including how to delete messages. To view Google documentation about deleting messages see their instructions available from this link
Instructions for deleting based on specific criteria can be found here:
Delete Messages
When you delete a message from your Inbox or other label, the message is moved to the Trash. Messages moved to Trash are automatically deleted from Trash after 30 days.
NOTE: If you are trying to delete large quantities of messages at once, your web browser or email application may stop responding before the process completes forcing you to close out your browser. If this happens, check the Trash when you restart your browser to see if the messages were deleted. You can then search for smaller amounts of messages (for example, a year's worth of messages at a time) and then delete them.
Delete an individual message
Delete All Messages by Date
Delete by Specific Search Criteria
Delete All messages by Subject
Delete All messages by Size
Delete All messages by From or To
Delete All messages that contain a specific word
Manage Trash
When you delete a message from your Inbox or other label, the message is moved to the Trash. Messages moved to Trash are automatically deleted from Trash after 30 days. To permanently delete a message sooner, access the Trash label and delete the message or select the link for "Empty Trash now". Once files are deleted from Trash, you cannot restore them.
Manually Empty Messages in Trash
Archiving emails
If you are archiving your messages they are still on the Google server, just not in your Inbox. You can find archived mail by going to the All Mail label.
Delete an individual message
Go to http://bmail.binghamton.edu and log into your Binghamton University email.
To delete individual messages in Bmail, select a message from your list of messages by checking the box to the left of the message in your list of messages and select the Trash icon along the top to delete the message.
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Select ALL messages in your Inbox, Sent, or another label you have created
To delete all messages in your Inbox, Sent, or another label:
- Go to http://bmail.binghamton.edu and log into your Binghamton University email.
- Click the label on the left to select Inbox or another label.
- At the top left, check the box above the message list to select all messages. If you have more than one page of messages, click the link that is displayed for Select all conversations.
- At the top, click the trash icon for Delete.
This will move the messages to the Trash. Google will automatically and permanently delete messages after 30 days. You can check the Trash folder to verify that the correct messages have been moved to Trash. If any incorrect messages were moved to Trash, you can select them and Move them to the Inbox. Any labels they had previously will remain intact when you move them to the Inbox.
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Delete messages that meet certain criteria (by using search options to select)
If you want to delete specific messages in your email that may be under multiple labels or that have not been categorized, you can use the search box to filter your messages then select all of the results and delete them as described above.
To display Search Options:
Click on the "Show Search Options" button in the Search box above your messages in Bmail.
You an search based on pre-defined options, similar to when creating a filter.
You can also use the Search in mail field to search specific criteria without using the search options.
Once you see the results of your search, you can select and delete all selected as described under #Delete all messages.
List of Google's Search Operators https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en&ref_topic=3394593&sjid=15430068218072987561-NA
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Delete All Messages by a Date
If you want to delete all messages filtered by a specific year or years, you can enter the following text format in the search box:
after:YYYY/M/D and before:YYYY/M/D
Example after:2019/1/1 and before:2019/12/31
Press Enter on your keyboard after entering the text to view all messages dated 2019. Select the individual messages you would like to delete, or use #Delete all messages
NOTE: If your messages are in Conversation view, all replies will be included even if they are outside the date range.
Other Date Search Formats:
after:YYYY/M/D (deletes all messages after a specific date)
before:YYYY/M/D (deletes all messages before a specific date)
older:YYYY/M/D (deletes all messages older than a specific date)
newer:YYYY/M/D (deletes all messages newer than a specific date)
older_than:(deletes all messages older than a specific date)
newer_than:(deletes all messages newer than a specific date)
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Delete All Message by Subject
If you want to delete all messages with a specific subject you can enter the following in the search:
subject:subjecttext
Example subject:pizza
Press Enter on your keyboard after entering the text to view all messages with a subject containing the word pizza. Select the individual messages you would like to delete, or use #Delete all messages.
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Delete All messages by Size
If you want to delete messages larger than a certain size (in bytes) enter the following text format in the search box:
larger:#
Example larger:100000
Press Enter on your keyboard after entering the text to view all messages larger than 100000 bytes. Select the individual messages you would like to delete, or use #Delete all messages.
Other Size Search Formats:
smaller:#
size:#
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Delete All messages by From or To a specific person
If you want to delete messages that are from or to a specific person enter the following text format in the search box:
from:person'sname
to:person'sname
Example from:michael
Example to:barbara
Press Enter on your keyboard after entering the text to view all messages larger to or from a specific person. Select the individual messages you would like to delete, or use #Delete all messages.
Other Person Search Formats:
bcc:person'sname
cc:person'sname
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Delete All messages that contain a specific word
If you want to delete messages that have a specific word enter the following text format in the search box:
"word"
Example "music"
Press Enter on your keyboard after entering the text to view all messages with a specific word. Select the individual messages you would like to delete, or use #Delete all messages.
Other word search formats:
Exact word search +:word
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Delete All messages by Label
If you want to delete messages that have specific label (that you have created) enter the following text format in the search box:
label:nameoflabel
Example label:Dateline
Press Enter on your keyboard after entering the text to view all messages with a specific label. Select the individual messages you would like to delete, or use #Delete all messages.
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Manually delete messages in Trash immediately and permanently
If you don't want a message to stay in your trash for 30 days, you can permanently delete it by following these steps.
- On your computer, go to http://bmail.binghamton.edu
- On the left side of the page, click More.
- Scroll to Trash.
- Check the box next to messages you want to permanently delete. Then click Delete forever.
- To delete all messages in your trash, click Empty Trash now.
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Archiving Messages
If you want to remove a message from your inbox but don't want to delete it, you can archive the message.
If you would like assistance, please feel free to contact the Binghamton University ITS Help Desk at 607-777-6420 or Submit a Request, and we'll be happy to help.
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