How to Mark All Emails as Read in Gmail

You’d be pretty normal if you came to your inbox each day to find dozens – if not hundreds – of unread emails. But that can sometimes mean you miss new messages when they come through.

To make things simpler, and to give you a fresh start, you can mark all your old emails as read so that you can start keeping on top of your new ones. And the good news is, Gmail’s advanced search features make this process really easy. Here’s how to mark all emails as read in Gmail.

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Why it’s Useful to Mark Emails as Read in Gmail

It’s not always possible – or even necessary – to open and read every single email that comes into your inbox. That said, it’s also disconcerting to open your Gmail account to see that you have 10,576 unread messages.
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Being able to mark emails as read is a great way of organizing your inbox without having to necessarily go into every single message.

Dangers of a Cluttered Inbox

The danger of having so many unread emails in your inbox is that you can easily miss out on more important emails. For example, you might forget to reply to a potential client who had asked a question in your massive list of unread emails.

Extracting the message will waste much of your time as you’ll have to dig into your pile of emails. And you might lose the prospect if you don’t reply soon.

To avoid that, you need a tool like Right Inbox that can send personalized reminders about emails you haven’t replied to. This ensures no crucial emails slip past your radar.

In addition, Right Inbox offers other features like email reminders, email sequences, send later, private notes, mail merge, and email templates.

Marking an Email as Read

To mark a specific email as read:

Step 1. Check the box to the left of the email.

Step 2. Navigate to the top of the page, and click the Mark as read icon.

Step 3. You’ll now see a pop-up confirmation message which gives you the opportunity to Undo the command.

Marking your Whole Inbox as Read in Gmail

In your Gmail dashboard:

Step 1. Navigate to the search bar and enter Label: inbox is: unread and press Enter

Step 2. Click the arrow on the right-hand side of the Select icon, and select All

Step 3. In the message at the top of the page, click Select all conversations that match this search.

Step 4. You’ll then see a message that shows that you’ve selected these emails.

Step 5. At the top of the page, select the Mark as read icon, then OK.

Step 6. Confirm your command by clicking OK in the pop-up confirmation. 

You may need to repeat this process if you have hundreds of emails to mark as read. You can only access 50 emails at a time.

Marking Emails in Specific Folders as Read

You can also use the advanced search function to select messages in all your folders. To select unread emails in your Important folder, type Label:Important is:Unread into the search box.

Setting up a “Mark as Read” filter

You can also set up a filter in Gmail that lets you automatically mark certain emails as read as soon as they come in.

To do this:

Step 1. Navigate to the search bar, and click the arrow to the right-hand side.

Step 2. Enter the search criteria for the email(s) you wish to automatically mark as read. This is usually the From field.

Step 3. Click Search

Step 4. Select Mark as read, and click Create filter. 

Mark All Emails as Read in Gmail FAQ:

What does mark emails as read mean?

There are two main statuses that you can set on your emails: read and unread. Marking as read simply removes the “unread” notification, even if you haven’t actually read the email.

Why would I mark emails as read?

There are several reasons you may want to mark an email as read.

The obvious one is that you’ve already opened and read the email, so you don’t need Gmail to inform you that it’s still unread.

Many users also mark emails as read to keep their inbox clean. Getting to inbox zero is tough at the best of times, but when you receive many emails that aren’t urgent (for example, email marketing letters), you can mark them as read so that they don’t clutter your inbox and distract you from more important emails.

How do I mark all Gmail as read on iPhone?

You can’t mark all emails as read in the Gmail app. Here’s how to mark a specific email as read on iPhone:

Step 1. Open up the Gmail app on your iPhone.

Step 2. Select the email you want to mark as read by clicking on the sender’s profile image on the left side

Step 3. Look for the icon in the top right-hand corner that looks like an open envelope

Step 4. Click that and you’re done

How do I mark all Gmail as read on Android?

You can’t mark all emails as read in the Gmail app. Here’s how to mark a specific email as read on Android:

Step 1. Open up the Gmail app on your iPhone.

Step 2. Select the email you want to mark as read by clicking on the sender’s profile image on the left side

Step 3. Look for the icon in the top right-hand corner that looks like an open envelope

Step 4. Click that and you’re done

Quick tip: On iPhone and Android, you can adjust the settings in the Gmail app so that swiping left or right on the messages quickly marks the emails as read.

Conclusion

Learning how to mark all emails as read in Gmail can be a time-saving and efficient way to manage your inbox. By following the simple steps outlined in this article, you can quickly clear your unread messages. You’ll also take control of your inbox like a pro.