Do you need to quickly delete, mark as read, or move a large number of unread messages? Find out here How to Delete all unread Emails in Gmail at once and act on them, of course, to delete them en masse, for example.

When adenosine receptors are activated, sweets taste even sweeter. While caffeine keeps you awake, it interferes with those adenosine receptors, blocking their activation. You are awake then, to life's terrible lack of sweetness.

Depending on how long you've used Gmail, you may have accumulated thousands of emails that you don't intend to read. Many people will simply ignore this and find their inbox becoming more and more cluttered.

At some point, you'll want to get rid of those emails that aren't worth the time they take to read. Fortunately, Gmail is equipped with handy features that allow you to purge emails easily.

How can I delete all my unread emails at once?

There are two easy methods you can use to bulk delete Gmail messages. You can either use custom filters or use Gmail labels.

We'll see how to use either solution to clean out your inbox.

Use filters

Before deleting your unread emails, you need to make sure you don't delete the most important ones. Luckily, these emails are labeled “Important,” so it’s pretty easy to identify them.

Once you've made sure you've read all your important emails, here's what to do to delete all the unnecessary ones in minutes:

Open the desktop version of Gmail and go to your inbox.

Click the gear icon in the upper right corner and click See all settings.

Go to the Filters & Blocked Addresses tab, and click Create New Filter.

To see all your unread emails, type label: unread under A words. Then click on Create filter and confirm the creation by clicking OK when the context menu appears.

Next, you will be presented with a few options. To delete all unread emails, check the box next to Delete, as well as the checkbox next to Apply filter to matching conversations to delete all unread emails.

Go to Create Filter, then refresh the page. All your unread emails should be deleted.

It is important to mention that this will delete your unread emails as soon as they appear. If you leave the filter enabled, every time you receive an email it will be automatically deleted. Therefore, remember to delete the filter once it is no longer needed.

Now, if it's all those unread emails in Gmail that are keeping you awake, you can quickly make it all go away. Sweet, isn't it?

How to Select All Unread Emails in Gmail?

Time needed: 3 minutes.

To select and act on all unread emails in Gmail, no matter what label or folder they're hiding in:

Open the desktop version of Gmail in a browser.

Tip: You can also open the full version of Gmail in a mobile browser.

Click the Search Mail field at the top:

Gmail keyboard shortcut: With Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, you can also press /.

The type is: unread at: anywhere.

Autocomplete: You can use the down arrow to select the Gmail autocomplete entries for the two terms after typing is: and at: respectively. After highlighting the desired completion, keep typing to add more.

Copy and Paste: See below for the search term to quickly copy.

Gmail Link: You can also open https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search… directly to find all unread emails.

Press Enter.

Now click the Select button on the toolbar.

Keyboard Shortcut: The corresponding Gmail keyboard shortcut here is *a.

Click the Select checkbox

Click Select all conversations that match this search if Gmail shows it at the top.

Note: This means that no more emails have been read than will fit on a Gmail search results page. Clicking it ensures that all of these emails are selected, not just the ones you see listed on the first page.

Act on all unread emails in bulk.

Delete: Click Delete on the toolbar; with Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, press #.

Important: This will move all unread emails to the Trash tab. From there, they will be permanently deleted after 30 days; However, you can also empty the Gmail Trash manually.

Mark as read: To mark as read, click the Mark as read button on the toolbar or press Shift I.

Archive: To mark emails as read and move them to the Gmail Archive, click the Archive button or press E.

How to select all unread emails in Gmail: FAQ

Can I use plain HTML from Gmail for that?

No, there is no easy way to bulk delete unread messages using simple Gmail HTML.

While you can find all unread messages using is:unread in : anywhere, unfortunately there is no easy way to select all messages that match your search criteria and move them to the trash.

Do you have the search term to select all unread in Gmail to copy and paste?

Sure, to find unread messages in all of Gmail (except Trash and Spam), copy and paste the following search term:

Can I select all unread emails in the Gmail app for Android or iPhone?

No, unfortunately, there is no easy way to bulk select unread emails in the Gmail apps for Android and iOS.

Although you can search for all unread messages using is: unread in: anywhere, you cannot easily select and act on all messages at once.

Instead of using the Gmail app, do

open the desktop version of Gmail in your mobile browser and

select or delete all unread emails by following the steps above.