Spam not only buries important email, but also increases the risk of accidentally interacting with a malicious message that could compromise your email. Fortunately, most email providers provide tools to handle spam. Here are some practical steps to reduce spam.

Use filters and search functions smartly

Effective use of filters is one of the best ways to reduce spam. Filters allow you to direct unwanted emails to a designated folder or delete them before they clutter up your primary inbox. You can block incoming emails based on keywords, specific senders or domains, keeping your inbox organized.

Most email providers offer this feature. For example, in Gmail, go to Settings > See all settings > Filters and blocked addresses > Create a new filter. Then, specify criteria such as keywords or email addresses and choose an action such as “Skip Inbox” or “Delete” to manage your inbox.

Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters

We often unintentionally subscribe to every interesting newsletter we come across, which can quickly clutter our inbox sometimes with newsletters we don’t even remember signing up for. If you find yourself in this situation often, review your subscriptions and unsubscribe from anything you don’t read regularly.

Most legitimate newsletters offer a unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe them. For those who don’t, you can mark them as spam or create a filter to skip the inbox. Regularly reviewing and unsubscribing from unwanted newsletters helps keep your inbox tidy and focused on the emails that matter most.

Flag suspicious emails as spam or phishing

Simply deleting suspicious emails that promise unbelievable offers, require urgent action or include unknown links is not enough. Instead, you should mark these emails as “Spam” or “Phishing” to instruct your email provider to detect and block similar messages in the future, keeping your inbox safer and cleaner.

While most email service providers have built-in filters to catch spam and phishing attempts, actively flagging these emails strengthens their accuracy. In Gmail, for example, you can click the three-dot menu on the email and select Report Spam or Report Phishing to flag it accordingly. Other service providers also make it easy to report spam.

Do not share your email address publicly

One of the main reasons you get spam is because your email address may have ended up on a spam list. Spammers often collect emails by scraping public websites, forums and social media platforms. If your email address is publicly visible in any of these sources, it can easily be picked up by spammers, quickly filling your inbox with spam.

To avoid this, do not post the email in public posts, comments or profiles. If you must share it, format it in a way that’s harder for bots to read, like “email (at) domain (dot) com.” You can also use a secondary email or contact form on your personal websites instead of displaying your primary email address.

Periodically clean your contact list

Keeping outdated or irrelevant email addresses in your contact list can also increase spam. If these accounts have been hacked, abandoned, or reused for malicious activity, spammers can collect email addresses like yours when you interact with them. They add your email address to their spam lists and flood your inbox with unwanted messages.

To avoid this, you should regularly clean your contacts and stop your email client from automatically adding contacts. You should review and remove any contacts that you no longer communicate with or that appear suspicious or malicious. This helps reduce the risk of spam and keeps the inbox focused on relevant and meaningful communication.

Use a secondary email for non-official work

Using a single email for work, school and personal activities can quickly overwhelm your inbox. To avoid this, I use a secondary email for non-essential work such as newsletters, free trials and other online sign-ups. This keeps my primary inbox focused and organized, reducing the risk of missing important messages.

Having a separate email address also protects my primary address from ending up on a spam list and being targeted by cybercriminals. For easy access, you can connect this secondary account to your primary account to seamlessly monitor messages while keeping your primary inbox uncluttered and secure.

Upgrade to a trusted (or paid) email service.

Using a free, lesser-known or unreliable email provider may not have the necessary protections to reduce spam and keep your inbox safe. Some providers may even sell your contact information to third-party advertisers. Switching to a reputable service or switching to a paid plan can help you manage spam and protect your inbox.

Trusted and paid email providers typically have robust spam detection capabilities, stricter privacy policies that prevent data from being shared with third-party sources, and additional filtering features to better filter out unwanted email. ProtonMail and Zoho Mail are reputable, secure and privacy-focused email services that you can switch to.

Use email aliases

If you prefer not to create multiple email accounts for secondary use, email aliases or alternate addresses can be a great alternative. Aliases allow you to use a variation of your primary email for untrusted sites, keeping spam away from your primary inbox. If an alias starts getting spam, you can block it without affecting your primary email.

Many email providers support aliases. For example, on Gmail, you can add a plus sign (+) and a keyword, such as [email protected], and use that alias. Aliases not only protect your primary address, but also help you track the source of spam, making it easier to manage your incoming email messages.

Prevent forwarded emails from overloading your inbox

Forwarded emails from other accounts can clutter your inbox in ways that are easy to overlook. Without managing your email forwarding settings, you may end up with duplicate messages that you’ve already checked in other accounts, or an overflow of spam that can quickly turn your primary inbox into a warehouse.

To prevent this, navigate to the settings of any secondary accounts and disable automatic forwarding to your primary email. If forwarded emails come from addresses you don’t control, set up a filter to delete emails from those contacts. Regularly reviewing your forwarded emails can help ensure that your inbox stays organized and clutter-free.

Maintaining a spam-free inbox is not a one-time task, but an ongoing effort that requires regular maintenance. If you’re struggling to manage spam, start implementing the tips above to turn your inbox into an effective communication tool instead of a source of clutter. Stay vigilant and use the right tools and settings to keep your inbox organized.