How to mass delete all emails on Gmail (5 easy steps)

If your Gmail inbox has thousands of messages piling up, you're probably looking for a way to delete all emails on Gmail at once. Gmail doesn't make mass deletion obvious, but it's possible with a few clicks on the web, and with workarounds on mobile. This guide covers everything: how to clear your entire inbox, how to mass delete emails by sender, date, or category, and how to keep things clean going forward.

Quick steps (web)

1. Open Gmail, go to All Mail: In the left sidebar, click More, then All Mail.
2. Select page: Click the top-left checkbox above the message list.
3. Select everything: Click Select all X conversations in All Mail.
4. Delete: Click the Trash icon and confirm the bulk action.
5. Permanently remove: Go to Trash and click Empty Trash now.

Quick steps (mobile app)

1. Open Gmail and go to Inbox / All Mail / a label.
2. Batch-delete: tap-and-hold / long-press one email, select more, tap Trash, scroll and repeat for more batches.
3. Swipe-to-delete (faster): Menu, Settings:
   • iPhone: Inbox customizations, Email swipe actions
   • Android: General settings, Mail swipe actions Set a swipe to Delete, then swipe through the list.
4. Full wipe from phone (desktop site): Open Safari/Chrome, go to mail.google.com, request Desktop site (aA on iPhone / three-dot menu on Android), open All Mail, click the checkbox, click Select all X conversations in All Mail, then Delete.
5. Permanently remove: Menu, Trash, Empty trash now.
   • (Optional: Spam, Delete all spam messages now.)

Read this before deleting all Gmail emails

Before you mass-delete emails, take a moment to consider a few important points:

• Backup important emails: Once you delete emails and empty the trash, they're gone forever. If you have messages with important attachments, receipts, or data, consider backing them up. You can use Google Takeout to export all your Gmail data before deletion.
• Check for critical info: Scan for any password reset messages, two-factor codes, license keys, or legal documents you might need. Old emails often contain login links or personal information.
• Deleting vs. archiving: Gmail offers archive and delete options.
  • Archiving an email removes it from your inbox but keeps it in All Mail (still searchable and retrievable).
  • Deleting an email moves it to Trash and permanently removes it after 30 days.
• All mail vs. inbox: The All Mail view includes all emails in your account (Inbox, Sent, Drafts, everything except Spam and Trash). When we say "delete all emails," we'll be working in All Mail to ensure every message gets removed.

How to delete all emails on Gmail on the web

The fastest way to delete all your Gmail emails is via the web browser interface on a computer. This lets you select every email in your account and delete them in just a few clicks.

1. Open Gmail and go to all mail

Log in to Gmail on your computer. In the left sidebar, scroll down and click More to expand the folder list, then select All Mail. This view shows every email in your Gmail account (except Spam and Trash).

If you only see Inbox, Sent, etc., you may need to click More to reveal the All Mail option.

2. Select all messages on the page

Once All Mail is open, look at the top of your email list.

Click the select checkbox (a square icon) at the top-left above your emails next to the Refresh button.

This will select all emails currently visible on the first page. Gmail usually shows 50 conversations per page by default.

3. Select all conversations in all mail

After clicking the checkbox, Gmail will display a small banner above your emails that says All 50 conversations on this page are selected.

Next to that, there will be a clickable option to Select all X conversations in All Mail. Click that link. (The X will be the total number of emails in your All Mail, e.g., 2,300 conversations.)

Gmail will now select every email in your All Mail folder, not just the first page.

4. Delete the emails

With all emails selected, click the Delete icon (trash icon) in the action toolbar at the top of the Gmail interface.

Gmail may ask you to confirm this bulk action with a pop-up saying Confirm bulk action; if so, confirm by clicking OK. All of your selected emails will then be moved to the Trash folder.

5. Empty trash to permanently delete

Deleted emails in Gmail aren't immediately erased forever; they stay in the Trash for 30 days.

If you want to free up storage space immediately or ensure the emails are gone, you should empty your Trash.

To do this on the web: click Trash in the left sidebar (you might have to click More to find it), then click Empty Trash now at the top and confirm.

Also consider emptying your Spam folder, as spam emails can accumulate and use storage; in the Spam folder, you'll see an option to Delete all spam messages now.

How to delete all Gmail emails on mobile

The Gmail app (on both iPhone and Android) does not provide a "select all" button to delete everything in one go. Google intentionally left out bulk-select on mobile to prevent accidental mass deletions.

However, you can still delete emails in bulk on the app by selecting multiple emails at once, just in smaller batches.

Here are your options to mass delete emails in the Gmail app:

Option 1: Batch-select and delete (in the app)

1. Open Gmail and go to Inbox, All Mail, or a label.
2. Long-press one email to start selection mode.
3. Tap more items to select a batch. (If Select all appears, it applies to the currently loaded list.)
4. Tap the Trash icon at the top.
5. Scroll to load more emails and repeat as needed.

Option 2: Swipe-to-delete (fast one-by-one)

1. Open Gmail, Menu, Settings:
   • iPhone: Inbox customizations, Email swipe actions
   • Android: General settings, Mail swipe actions
2. Set the Left or Right swipe to Delete (or Trash).
3. Return to your inbox and swipe messages to remove them quickly.

Option 3: Use Gmail's desktop site on your phone (true "select all")

1. Open Chrome or Safari and go to mail.google.com.
2. Request the Desktop site (three-dot menu in Chrome, aA in Safari).
3. Sign in, open All Mail, click the top-left checkbox, then Select all X conversations in All Mail.
4. Click Delete and confirm.

Option 4: Empty trash (and spam) to free storage

1. Menu, Trash, Empty trash now (permanent).
2. Menu, Spam, Delete all spam messages now (optional).

How to delete specific emails in bulk

Instead of wiping everything, you can use Gmail's search operators to mass delete emails by sender, date, category, or size. This lets you clean out thousands of emails at once without losing messages you actually need.

Delete emails by sender

To delete all emails from a specific sender, type the following in the Gmail search bar:

from:sender@example.com

Replace sender@example.com with the actual email address or domain (e.g., from:linkedin.com to catch all LinkedIn emails). Press Enter, then select all results using the checkbox and the "Select all conversations that match this search" link, and delete.

Delete emails by date

To delete emails older than a specific date, use one of these search operators:

• before:2025/01/01 deletes everything received before January 1, 2025
• older_than:1y deletes everything older than one year
• older_than:6m deletes everything older than six months

You can combine these with other operators. For example, older_than:1y has:attachment finds old emails with attachments that may be using a lot of storage.

Delete emails by category or label

Gmail automatically sorts emails into tabs like Promotions, Social, and Updates. You can mass delete an entire category:

• category:promotions for marketing emails
• category:social for social media notifications
• category:updates for automated updates and receipts
• category:forums for mailing list messages

Search for the category, select all results, and delete. This is one of the fastest ways to clear thousands of emails without touching your important messages.

Delete all emails except starred

If you've starred the messages you want to keep, you can delete everything else:

-is:starred

This search returns every email that is not starred. Select all and delete. Your starred messages remain untouched.

You can also combine this with other filters: -is:starred older_than:6m deletes unstarred emails older than six months.

How to free up Gmail storage after deleting

Deleted thousands of emails but your storage still looks full? Here's why, and how to fix it.

Empty trash and spam

Emails in Trash and Spam still count toward your storage quota until they are permanently deleted. Gmail auto-deletes Trash after 30 days and Spam after 30 days, but you can speed this up:

1. Go to Trash in the sidebar and click Empty Trash now.
2. Go to Spam and click Delete all spam messages now.

Understand the 15 GB shared quota

Gmail storage is shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. If your storage is still full after clearing Gmail, check your Drive and Photos usage too.

Visit Google Storage to see a breakdown of what's using your space. You may find large Drive files or original-quality photos taking up most of your quota.

Wait for changes to reflect

After a large deletion (thousands of emails), it can take a few hours for Google's storage counter to update. If you've emptied Trash and Spam but storage still shows as full, check again later.

How to auto-delete emails with Gmail filters

Instead of manually cleaning your inbox every few months, you can set up Gmail filters to automatically delete incoming emails that match certain criteria.

Create an auto-delete filter

1. In Gmail, click the search options icon (the small triangle in the search bar).
2. Fill in your criteria: a sender address, specific words, or a size threshold.
3. Click Create filter.
4. Check Delete it.
5. Optionally check Also apply filter to matching conversations to delete existing emails that match.
6. Click Create filter to save.

From now on, any email matching your filter will go straight to Trash automatically.

Common auto-delete use cases

• Newsletter unsubscribes you keep forgetting: Filter emails from noreply@newsletter.com and auto-delete.
• Social media notifications: Filter from:facebookmail.com or from:twitter.com to auto-trash.
• Automated alerts you've outgrown: Old system notifications, shipping updates from past orders, or promotional blasts.

This keeps your inbox clean without lifting a finger. For emails you might want to reference later but don't need in your inbox, consider syncing them to Notion with 2sync instead of deleting.

A smarter alternative: sync Gmail to Notion instead of deleting

Mass deleting emails solves the clutter problem, but it doesn't solve the organization problem. Important messages get buried, and you end up deleting things you'll wish you'd kept.

2sync's Gmail integration automatically syncs your Gmail messages to a Notion database. Each email becomes a Notion page with the subject, sender, recipients, date, and a link back to the original message. You can tag emails, add them to projects, or turn them into tasks, all within Notion.

This works especially well if you also sync your Google Calendar or Todoist to Notion. Your emails, meetings, and tasks all live in one workspace. Instead of deleting everything and hoping nothing important was lost, you keep what matters organized and searchable.

Conclusion

Clearing Gmail is fastest on the web: open All Mail, select the page, click Select all X conversations in All Mail, delete, then empty Trash (and optionally Spam) to free storage immediately. On mobile, you can batch-select or use swipe-to-delete, or switch your browser to the desktop site for a true select-all.

For targeted cleanup, use Gmail's search operators to mass delete by sender, date, or category. Set up filters to auto-delete recurring junk. And for emails you want to keep organized without the inbox clutter, sync Gmail to Notion with 2sync.

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