5 ways to manage your LinkedIn email

LinkedIn was once notorious for flooding yourinbox with everything from job alerts to news digests. The good news: The social network has cut back how often it sends you messages.

In a blog post in late July, LinkedIn acknowledged its overzealous email approach: “Many of you have told us that you receive too many emails from LinkedIn,”wrote Aatif Awan, senior director of product management at LinkedIn, in a blog post. “We’re also not immune to the late night talk show host jokes. We get it. And we’ve recently begun to make changes so that the emails you receive are more infrequent and more relevant.”

Included in those changes are updates to the frequency of LinkedIn invitations and Groups messages. If you tend to receive many invitations to connect, LinkedIn started bundling these notifications into one email sent weekly. Similarly, if you subscribe to several LinkedIn Groups, the social network now aggregates the updates into one single email.

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While LinkedIn says users have reacted to these changes positively —for every 10 emails it used to send, it’s removed four of them, which has cut user complaints in half — you are still able to fine-tune which emails you receive and how frequently you receive them.

Here’s a look at five culprits that often clog your email, plus tips to adjust your settings.

1. Edit job emails

If you saved a job search in the past —and are no longer in the market for a new job —you might still receive daily or periodic emails that alert you to new opportunities. To stop these emails, click on the Jobs tab from the main LinkedIn menu. Click on Saved Searches, which you’ll find on the right.

On the following page, remove the saved search, which will stop the emails you receive. Alternatively, you can change the frequency of the email updates to daily, weekly, monthly or never.

2. Edit your invitations

If you receive a lot of invitations to connect on LinkedIn, the social network might have bundled these messages in its latest change. Previously, you may have received individual emails every time someone added you on LinkedIn; after the update, LinkedIn may have changed this to a weekly digest email.

To edit your settings, visit Settings > Communications > Emails and Notifications > Set the frequency of emails. Then, click “Messages from other members”and select the option you prefer next to “invitations to connect.”

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You can choose from “Individual email,”in which LinkedIn will send you a message every time someone adds you on the social network; “Weekly Digest Email,”which updates you with the week’s activity; or “No Email”to opt out entirely.

3. Manage your Group messages

Messages from your LinkedIn Groups can easily flood your inbox. In its latest update, the social network grouped these messages together in a single email. If you prefer individual emails from specific groups —or if you prefer to opt out of Group emails entirely —visit your settings to update your preferences.

Find this set of options by clicking Settings > Communications > Set the frequency of emails > Group digests. A list of all the Groups you belong to will load; click the drop-down menu beside each to set your preferences. You can choose from Daily Digest Email, Weekly Digest Email or No Email. You’ll have to set your preferences for each group; there is no blanket setting available.

4. Update Slideshare email preferences

Slideshare, which LinkedIn acquired in 2012, is a site where professionals can upload, share and save presentations. You can log into Slideshare with your LinkedIn credentials, which means you might also receive emails from them.

To edit your Slideshare email preferences, log into the site and click Account Settings from the drop-down menu on the top-right of the page. Click Email Notifications from the menu on the left, uncheck the emails you no longer wish to receive, then click Save at the bottom.

If you’ve never updated your Slideshare email preferences, you likely receive emails for each activity, including its bi-weekly newsletters.

5. Stop non-member emails

If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, you might still receive emails from the social network. This might happen if someone —sometimes unknowingly —uploaded their contacts to LinkedIn. In that scenario, the social network might periodically contact you to join.

If you don’t want to join LinkedIn, and wish to opt-out of LinkedIn emails entirely, the social network suggests unsubscribing from the link at the bottom of the email.