Gmail Has a New Way of Combating Spam

Gmail Has a New Way of Combating Spam

Google is rolling out a new Gmail feature designed to make it easier to manage your subscriptions and keep your inbox free of clutter.

Making It Easier to Manage Your Emails

Gmail’s latest way of helping you control the amount of spam you’re receiving is a new Manage Subscriptions tab. This will display all the senders you currently subscribe to (whether intentionally or not), alongside the frequency at which they send you emails.

At the time of writing, I don’t have access to Gmail’s new Manage Subscriptions feature. However, based on the video Google embedded in The Keyword post outlining the new feature, it’s extremely easy to access and use.

new gmail unsubscribe spam mail feature ordered.

The Keyword

Once you have access to the feature, you’ll find it under the navigation bar in the top-left of your inbox. Just click that, and scroll down until you see Manage Subscriptions.

Once you’re in that view, you should see all of your active subscriptions sorted by the most frequent senders, with the biggest culprits at the top. If you click on any of the senders, you’ll be able to see all the emails they have sent you.

Best of all, you’ll be able to unsubscribe with one click, with Gmail sending an Unsubscribe request on your behalf. And if a sender redirects you to a site to unsubscribe, Gmail will offer to block the sender instead, solving the spam issue in another way.

Google's Subscribe button on The Keyword

Slightly ironically, while reading Google’s post about its new Manage Subscriptions feature, Google asked me to subscribe to The Keyword. While the invite to “stay in touch” in order to “get the latest news from Google in your inbox” is pretty standard fare, it’s still pretty ironic given the subject matter.

Google is rolling out Gmail’s new Manage Subscriptions feature gradually, starting with the web version, followed by the Android and iOS apps. Everyone should have access to the feature within the next couple of weeks.

The Easy Way to Achieve Inbox Zero

The notion of Inbox Zero, where you strive to maintain an empty (or near-empty) inbox, appears to have fallen out of favor recently. Maybe because people have simply given up on the idea. However, keeping on top of spam and making sure you know who is sending you unsolicited emails is still a good idea.

Senders could argue that, if you’re receiving their emails, you have, at one point or another, actively signed up to do so. However, that is clearly not always the case.

As someone who has written about technology online for almost 20 years, I have magically been signed up to receive countless emails from companies and sites I have never even heard of. And I doubt that I’m alone—which makes Gmail’s new Manage Subscriptions feature all the more essential.

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