How Does Mass Delete Emails on Gmail? A Complete Guide in 2023!

There are few things more unnerving than receiving a warning that your inbox is about to overflow.

The good news is that Gmail’s mass delete options make it possible to clean house in one fell swoop, rather than, metaphorically speaking, picking up spilled rice one grain at a time.

Learn how to achieve an email inbox-free utopia by following the detailed instructions provided here.

How does Mass Delete Emails on Gmail?

Have some guts? If you want to get rid of everything in your inbox on Gmail, here’s how to do it.

Open up your Gmail inbox.
To the left of the refresh button at the top of your inbox is a checkbox. All the emails on the first page will be selected.
A blue button labeled “Select all X conversations in Primary” awaits your click.
To get rid of something, just press the trash can-shaped delete button.

To simply hide the emails while still having access to them, you can use the archive button (a folder with a down arrow).

How to Mass Delete a Certain Type of Email on Gmail?

Perhaps you have determined that any and all emails from a particular sender are redundant, or that anything older than ten years is safe to delete. The following explains how to delete many identical emails at once.

Gmail categories
Labels
Date Range
Read/unread

By Gmail Category

To reveal further choices, select a category on the left sidebar and click it.
Choose the section you wish to organize (either Social, Updates, Forums, or Promotions).
Make sure the top box in your inbox is checked.
To choose all X conversations, click the blue text that reads “Select all.”
Select either “Delete” or “Archive” and proceed.

By label

Select Labels from the menu that appears on the left.

Choose the tag you wish to remove. To delete or archive messages, you know to select the box at the top of your inbox, then click the blue text that reads “Select all X conversations…”

Range of Dates

delete messages before a specified date by using the following format in the search bar: before YYYY/M/D.

Type after: YYYY/M/D into the search field to erase messages sent or received after that date.

To remove messages from a specific time frame, use the following format in the search bar: timeframe after YYYY/MM/DD and before YYYY/MM/DD.

Press the return or enter key.
Again, at the top of your inbox, select the box, click the blue lettering that reads Select all X conversations…, and then choose Delete or Archive.

Simply enter from:person@domain.com into the search field to find emails sorted by sender.

By reading/unread

First, go to the search bar and type is: unread to erase all unread messages.

Press the return or enter key.
Select the conversations you wish to remove in bulk by checking the box at the top of your inbox, clicking the blue text that reads “Select all X conversations…”, and then selecting Remove or Archive.

How to Mass Delete Emails on The Gmail App

Other than emptying your Trash, the Gmail app does not provide a mechanism to delete messages in bulk. However, there is a workaround that can be used on both Android and iOS devices to hasten the procedure.

Mass Delete Emails on The Gmail App for Android

In the top left corner of the Gmail interface, you’ll find the gear symbol (hamburger button).
Get into the settings by scrolling down.
Select the “General” tab.
Use the swiping gestures on your touchscreen to access Mail.
If you want to choose between deleting emails with a right swipe and a left swipe, tap the corresponding button.
When the pop-up menu appears, select Delete.
To erase messages, return to your inbox and swipe in the direction you previously selected.

Mass Delete Emails on The Gmail App for iPhone

In the top left corner of the Gmail interface, you’ll find the gear symbol (hamburger button).
Get into the settings by scrolling down.
Select the settings icon in the inbox.
Use the swiping gestures on your touchscreen to access Mail.
Swiping an email in either the right or left direction will erase it.
Select Trash from the drop-down menu that appears.
To erase messages, return to your inbox and swipe in the direction you previously selected.

This won’t eliminate the need to remove emails individually, but it should make the process go more quickly. You still have to pick up the rice one grain at a time, but at least you have some pals to assist you.