The “archive or delete” wording may seem confusing, but Apple lets you choose whether “discarding” a message archives it (removes it from your Inbox) or deletes it (moves it to the Trash mailbox). On the Mac, in Mail > Preferences > General, select “Archive or delete muted messages.” In iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings > Mail > Muted Thread Action, where you can choose between Mark as Read and Archive or Delete. To unmute a conversation, repeat these steps, but pick Unmute instead.ĭo you never want to see those muted messages at all? You can discard them automatically. In Mail, a little bell icon with a slash through it reminds you that the conversation is muted. Messages will continue to flow in, but if you normally get notifications of Mail messages, you won’t get notifications for the muted conversation. You can also swipe left on the message, tap More, and tap Mute. On an iPhone or iPad, touch and hold the message until you get a popover, then tap Mute. On the Mac, select the conversation and choose Message > Mute or click the Mute button in the toolbar. To help you quiet a too-chatty conversation, Apple added the Mute feature to Mail. However, since it’s just a ton of addresses on the Cc line, there’s no way to remove yourself, even though you don’t need to be notified of all the back-and-forth. It’s a huge email conversation about the annual holiday party at work, but you can’t go, and more people keep weighing in. Here are three that you might find useful in different situations: mute, block, and unsubscribe. Apple is fully cognizant of the issue, too, and has built features into the last couple versions of Mail-on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad-to help out. Complaining about getting too much email is like complaining about bad traffic-we brought it upon ourselves, and while it’s impossible to escape entirely, it’s worth knowing how to reduce it.

Apple mail preferences