Empty a folder in Hotmail
HotmailUniversity
The previous tutorial explained how to delete all email messages inside a folder, either one screen at a time to avoid accidental deletions, or a faster way, which consists in using the Sweep menu to manually delete all emails inside the current folder. In this tutorial, we will show you how to use the "Empty Folder" command for the Junk folder (Spam folder) and the Deleted items folder (Trash), all of which can be done from the Hotmail Manage Folders screen.
Use "Empty Folder" command to remove all emails from a Hotmail folder
While you can always use the "Sweep > Empty This Folder" command inside any email folder in your Hotmail account, we'll explain how to the same thing from the central screen where Windows Live allows you to manage all your email folders.
Once you are signed in to your Hotmail account, go to your inbox - for example by choosing "Hotmail > Inbox" from the top of the screen, as shown below:
Once you are inside your inbox or another email folder, move your mouse pointer (cursor) above the word "Folders" in the left pane, and a gear icon will appear: click on it, and choose "Manage folders" from the dropdown menu that opened:
Once Windows Live Hotmail loads the Manage Folders screen for your email account, you will see a full listing of all folders and subfolders in your profile: notice that some folders include an "Empty" link next to their name:
Click on the "Empty" link as shown above, and Hotmail will display a confirmation message to prevent you from accidentally emptying an email folder: "You're about to empty this folder, which will delete all of the items in it".
Click on the "OK" button to proceed and empty the folder in question from all the email messages it contains, or click "Cancel" to abort the emptying operation.
As soon as you click on OK, Hotmail will permanently remove any emails that folder contained. Keep in mind that when you delete emails from the Junk folder or Deleted items folder, these messages are removed from your account for good, and cannot be recovered. This also applies to the "Empty" command, which does the same thing as manually deleting all email messages from inside either of these folders.