If you are like many Gmail users, your Gmail inbox may have hundreds or even thousands of emails cluttering up your account. A cluttered inbox can be annoying, from promotional emails to notification emails from dating, jobs, and subscription services.
Besides, many emails are only eating into the allocated 15GB of storage. Therefore, the best option is to mass delete emails from the Gmail app and organize your inbox to avoid cluttering them. But how do you do that?
Deleting all emails from the Gmail app on iPad or Android differs from the web browser. The web browser is straightforward since you only have to click on the Select All check box to the left of your screen.
Then, once you refresh the page, everything will be gone. But for the Gmail app, you must select the emails and then delete them.
However, the Gmail app also has other settings that make it easier for you to mass delete emails from the Gmail inbox.
How to delete multiple emails from the Gmail app
The processes that I will explain here work for both the Gmail app for Android and iOS.
1. How to delete all emails at once using the selection method
You can delete all emails at once from Android or iOS by doing the following:
- Open the Gmail app on your Android or iPhone.
- Open the folder containing the emails you want to delete.
- Tap on the round thumbnail or icon on the left of the email representing the sender’s user profile.
- The email will turn into a tick or a checkbox.
- Go through your email list, selecting all the emails you want to delete. Then, tap on the profile icon to avoid opening the email.
- After selecting all the emails, you want to delete, tap on the trash can icon at the top of the screen.
Gmail will delete your selected emails and send them to your Trash box.
2. How to delete all emails from Gmail through long pressing
A second option for deleting all emails from your Gmail account on Android or iOS is to long-press each mail. Here is how:
- Open the Gmail app on your phone.
- Open the folder containing the emails you want to delete.
- Long press on any email that you want to delete.
- The email will turn into a tick or a checkbox.
- Go through your email list, long-pressing all the emails you want to delete.
- Once you have long-pressed on all emails, tap on the trash can icon at the top of the screen.
Gmail will delete all emails at once from your phone and take them to your Trash folder.
3. How to delete all emails from Gmail using the swipe method
You can delete all emails from the Gmail app for iOS by swiping them right or left. With this method, you don’t have to long-press or tap the profile icon one by one.
However, that will require you to configure swipe actions in the app to delete emails in the conversation list quickly.
Follow the steps below:
- Open the Gmail app on Android or iOS.
- Tap on the three horizontal lines in the top-left corner of your screen. A menu will open.
- Scroll down to select Settings.
- Tap on General Settings.
- Scroll down to select Swipe actions.
- Tap on CHANGE next to Right Swipe or Left Swipe. A list with five options will appear.
- Select Delete.
Go back to your Gmail account and open your Primary, Social, or Promotions folder. To delete the emails, swipe the mail right or left (depending on your selection).
Repeat the action for all emails in your conversation list.
4. How to mass delete unread emails from Gmail
Suppose you have many unread messages in your Gmail account, some at least a year older. It becomes difficult to delete them all at once since you cannot scroll through the conversation list in your Gmail app to find them, especially those hidden from your screen.
So, what is the easiest way? Do the following:
- Open your Gmail app on Android or iOS.
- Type label: unread In the search bar.
- Tap Enter.
- All the unread messages will appear.
To mass delete or unread emails from your Gmail account, swipe the emails right or left, as shown above. Alternatively, long press on the email or select its profile icon. Then, select the trash can icon to delete the emails.
If you only want to delete read emails and leave unread emails, you only have to type the label: read in the search bar and delete the emails.
5. How to prevent emails from filling your Gmail inbox
You can mass delete all emails at once from the Gmail app. But if you have subscribed to a service, you will always receive emails from that service.
The first option is to unsubscribe, but if you can’t, then you can block the sender.
Here is what to do:
- Open the Gmail app on your Android or iOS.
- Open the email from the sender you want to block.
- Tap on More or the three vertical dots.
- Tap on Block “sender.”
You will not receive any emails from the sender.
Conclusion
You can delete all emails from the Gmail app in different ways. For example, open the Gmail app and long-press the messages you want to delete.
Or, press the profile icon of each email you want to remove from your inbox. A third option is to use the Swipe Action setting in Gmail. That will allow you to delete emails by swiping them right or left of your screen.
