How to delete all your emails on Gmail, or mass-delete a specific amount of emails at once (2024)

• To delete all emails on Gmail, use the "Select all" function and custom search filters.
• You can also use your search bar to mass-delete emails from specific senders or time periods.
• If you accidentally delete an email, you can recover it from the Trash folder within 30 days.

If you have a cluttered Gmail inbox, you're not alone. Whether you're looking to free up some storage space or clean up folders to organize your inbox, there are some shortcuts for mass-deletion.

Mass-deleting emails can be helpful for emails filed in your Social or Promotions categories, which often pile up or get ignored. There are also shortcuts for deleting all read emails, all unread emails, and emails from specific senders. Here's how to do it all.

How to delete all read or all unread emails on Gmail

1. In a web browser, open Gmail and log in to your account.

2. In the search bar at the top of the screen, type label:read to display all read emails or label:unread to display all unread emails.

3. Click the Select all box at the top of the list of emails. This will select all emails on the current page — up to 50 emails. To mass delete all emails in this category and not just those on the first page, you can also click Select all conversations that match this search.

4. Click the Delete icon, shaped like a trash can, at the top of the email list.

How to delete promotions on Gmail

Promotional emails are emails sent by companies or organizations to consumers with the general goal of selling products. These types of emails are automatically filed in your Promotions tab to keep them separate from your primary inbox. You may get promotional emails from retailers after making a purchase on their website, or from a blog after signing up for their mailing list.

This is different from Spam, at least as far as Gmail is concerned, because promotional emails generally mean you've established a relationship with the company that sent it. This can be by subscribing to a service, buying a product, or signing up to a mailing list. You can change your spam settings to fine-tune how Gmail treats that kind of email if it's unwanted.

1. In a web browser, open Gmail and log in to your account, if needed.

2. Click the Promotions category at the top of the page, above your list of emails.

3. Click the Select all box to the left of the Refresh button. This will select all promotional emails on the current page (up to 50 entries). To delete all emails in this category, also click Select all conversations in Promotions.

4. Click the Delete icon, shaped like a trash can, at the top of the email list.

How to delete email threads with certain people

In the same way that you can delete read or unread email, you can use Gmail's search field to find all the email sent to or received from a specific person, and delete just those messages.

You can use two filters – to and from – to find messages sent to or received from a specific person. Moreover, you can search using someone's first name, last name, full name, or email address (or even just a portion of any of those). For example, you can search for to:da, to:dave, to: dave johnson or to:[email address].

1. In a web browser, open Gmail and log in to your account, if needed.

2. In the search bar at the top of the screen, type to:[name] of the person you want to find emails addressed to. Likewise, you can type from:[name] as well.

3. Click the Select all box at the top of the list of emails. This will select all emails on the current page — up to 50 emails. To mass delete all emails to or from that name and not just those on the first page, you can also click Select all conversations that match this search.

4. Click the Delete icon, shaped like a trash can, at the top of the email list.

How to delete emails before a certain date

You can also delete all the emails in your inbox before or after a specific date. You can find these emails using the search field in much the same way as other kinds of searches, using the format before:[date] or after:[date]. You can format the date as D/M/YYYY or D/MYYYY depending on your preference.

1. In a web browser, open Gmail and log in to your account, if needed.

2. In the search bar at the top of the screen, type before:[date] or after:[date].

3. Click the Select all box at the top of the list of emails. This will select all emails on the current page — up to 50 emails. To mass delete all emails in this date range and not just those on the first page, you can also click Select all conversations that match this search.

4. Click the Delete icon, shaped like a trash can, at the top of the email list.

How to delete emails in bulk with keyboard shortcuts

Just like most applications, Gmail has its own collection of keyboard shortcuts, and you can buik-delete a large number of emails with just a couple of keypresses.

Before you can use shortcuts, though, make sure Gmail's keyboard shortcuts are enabled. Click the Settings icon at the top of the page, and then on the General tab, scroll down to Keyboard shortcuts and click Keyboard shortcuts on.

Once enabled, here are the most important shortcuts to try:

• Bulk delete emails. Press * and a to select all of the emails on the current page. Then press # to delete all the selected items.
• Archive messages instead of deleting them. If you have sufficient storage space, you can archive messages rather than deleting them. Press * and a to select all of the emails on the current page. Then press e to archive them. This removes them from your inbox, but it doesn't delete them. Instead, you can find them in All Mail. For more details, you can refer to our full guide on archiving.

How to recover deleted emails on Gmail

If you've accidentally deleted some emails you didn't intend to, don't fret. Deleted emails are stored in your Trash folder, where they're saved for 30 days before being automatically, permanently deleted.

1. In a web browser, open Gmail and log in to your account, if needed.

2. In the menu on the left side of the screen, click the Trash folder. You may need to click More to reveal it.

3. Click on the boxes next to the emails you want to restore.

4. Click the Move to icon, which is a folder with an arrow pointing right, and then select the name of the folder you want to send the deleted emails to.

How to permanently delete emails on Gmail

Once you've moved everything you want to the Trash folder and you're certain you'll never need it again, you can navigate to Trash and permanently delete everything inside.

This step is optional, because Gmail automatically permanently deletes trash after 30 days. But if you'd rather not wait, you can do it yourself.

Be aware that this marks the point of no return for your emails: Unless you've already downloaded them or have forwarded them to someone else whom you can ask for a copy, anything you delete this way is gone forever.

To empty your Gmail trash:

1. In a web browser, open Gmail and log in to your account, if needed.

2. In the menu on the left side of the screen, click the Trash folder. You may need to click More to reveal it.

3. Click on the boxes next to the emails you want to permanently delete.

4. Click Delete forever.