What does sweep do in Outlook? [How to sweep emails using Rule?]

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Removing (deleting) or moving unwanted emails from specific senders email in pattern method in Outlook 365 (OWA), sweep function use to delete or move the emails using rules. In this article, you will learn complete information on “What does sweep do in Outlook? & How to sweep emails using Rule?“.

Table of Contents

What does sweep do in Outlook?

Sweep is the inbuilt feature in Outlook 365 on the web to clear unwanted emails, Sweep is a tool designed to set rule from the specific senders. Outlook Sweep Clear Batches of Automated Replies, Clear Delivery Failure Messages.

Outlook Sweep Option

You can select a message and click the Sweep icon, here are the four options designed for the specific sender.

Delete all messages from the Inbox folder.
Delete all messages from the Inbox folder and any future messages.
Always keep the latest message and delete the rest from the Inbox folder.
Always delete messages older than 10 days from the Inbox folder.

Where is Sweep in Outlook Toolbar?

Once you select the email from a specific folder, Sweep (delete) icon is available on the menu bar at the top of the screen. This option is only available in OWA (Outlook Web Application).

How Sweep Works? [Step by Step tutorial]

The Sweep function runs once every 24 hours and allows you to create rules for any folder in your email account. Here you go how it works ~

Open Outlook web application, Login to your account (it is not mandatory to have a licensed account, you can use the free version too).
Select the email you like to perform the following actions, click sweep.

Sweep allows you to take specific actions and move emails from desired senders to the (selected) folder, where the emails will be moved to.

Outlook Sweep consists of four options which you have learned above, now explore more about it.

Move all messages from the inbox folder: By default, Outlook delete all message received from the selected sender or you can archive or shift all the mail message into New folder. You can also shift all those email messages into different folders (Junk mail, draft, sent items), Simply Click OK.

Move all messages from the inbox folder and any future messages: This rule will do the same as the first option but in addition to will also delete/move email received from the same sender in the future also.

Always keep the latest message and move the rest from the Inbox folder: Under this scenario, The latest email message from that sender will remain in your inbox, and the rest delete or move from the folder. If you are constantly emailing back and forth with the same sender, this rule will keep your inbox uncluttered.

Always move messages older than 10 days from the Inbox folder: Under this rule, Outlook keeps all the messages from the specific sender for 10 days or earlier, later on, the messages will be deleted or move according to the selected folder from the dropdown list.

There are plenty of emails that, if you don’t deal with them within a week or so, won’t get dealt with at all. Therefore, why not move them out of your Inbox automatically?

These are a few methods to remove junk mail messages.

Note: Sweep rules run once per day.

How to Disable & Delete a Sweep Rule?

Once you created a rule and like to edit or to see all of your Sweep rules and delete them, here the steps:

Open Outlook on the Web.
Click Gear Icon from the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Click View all Outlook settings, from the bottom of the screen.

Starting from Left, Click Mail >> Click Sweep
You observe an active list of sweep rules on the extreme right side of the screen. You can turn off/Disable the Rule or Click the trash can icon next to the rule you want to delete.

Most of the people asking, why Outlook sweep rules not working?

The Answer is – everything is set but unfortunately, it’s disabled, So keep it going one in a day, always keep it enabled.

Outlook Sweep Missing

Recently, I purchase Office 365. and my primary email account is Gmail, I logged in to the Outlook web application, and found there are few features, not available, such as “SWEEP” because Gmail is an IMAP account. I created an outlook email address and the features are ON.

In case you are using an IMAP email account, you definitely encounter the same issue.

You can also organize your email using inbox rules. For example, you can create rules that will automatically move messages to other folders, or even delete them based on certain criteria.

Managing and cleaning spam emails smartly keep your inbox clear using the sweep tool is a real game-changer.

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