Putting a stop to junk email has just gotten a little bit easier. Google’s email service Gmail is rolling out a new, simpler unsubscribe button to put a stop to unwanted email.
The new feature appears on promotional emails that arrive regularly, like those from Groupon, your gym or mall stores. Immediately to the right of the sender’s email address, you’ll see a one-touch button to unsubscribe.
When you click Unsubscribe, Gmail sends a request to the sender to remove you from their list. You’ll need to allow a few business days for your name to actually be removed.
Google notes it is unable to provide an Unsubscribe option for all mailing lists. Further, the option to Unsubscribe will not appear on messages sent by known spammers “for your protection.”
Ultimately, the new feature is designed to improve Google’s crowd sourced spam-sorting efforts. Microsoft Outlook implemented a similar feature to improve its spam filters last year.
If you're interested in learning more about how to become a Gmail pro, check out these 5 tips for getting the most out of Gmail. For more about the new Unsubscribe option, visit support.google.com.
From Sandy on August 01, 2014 :: 1:51 pm
Can you tell me if clicking on the Unsubscribe button and entering your e-mail address is effective? Or does it simply confirm that there is a person there and auto-sign you up for many more spam lists?
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From Josh Kirschner on August 01, 2014 :: 2:23 pm
Any “real” sender in the US will follow the CAN-SPAM law, which requires honoring of unsubscribe requests. So if you recognize the sender, feel free to hit that button. Just be sure to look at the sender’s email address/URL, not their name. Many spammers will try to confuse you with names that sound legitimate but are from completely unrelated URLs (e.g., AppleiPhoneSupport@abcdef.br).
If the person is a true spammer, then I wouldn’t unsubscribe. They are unlikely to honor it and it could create more spam. Instead, if you are getting multiple spam messages from the same address, you can create a rule in gmail to automatically send emails from that address to your spam folder.
Google says they won’t show the unsubscribe button for known spammers. We haven’t tested to see how well they do that, but our experience with Gmail is that not much spam gets through the filters.
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