Clean Email FAQ: Gmail Cleanup Questions Answered

How Clean Email Cleans Your Inbox

Clean Email connects to Gmail with Google OAuth, scans your mailbox, and shows you counts before anything is deleted.

Protection is checked twice: once to narrow the initial Gmail search, and again message-by-message right before deletion, which is the authoritative check.

• Sign in with Google: connect your Gmail account securely; Clean Email stores counts, never the content of your emails.
• Scan your mailbox: in a few seconds Clean Email counts how many emails can be cleared and how much storage can be freed. Nothing is deleted at this stage.
• Choose and protect: add any senders to keep to the protected list. Starred, important, labeled mail, attachments, and two-way conversations are always safe automatically.
• Clean in one click: everything except protected mail moves to Gmail Trash (recoverable for 30 days), or is permanently deleted if that option is chosen.

What's Always Protected From Deletion

These protections apply automatically, with no setup required. You can add extra senders to a whitelist on top of them.

• Starred messages
• Messages marked important
• Messages carrying any user-created Gmail label
• Messages that are part of a two-way conversation (a thread you've replied to, or that replies to you)
• Any message with an attachment of any kind (document, image, PDF, video, audio)
• Sent mail, drafts, scheduled sends, and snoozed mail
• Chats
• Senders on your whitelist (exact address or an entire @domain)

Clean Email Pricing at a Glance

Gmail Permissions Clean Email Requests

Even though the OAuth grant below is broad, Clean Email's own code only ever reads message metadata — sender, labels, size, thread ID — to build counts. It does not fetch, store, or display message bodies.

Manual Gmail Cleanup vs. Clean Email

FAQ

Safety

Is Clean Email safe to use with my Gmail account?

Yes. Clean Email connects through Google OAuth, never asks for your Gmail password, and only reads email metadata (sender, labels, size, thread ID) to build counts, not the content of your messages. Protected mail — starred, labeled, important, attachments, two-way conversations — is checked twice before anything is deleted.

Can Clean Email accidentally delete emails I need?

It's designed not to. Starred messages, important messages, anything with a Gmail label, two-way conversations, messages with attachments, sent mail, drafts, scheduled sends, snoozed mail, and chats are all automatically excluded from deletion. You can also whitelist specific senders or domains so their mail is never touched.

Does Clean Email read the content of my emails?

No. Clean Email only reads metadata — sender, labels, size, and thread ID — to count how many emails can be cleared. It does not fetch, store, or display the body text of any message.

Pricing

How much does Clean Email cost?

Clean Email has three price points, all in EUR: Big Cleanup is a one-time €1 fee for a full mailbox cleanup, Stop Ads is a €1 add-on that auto-unsubscribes you from newsletters, and Clean Inbox is a €5/month subscription for unlimited on-demand cleanups.

Is Clean Email a subscription or a one-time purchase?

Both exist. Big Cleanup (€1) and Stop Ads (€1) are one-off, one-time purchases. Clean Inbox (€5/month) is a recurring subscription that gives you unlimited cleanups instead of paying per cleanup.

Does Clean Email offer refunds?

A specific refund policy isn't part of the product facts covered on this page. For a billing or refund question about a purchase, contact Clean Email support directly at contact@clean-email.com.

What gets deleted

What emails does Clean Email delete?

Clean Email deletes everything in your mailbox that isn't otherwise protected — there's no targeting of specific categories, though newsletters, promotions, and old mail are typically what ends up non-protected. By default, deleted mail moves to Gmail Trash, where it's recoverable for 30 days, exactly like a normal Gmail deletion.

What emails are automatically protected from deletion?

Starred messages, messages marked important, any message with a user-created Gmail label, two-way conversations (threads you've replied to or that reply to you), messages with any attachment, sent mail, drafts, scheduled sends, snoozed mail, chats, and any sender on your whitelist are all automatically protected and never deleted.

Can I manually protect specific senders?

Yes. You can add any sender's exact email address, or an entire @domain, to your protected whitelist before running a cleanup. Whitelisted senders' mail is never deleted, on top of the automatic protections like starred or labeled mail.

Attachments

Does Clean Email delete emails with attachments?

No. Any message with an attachment of any kind — document, image, PDF, video, or audio — is protected outright and is not deleted, unless you explicitly remove that protection yourself.

Will Clean Email ever delete just the attachment and keep the email?

No. Clean Email never deletes attachments on their own. A message with an attachment is protected as a whole, so either the entire message stays, or you've explicitly overridden that protection — attachments are never stripped out separately.

Unsubscribing

How does Clean Email unsubscribe me from newsletters?

It depends on what the sender supports. If a sender offers a one-click or mailto unsubscribe link, Stop Ads (€1) uses it automatically and archives that sender's future mail so it stops landing in your inbox. If neither method is available, Clean Email can't unsubscribe you automatically — you'd need to open that particular newsletter and unsubscribe yourself.

What is the Stop Ads add-on?

Stop Ads is a €1 add-on that auto-unsubscribes you from senders that offer a one-click or mailto unsubscribe link, and archives future mail from those senders once it succeeds. If no automated method exists for a sender, you unsubscribe manually and no filter is created. It uses the gmail.settings.basic permission to set up the archive filters.

Will senders I unsubscribe from still be able to email me?

Yes, senders can always still send you mail. When Stop Ads successfully auto-unsubscribes a sender (because a one-click or mailto unsubscribe link was found), it also creates a filter that archives that sender's future messages so they skip your inbox. If no automated unsubscribe method exists for a sender, you have to unsubscribe manually yourself, and no archive filter is created for it, so its mail keeps landing in your inbox.

Storage

Does Clean Email free up Gmail storage space?

Yes. Clearing out newsletters, promotions, and old mail reduces how much of your Gmail storage quota is used. During the scan step, Clean Email shows how much storage can be freed before anything is deleted.

How do I check how much Gmail storage I have used?

Clean Email's scan step shows how many emails can be cleared and how much storage that would free, without deleting anything yet. You can also check your overall Google Account storage directly through Google's own storage tools (see Google Support's guide on checking and freeing up account storage).

Permissions

What Gmail permissions (OAuth scopes) does Clean Email request?

Clean Email requests two scopes: full Gmail access (https://mail.google.com/) for reading metadata and permanent deletion, and gmail.settings.basic for creating the archive filters used by Stop Ads.

Why does Clean Email need full Gmail access (mail.google.com scope)?

Permanent deletion (the Gmail API's messages.batchDelete) isn't possible under the narrower gmail.modify scope, which only allows moving mail to Trash. Google doesn't offer a scope narrower than full Gmail access that still supports permanent delete, so Clean Email requests the broader scope even though its own code only reads metadata to build counts.

What does the gmail.settings.basic permission do?

Clean Email uses the gmail.settings.basic scope specifically to create archive filters for senders you unsubscribe from through the Stop Ads add-on, so their future emails are archived instead of landing in your inbox.

Restoring mail

Can I recover emails after Clean Email deletes them?

Yes, if they were moved to Trash, which is the default behavior. Anything in Gmail Trash can be restored for 30 days, exactly like any other Gmail deletion. Emails removed with the permanent-delete opt-in cannot be recovered.

How long do deleted emails stay recoverable in Gmail Trash?

30 days. Clean Email's default deletion moves messages to Gmail Trash, where they remain recoverable for 30 days just like any normal Gmail deletion, unless you specifically chose the permanent-delete option.

Permanent delete

What is the difference between Trash and permanent deletion?

By default, Clean Email moves deleted mail to Gmail Trash, where it's recoverable for 30 days. Permanent deletion is a separate, explicit opt-in that uses the Gmail API's permanent-delete capability and removes messages immediately with no recovery window.

Is permanent deletion reversible?

No. Permanent deletion is irreversible. It's only used if you explicitly opt into it — the default behavior is to move mail to Gmail Trash instead, which you can recover from for 30 days.

Supported providers

Does Clean Email work with Outlook, Yahoo Mail, or iCloud Mail?

No. Clean Email only supports Gmail — personal @gmail.com accounts and Google Workspace accounts. It does not support Outlook, Yahoo Mail, iCloud Mail, or any other generic IMAP inbox.

Does Clean Email support Google Workspace business accounts?

Yes. Clean Email works with both personal @gmail.com accounts and Google Workspace business accounts, since both run on the Gmail platform. It does not support non-Gmail providers.

Can I use Clean Email with a generic IMAP email account?

No. Clean Email is built directly on the Gmail API rather than the generic IMAP protocol most mail clients use, so it can only connect where that API exists — Gmail and Google Workspace inboxes. A regular IMAP account, whether from Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, or a private mail server, has no Gmail API for Clean Email to connect to.

Account

How do I sign in to Clean Email?

You sign in with Google OAuth, the same secure sign-in method Google uses for other third-party apps. Clean Email never asks for or sees your Google password directly.

How do I delete my Clean Email account and data?

You can disconnect Clean Email from within the app, and separately revoke its access to your Google account at any time from https://myaccount.google.com/permissions. For questions about deleting your account data specifically, contact contact@clean-email.com.

Who do I contact for support?

Clean Email support can be reached at contact@clean-email.com.

Rate limits

Is there a limit to how many emails I can clean at once?

A fixed per-run limit isn't part of the product facts covered here. In practice, cleanup speed depends on Gmail's own API limits, since Clean Email works through the Gmail API rather than a separate proprietary pipeline.

Why does a big cleanup take a few minutes to finish?

Clean Email works through Google's Gmail API, scanning and then acting on messages in batches rather than instantly. The scan step, which counts what can be cleared, is fast; the actual delete and unsubscribe actions run afterward and scale with how many emails are involved.

Multi-account

Can I use Clean Email with more than one Gmail account?

Yes. Clean Email connects to Gmail accounts individually through Google OAuth. To clean a different Gmail or Google Workspace account, you sign in with that account separately.

Do I need to pay separately for each Gmail account?

The pricing covered here (Big Cleanup, Stop Ads, Clean Inbox) applies per Gmail account you connect. If you manage multiple Gmail accounts and want details on how that applies to your case, contact contact@clean-email.com.

Mobile

Can I use Clean Email on my phone?

Clean Email works through a web sign-in with Google OAuth, so you can use it from a mobile browser the same way you would on desktop. The same Gmail scopes and automatic protections apply regardless of device.

Is there a Clean Email mobile app?

The product facts covered here describe Clean Email as a web-based Gmail cleanup tool accessed via Google sign-in, not a dedicated native mobile app.

Security

How does Clean Email keep my Google account secure?

Clean Email uses Google's own OAuth 2.0 sign-in, so it never sees or stores your Google password. Access is granted through Google's standard third-party app permission system, which you control and can revoke at any time.

Does Clean Email store my passwords?

No. Clean Email never has access to your Google password. Sign-in happens entirely through Google's OAuth flow, and Clean Email only stores email counts, not credentials or message content.

Can I revoke Clean Email's access to my Gmail account?

Yes, at any time. Go to https://myaccount.google.com/permissions and remove Clean Email's access, in addition to disconnecting it from within the app itself.

Comparison

Is Clean Email better than manually deleting emails in Gmail?

Manual cleanup means checking and deleting emails one by one, or by manual search-and-select. Clean Email automates that: it scans for what can be cleared, applies automatic protections (starred, labeled, attachments, conversations) without you checking each message, and bulk-runs the deletion and unsubscribe steps.

Can't I just use Gmail search operators to clean my inbox myself?

Gmail's own search operators, like older_than: or has:attachment, can help you find and bulk-select mail manually, but you're responsible for not catching something important, and Gmail's UI only lets you select 50 messages at a time (up to 500 with "select all conversations that match this search"). Clean Email's own query uses search operators only to exclude protected mail — starred, labeled, attachments, and the like — not to target a specific category or age, and then adds a second, message-by-message protection check right before deletion, so protected mail stays safe even if a search operator behaves unexpectedly.