Technology

How to clean up your Gmail inbox

Published

1 year ago

September 21, 2024

If you’re like me, you probably have tens of thousands of emails in your Gmail inbox. Most of them are probably read, and some are probably unread, but regardless, they are all sitting in your inbox, taking up space.

You only get 15GB of storage for free with Gmail, and while 15GB may seem like a lot, emails can add up quickly, especially if you receive emails with attachments such as images or videos.

A clean inbox is the first step to a more organized personal and professional life. Cleaning up your Gmail inbox can be done in a few easy steps. Let’s go over 10 different methods to reclaim your Gmail inbox.

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Gmail inbox. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 1 — Delete large attachments

Emails with large attachments, such as video or audio files, can take up a lot of space. Luckily, Google makes it easy to search for and find emails with large attachments buried in your inbox. From your Gmail search bar, you can search for emails larger than 10MB, showing you all emails in your inbox with an attachment larger than 10 megabytes. This will help you delete emails with large attachments you no longer need from your inbox. To delete the email, all you have to do is:

Open Gmail and type size: 10MB in the search bar.
Select the emails you want to delete by clicking the checkbox next to each email.
Click the trash icon at the top of the page to move the selected emails to Trash.
Empty the Trash to permanently delete these emails and free up space.

Deleting large attachments. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 2 — Delete entire categories

By default, Gmail gives you several categories to help organize your inbox. You should have category tags for primary, promotions and social.

If you click Inbox in the left pane in Gmail, you should see a column that shows which categories you are active in.
You can add or remove categories from here, and I recommend using category tags relevant to your life.

Deleting entire categories. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Once you’re ready to clean out a category, you can click the box in the upper right corner to select all emails, allowing you to delete them quickly.

Deleting entire categories. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Tip 3 — Unsubscribe from email lists

Remember that app you signed up for 10 years ago and still receive daily emails about? You’re not alone. Most of us get emails from a mailing list we subscribed to long ago that is no longer relevant to us. The simple solution here is to unsubscribe. Here’s how to Unsubscribe:

Look for the unsubscribe link: Most promotional emails include an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Click it, and follow the instructions to remove yourself from the list.
Use email management tools: Unsubscribing from multiple email lists can be a time-consuming process. Luckily, a helpful tool called Clean Email will do the hard work for you.
Mark as spam: If you can’t find an unsubscribe link, mark the email as spam. This will help your email provider filter out similar messages in the future.
Update your preferences: Some emails come from services you still use but don’t need frequent updates from. Check if you can update your email preferences to receive fewer notifications.

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Tip 4 — Block unwanted senders

As a tech reporter, I receive many emails from sales reps from various companies. Many of these emails come from companies and senders outside of my scope for the things I typically cover, and unfortunately, I have had a few salespeople who wouldn’t leave me alone. If you have a similar issue, I recommend just considering blocking them.

All you need to do is open any message from a sender you want to block; on the right side of your screen, click the ellipses and select block.

Blocking unwanted senders (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Tip 5 — Delete emails by sender

An easy way to clear up some space quickly in your Gmail inbox is to delete old emails from the sender. Do you have a client you no longer work with, or would you want to delete all social media notification messages? Using Gmail search, you can filter all emails in the From section to delete emails from a particular sender.

All you need to do is click the toolbar on the right side of the Gmail search box and input the sender’s name in the From section.
Then, click the search button. This will display all emails from that sender.
You can then select all these emails by clicking the checkbox at the top of the list.
Finally, click the trash icon to delete them.

Deleting emails by sender. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Tip 6 — Delete emails by date

You can sort emails by date and delete them in the same search box form. There’s a good chance you don’t need those emails still in your inbox after five or 10 years, so why not search by date and delete them?

Just like you did with the deleting emails by sender section, all you need to do is click the toolbar in the Gmail search bar, and you can sort emails within a specific time in the form. Here’s how to do it.

Select the date range you want to delete emails from. For example, you can type before: YYYY/MM/DD or after: YYYY/MM/DD in the search bar to specify the date range.
Once you have your search results, click the checkbox at the top left to select all emails in the search results.
Finally, click the trash can icon to delete the selected emails.

Deleting emails by date. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 7 — Delete emails by subject

An easy way to quickly clean up your Gmail inbox is to delete emails with specific subject lines. Gmail’s advanced email search also has a line allowing you to search for emails by particular phrases or keywords in the subject line. Make sure to use quotation marks around any words you are searching. You can quickly find and delete emails this way, and it’s one of my favorite ways to clean up an inbox. Here’s how to do it.

Log in to your Gmail account on your computer.
At the top of the page, you’ll see a search bar. Type in the subject line you want to search for, enclosed in quotation marks (e.g., “Meeting Notes”).
Gmail will display all emails with that specific subject line.
Click the checkbox at the top left corner of the email list to select all emails on the current page. If you have more emails than what is displayed on one page, you will see an option to select all conversations that match the search.
Click the trash can icon to delete the selected emails.

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Tip 8 — Organize your Gmail inbox with labels

Labels are a great way to organize your Gmail inbox. You can easily create a new label by clicking on the Create a new label option on the left sidebar within Gmail. I use labels to organize my most valuable emails, typically work emails, in my inbox. I also use Gmail’s label system to automatically filter my emails, which I’ll tell you more about in the next tip.

Organizing your Gmail inbox with labels. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Create a new label:

Open Gmail.
On the left sidebar, click on “Create new label.”
Enter a name for your label (e.g., “Work Emails”).
Then, click “Create.”

Apply labels to emails:

Select the emails you want to label by checking the boxes next to them.
At the top of the page, click on the “Labels” icon.
Choose the label you want to apply, or create a new one if needed.

Organize emails automatically:

Use Gmail’s filter system to automatically label incoming emails.
Click on the “Show search options” icon in the search bar.
Enter your criteria (e.g., emails from a specific sender).
Click on “Create filter.”
Choose “Apply the label” and select the label you want to use.
Click “Create filter.”

Manage Your Labels:

To edit or delete a label, hover over the label name on the left sidebar.
Click on the three dots (More) next to the label name.
Choose “Edit” to rename or “Remove label” to delete it.

Organizing your Gmail inbox with labels. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 9 — Make use of Gmail’s built-in organization features

Gmail has many organizational features that many users neglect. For example, within Gmail, you can star emails to mark them as important or color code folders of emails to stay on top of the organization. You can also mark important emails that need responses, and all of these features are just a simple click away from the advanced settings button within Gmail.

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Star Emails: You can star important emails to easily find them later. Just click the star icon next to the email. You can also customize the star system by going to Settings > See all settings > General > Stars.
Labels: Labels are like folders but more flexible. You can create labels to categorize your emails. To create a label, go to Settings > See all settings > Labels > Create new label. You can also nest labels under other labels for better organization.
Color Code Labels: To color code your labels, hover over a label in the sidebar, click the three dots, and select Label color. This helps you visually distinguish between different categories of emails.
Filters: Filters automatically sort your incoming emails. Go to Settings > See all settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses > Create a new filter. You can set criteria like sender, subject, or keywords, and choose actions like applying a label, archiving or deleting.
Priority Inbox: Enable Priority Inbox to automatically sort your emails into categories like Important and Unread, Starred and Everything Else. Go to Settings > See all settings > Inbox > Inbox type > Priority Inbox.
Snooze Emails: If you need to deal with an email later, you can snooze it. Hover over the email, click the clock icon and choose when you want the email to reappear in your inbox.

Creating new filters. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Making use of Gmail’s built-in organization features. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Tip 10 — Create new filters

Gmail’s filter system automates organizing all the emails in your inbox. Once you’ve cleaned it out, this should help you keep it clean. Filters in Gmail allow you to automatically redirect emails once they hit your inbox, saving you the time and trouble of manually sorting through them. For example, you can create a filter that will send all newsletters from specific senders to a particular inbox, or you could create a filter that automatically sends emails from particular senders straight to the trash.

To create a filter, type in a specific keyword you want to filter into the Gmail search bar and click on the filter symbol.
Clicking the filter symbol will open a dropdown menu that you can use to refine your filter options.
Once you’ve created your refinements, click the Create filter button.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Organizing your email inbox can be a lot of work, but luckily, as I’ve shown, Gmail makes it easy. If you feel overwhelmed by how much has accumulated in your inbox, don’t panic. Take a deep breath, and follow these steps in order. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you have thoroughly cleaned out your inbox and have now taken advantage of Google’s automation features to keep your unruly inbox organized.

What strategies have you found most effective for managing your email inbox, and do you have any additional tips or experiences to share? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Two more xAI co-founders are among those leaving after the SpaceX merger

Published

2 hours ago

February 11, 2026

Press Room

Two more xAI co-founders are among those leaving after the SpaceX merger

Since the xAI-SpaceX merger announced last week, which combined the two companies (as well as social media platform X) for a reported $1.25 trillion valuation — the biggest merger of all time — a handful of xAI employees and two of its co-founders have abruptly exited the company, penning long departure announcements online. Some also announced that they were starting their own AI companies.

Co-founder Yuhai (Tony) Wu announced his departure on X, writing that it was “time for [his] next chapter.” Jimmy Ba, another co-founder, posted something similar later that day, saying it was “time to recalibrate [his] gradient on the big picture.” The departures mean that xAI is now left with only half of its original 12 co-founders on staff.

It all comes after changing plans for the future of the combined companies, which Elon Musk recently announced would involve “space-based AI” data centers and vertical integration involving “AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform.” Musk reportedly also talked of plans to build an AI satellite factory and city on the moon in an internal xAI meeting.

Musk wrote on X Wednesday that “xAI was reorganized a few days ago to improve speed of execution” and claimed that the process “unfortunately required parting ways with some people,” then put out a call for more people to apply to the company. He also posted a recording of xAI’s 45-minute internal all-hands meeting that announced the changes.

“We’re organizing the company to be more effective at this scale,” Musk said during the meeting. He added that the company will now be organized in four main application areas: Grok Main and Voice, Coding, Imagine (image and video), and Macrohard (“which is intended to do full digital emulation of entire companies,” Musk said).

Technology

2026 Valentine’s romance scams and how to avoid them

Published

2 hours ago

February 11, 2026

Press Room

2026 Valentine’s romance scams and how to avoid them

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Valentine’s Day should be about connection. However, every February also becomes the busiest season of the year for romance scammers. In 2026, that risk is higher than ever.

These scams are no longer simple “lonely hearts” schemes. Instead, modern romance fraud relies on artificial intelligence, data brokers and stolen personal profiles. Rather than sending random messages and hoping for a response, scammers carefully select victims using detailed personal data. From there, they use AI to impersonate real people, create convincing conversations and build trust at scale.

As a result, if you are divorced, widowed or returning to online dating after the holidays, this is often the exact moment scammers target you.

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WHEN DATING APPS GET HACKED, YOUR PRIVATE LIFE GOES PUBLIC

Romance scams surge around Valentine’s Day as criminals use artificial intelligence and stolen data to target widowed, divorced and older adults returning to online dating. (Omar Karim/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The new face of romance scams in 2026

Romance scams are no longer slow, one-on-one cons. They’re now high-tech operations designed to target hundreds of people at once. Here’s what’s changed:

1) AI-generated personas that look and sound real

In the past, fake profiles used stolen photos and broken English. Today, scammers use AI-generated faces, voices and videos that don’t belong to any real person, making them almost impossible to reverse search.

You may be interacting with a profile that:

Has years of realistic-looking social media posts
Shares daily photos that match the story they tell
Sends customized voice notes that sound natural
Appears on “video calls” using AI face-mapping software.

Some scam networks even create entire fake families and friend groups online, so the person appears to have a real life, real friends and real history. To the victim, it feels like a genuine connection because the “person” behaves like one in every way.

2) Automated relationship scripts that adapt to you

Behind the scenes, many scammers now use software platforms that manage dozens of conversations at once. This is known as “scamware” and is incredibly hard to flag.

These systems:

Track your replies
Flag emotional triggers (grief, loneliness, fear, trust)
Suggest responses based on your mood and history.

When you mention that you are widowed, the tone quickly becomes more comforting. Meanwhile, if you say you are financially stable, the story shifts toward so-called “business opportunities.” And if you hesitate, the system responds by introducing urgency or guilt. It feels personal, but in reality, you’re being guided through a pre-written emotional funnel designed to lead to one outcome: money.

3) Crypto and “investment romance” scams

One of the fastest-growing versions of romance fraud now blends love and money. A BBC World Service investigation recently revealed that many romance scams are now run by organized criminal networks across Southeast Asia, using what insiders call the “pig butchering” model, where victims are slowly “fattened up” with trust before being financially destroyed.

These operations use call center style setups, data broker profiles, scripted conversations and AI tools to target thousands of people at once. This is not accidental fraud. It’s an industry.

And the reason you were selected is simple. Your personal data made you easy to find, easy to profile and easy to target.

After weeks of trust-building, the scammer introduces:

A “private” crypto platform
A fake trading app
A business or investment opportunity, “they use themselves.”

They may show fake dashboards, fake profits and even let you “withdraw” small amounts at first to build trust. But once larger sums are sent, the site disappears and so does the person. There is no investment. There is no account. And there is no way to recover the funds.

AI DEEPFAKE ROMANCE SCAM STEALS WOMAN’S HOME AND LIFE SAVINGS

Data brokers selling personal details fuel a new wave of romance fraud by helping scammers select financially stable, older victims before contact is made. (Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images)

How scammers find you before you ever match

The biggest misconception is that romance scams begin on dating apps. They don’t. They begin long before that, inside massive databases run by data brokers. These companies collect and sell profiles that include:

Your age and marital status
Whether you’re widowed or divorced
Your home address history
Your phone number and email
Your family members and relatives
Your income range and retirement status.

Scammers buy this data to build shortlists of ideal victims.

The data brokers behind romance scams

They filter for:

Age 55-plus
Widowed or divorced
Living alone
Financially stable
Not active on social media.

That’s how they know who to target before the first message is ever sent.

Why are widowed and retired adults targeted first?

Scammers aren’t cruel by accident. They target people who are statistically more likely to respond. If you’ve lost a spouse, moved recently or reentered the dating world, your personal data often shows that. That makes you a priority target. And once your name lands on a scammer’s list, it can be sold again and again. That’s why many victims say, “I blocked them, but new ones keep showing up.” It’s not a coincidence. It’s data recycling.

How the scam usually unfolds

Most romance scams follow the same pattern:

Friendly introduction: A warm message. No pressure. Often references something personal about you.
Fast emotional bonding: They mirror your values, your experiences, even your grief.
Distance and excuses: They can’t meet. There’s always a reason: military deployment, overseas job, business travel.
A sudden “crisis”: Medical bills, business losses, frozen accounts, investment opportunities.
Money requests: Wire transfers, gift cards, crypto or “temporary help.”

By the time money is involved, the emotional connection is already strong. Many victims send thousands before realizing it’s a scam.

The Valentine’s Day cleanup that stops scams at the source

If you want fewer scam messages this year, you need to remove your personal information from the places scammers buy it. That’s where a data removal service comes in. While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy.

These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

Practical steps to protect yourself this February

Here’s what you can do right now:

Never send money to someone you haven’t met in person
Be skeptical of fast emotional bonding
Verify profiles with reverse image searches
Don’t share personal details early
Remove your data from broker sites.
Use strong antivirus software to block malicious links and fake login pages. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

When you combine these steps, you remove the access, urgency and leverage scammers rely on.

SUPER BOWL SCAMS SURGE IN FEBRUARY AND TARGET YOUR DATA

Cybercriminals now deploy AI-generated faces, voices and scripted conversations to impersonate real people and build trust at scale in modern romance scams. (Martin Bertrand/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

Kurt’s key takeaways

Romance scams are no longer random. They are targeted, data-driven and emotionally engineered. This Valentine’s Day, the best gift you can give yourself is privacy. By removing your personal data from broker databases, you make it harder for scammers to find you, profile you and exploit your trust. And that’s how you protect not just your heart, but your identity, your savings and your peace of mind.

Have you or someone you love been contacted by a Valentine’s Day romance scam that felt real or unsettling? Let us know your thoughts by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Technology

Uber Eats adds AI assistant to help with grocery shopping

Published

14 hours ago

February 11, 2026

Press Room

Uber Eats adds AI assistant to help with grocery shopping

Uber announced a new AI feature called “Cart Assistant” for grocery shopping in its Uber Eats app.

The new feature works a couple different ways. You can use text prompts, as you would with any other AI chatbot, to ask it to build a grocery list for you. Or you can upload a picture of your shopping list and ask it to populate your cart with all your favorite items, based on your order history. You can be as generic as you — “milk, eggs, cereal” — and the bot will make a list with all your preferred brands.

And that’s just to start out. Uber says in the coming months, Cart Assistant will add more features, including “full recipe inspiration, meal plans, and the ability to ask follow up questions, and expand to retail partners.”

But like all chatbots, Uber acknowledges that Cart Assistant may make mistakes, and urges users to double-check and confirm the results before placing any orders.

It will also only work at certain grocery stores, with Uber announcing interoperability at launch with Albertsons, Aldi, CVS, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts, Safeway, Walgreen, and Wegmans. More stores will be added in the future, the company says.

Uber has a partnership with OpenAI to integrate Uber Eats into its own suite of apps. But Uber spokesperson Richard Foord declined to say whether the AI company’s technology was powering the new chatbot in Uber Eats. “Cart Assistant draws on publicly available LLM models as well as Uber’s own AI stack,” Foord said in an email.

Uber has been racing to add more AI-driven features to its apps, including robotaxis with Waymo and sidewalk delivery robots in several cities. The company also recently revived its AI Labs to collaborate with its partners on building better products using delivery and customer data.