How to Mark All Emails as Read in Gmail

To mark all emails as read in Gmail, search for is:unread on a computer, select every conversation that matches, and click Mark as read. The messages stay where they are. Nothing moves to Trash, and no storage comes back.

If you want the mail gone rather than marked read, that is a different job. How to delete all unread emails in Gmail covers the trash can, Trash, and what conversation view deletes along with the unread message. This page only changes the read state.

On a computer:

1. Open Gmail in a browser.
2. Click the search box and type is:unread. Press Enter.
3. Above the results, set the sort to Most recent. The select-all link in the next step does not appear on Most relevant.
4. Click the checkbox at the top of the list. That selects only this page.
5. Click Select all conversations that match this search.
6. At the top, click Mark as read.

Google's own "mark all messages as read" steps stop at the page checkbox. That is the current page of whatever you are looking at, often 50 conversations, and it leaves the rest unread. The banner is the step that covers the whole search.

A normal is:unread search skips Spam and Trash. It does include archived mail. The number on Inbox is only unread mail that still has the Inbox label. To clear that badge and leave archived unread mail alone, search for in:inbox is:unread instead.

What Mark as read changes

Mark as read clears the unread state. It does not archive, delete, move, or remove labels.

With conversation view on, which is Gmail's default, one row is a whole thread. Marking that row read marks the messages currently in the thread. A reply that arrives later is a new unread message, so the thread goes bold again. That is the usual reason a mailbox you just cleared looks unread the next morning.

Marking as read also does not take mail out of the Inbox. Archive is a different button. Archived mail stays in All Mail, and an unread message you archive is still unread. Where archived emails go in Gmail is the difference between those two actions.

Mark one category, label, or sender

A bare is:unread on an old account includes receipts and mail from people. Add operators in the same search box, with no space after the colon. Gmail search operators lists the rest of the syntax. Gmail categories is what Primary, Promotions, Social, Updates, and Forums actually hold.

For a label whose name has spaces, Gmail's search uses hyphens. A label called Tax Docs is label:tax-docs. Updates is the risky tab: it holds mail you may still need to open. Scroll the first page before you click Mark as read.

The same select-all banner is what mass delete in Gmail uses when the next click is the trash can instead.

On the Gmail app

The iPhone and Android apps can search for is:unread. They cannot select every conversation that matches a search.

Google's steps for marking several messages read:

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap the sender's profile image on the left of a message. If sender images are off, iPhone shows a checkbox, and Android uses touch and hold.
3. At the top left, tap the box next to Select all.
4. At the top right, tap Mark as read.

Select all applies to the messages loaded on screen. Google's help says to scroll, then tap Select all again for the next batch. On a computer, that first selection is one page. Gmail's help uses 50 conversations as the example, and Maximum page size under Settings, See all settings, General only goes up to 100. The app has no Select all conversations that match this search link, so a large unread pile is many passes.

If you only have a phone, open mail.google.com in the phone's browser and switch to the desktop site. The banner from the computer steps is there.

If the banner never shows, or the count does not move

The link Select all conversations that match this search shows up only after the page checkbox is on, in the bar that says every conversation on this page is selected.

• The sort is Most relevant. Switch it to Most recent.
• The search only fills one page. There is nothing further to select, so Gmail does not offer the link. Mark as read already covers those results.
• The bar never appeared and the sort is already Most recent. Reload Gmail and select the page again.

The unread number stays put for a few ordinary reasons:

• The page checkbox was the only selection, so the rest of the search is still unread.
• You cleared in:inbox is:unread, and archived unread mail is still in is:unread. Or you cleared is:unread and you are looking at a category tab you did not include, such as Promotions.
• The selection was large and Gmail has not finished. Give it a few minutes and refresh. The app icon can lag behind the website.

If Mark as read never finishes, the result is too big for one pass. Gmail does not publish a single cutoff for that. Split the search. Run is:unread older_than:2y, then a narrower age or is:unread category:promotions, until the set goes through.

A filter is for one sender, not every unread message

Gmail can mark new mail from one sender as read. Open a message from that sender, click the three-dot menu, choose Filter messages like these, create the filter, and check Mark as read. Gmail can also apply that filter once to matching mail already in the account. It does not patrol the mailbox every night.

Do not build that filter on is:unread. Every new message arrives unread, so the filter marks mail from people as read too.

When the unread mail is clutter you do not need

MailSweeper does not mark messages as read. Use Mark as read when you want to keep them.

Quick Clean is a delete, and it moves mail to Trash rather than changing the read state. Oldest unread finds is:unread older_than:10y. That is any unread mail that old, not only newsletters, so read the results before you confirm. Separate actions move promotions older than a year, social notifications older than six months, and updates older than a year to Trash. You can move them back out of Trash.

The scheduled cleanup is narrower. It only labels categories you turn on (promotions, social, updates, and forums), skips starred and important mail, and later moves the Dustpan label to Trash after the age you set: 7, 14, 30, 90, or 180 days. It still does not mark anything as read.

FAQs

Can I undo mark all as read?

Only immediately. Gmail shows Undo for a short time after the click, and the keyboard shortcut z undoes the last action if shortcuts are on. Press it then. After that notice is gone, Gmail does not keep a list of what just changed. Select the conversations you still need and click Mark as unread.

Why do emails show as unread again after I mark them read?

A new message arrived in the thread. Mark as read applies to the messages already there. The next reply is unread, and conversation view shows the whole thread as unread. A swipe set to mark unread, or Mark as unread on another device signed into the same account, does it too.

Why is the unread number still there?

The page checkbox does not select the whole search, so use the banner. The Inbox number also ignores archived mail, and a Promotions or Social tab keeps its own unread mail if your search did not include that category. Refresh after a large selection.

Does marking emails as read free Gmail storage?

No. The messages stay in the account, attachments included. Storage comes back only after mail is deleted and Trash is emptied. Mark as read is the right button when you want the badge gone and the mail kept.

Can I mark every unread email as read in the Gmail app?

You can mark the loaded batch. Tap Select all, then Mark as read, then scroll and repeat. The app cannot select every conversation that matches is:unread. For that, use Gmail in a desktop browser, including the desktop site on a phone.