How to Mass Delete Emails on Gmail: Expert Guide

Choose Your Method to Mass Delete Gmail Emails

When it comes to cleaning up your Gmail inbox, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. I’ll guide you through the most effective ways to bulk delete emails and declutter your inbox.

In this section, I'll explore how to delete multiple emails in Gmail’s web service:

So, let’s dive into these common scenarios!

Mass delete by category

Here’s a quick and easy way to clear out thousands of unwanted emails from your Gmail Promotions tab in just a few steps:

1. Log in to your mail account.
2. Navigate to the Promotions tab (tap More, then Categories if the tab is hidden).
3. At the top-left corner of the email list, click on the checkbox to select all the emails on the page (50 or 100 messages).
4. Click the Select all [number] conversations in Promotions link.
5. Once you have selected all the messages, simply click on the Trash bin icon to delete them.

💡 Note: When you delete messages, they don’t immediately disappear. Instead, they move to the Trash folder, where they continue to take up space until you empty the Trash or they are automatically deleted after 30 days.

Check out more details and use cases in our full guide on how to delete all promotions in Gmail.

Bulk delete by read/unread

In Gmail, you can quickly mass delete emails based on their read or unread status.

Here’s how to delete all unread messages:

1. Log in to your mailbox.
2. Type "is:unread" in the search bar and hit Enter.
3. Click the top checkbox.
4. Select the Select all messages that match this search option.
5. Click the Trash bin icon to delete all unread Gmail emails that you no longer need.

Mass delete by age

There are several ways to filter messages by age, like finding emails older than a certain date or within a specific date range. I’ll cover my favorite command here, and you can check out this guide for a detailed explanation on how to delete old Gmail emails.

How to delete emails older than 1 year

1. Open Gmail and go to the search bar at the top.
2. Type older_than:1y and press Enter.
3. Click the checkbox at the top left to select the displayed conversations.
4. To select all messages that match this search (not just the first 50 or 100), click Select all conversations that match this search.
5. Click the Trash can icon in the toolbar to move the selected emails to Trash.

Delete all or multiple emails from one sender

I could start with a guide on how to do this in Gmail, but it’s very inefficient because you need to manually filter your emails and find messages from each sender separately. If you still need to do this, you can check our other guide for detailed steps on how to delete emails from one sender in Gmail on the web.

For a more efficient way to do this, a better solution is Clean Email. This app groups messages into bundles by sender by default, saving you from time-consuming searches.

Here’s how easy it is to delete all emails from a sender using Clean Email:

1. Visit Clean Email’s website and log in, or use the app on your smartphone (iOS and Android).
2. From the left-hand menu, choose Inbox or All Mail.
3. Select the checkbox next to the sender(s) you want to manage. Clean Email will automatically group all related emails. Yes, this is how easy it is.
4. Click the Trash icon on the blue toolbar at the bottom to move these emails to the Trash.
5. To automatically send future messages from this sender to Trash, click Create Rule on the blue toolbar, select Trash under Apply Action, and confirm by clicking Create Rule again.

But that’s not all—Clean Email offers a powerful Senders tool. Instead of sifting through individual messages, this feature gives you a clear list of all email senders and how many messages you've received from each.

You can easily set up rules for specific senders, like blocking them, muting notifications, or automatically deleting their emails. You can also star important senders to make sure their messages stand out and are easy to find in your inbox.

Bulk delete by size

You can quickly mass delete large emails with attachments based on their size to free up valuable storage space.

Follow these steps to delete large emails in Gmail:

1. Open your inbox and go to the search bar at the top.
2. In the search bar, type "larger:4M" (with or without quotes) to search for messages larger than 4MB. You can adjust the number according to your preference.
3. Gmail will display messages that match the size criteria. You can select individual messages by checking the box next to each one, or click the top checkbox to select all on the page. If you have more than 50 or 100 messages displayed and are sure you want to delete them all, click Select all conversations that match this search.
4. Click on the Trash bin icon to send them to Trash.
5. Confirm the bulk deletion by selecting OK in the pop-up window.

Remember that it’s important to empty the Trash because these emails will continue to occupy space until they’re permanently deleted.

Navigate to the Trash folder, select all emails, and choose Delete forever. Alternatively, you can use the Empty Trash now option to permanently remove everything at once.

Clean up emails by label

When it comes to organizing your Gmail inbox, labels can be a powerful tool. But sometimes, those labels can get a bit too cluttered, filled with messages you no longer need.

Follow these steps to delete emails by a label in Gmail:

1. Open your mailbox.
2. On the left-hand side, click on the label you want to clean up.
3. At the top of the email list, click the checkbox to select all emails on the current page.
4. If there are more emails, click Select all conversations in [label] to select all emails under that label.
5. Click the Trash icon at the top to move the selected emails to the Trash.

If you are interested in learning how to remove labels themselves, check out this guide on how to delete labels in Gmail.

Mass delete archived emails

Deleting archived emails in Gmail can be tricky because Gmail doesn’t have a dedicated Archive folder like other email services. Instead, archived emails are mixed with all your other messages in the All Mail section.

Here’s how to find and delete them:

1. Open your Gmail account and navigate to the All Mail section to see all your emails.
2. Identify the email messages that don’t have the Inbox label—these are your archived messages. For easier viewing, adjust your View Density in the Quick Settings menu to Comfortable.
3. Select the archived emails you wish to delete by checking the box next to each one.
4. Click the Trash icon to delete all selected items.

Manually sifting through the All Mail section in Gmail to find archived emails can be incredibly tedious. I’ve been there, and I know how frustrating it can be to sort through everything just to find the messages you want to delete. That’s where Clean Email comes in as a much-needed solution.

In Clean Email, you can access a dedicated Archive folder, easily sort your messages the way you want, and apply actions to groups of emails instead of individual messages.

1. Open the Clean Email app on your mobile device (it also works on the web for desktop users).
2. Tap the menu icon in the top-left corner and navigate down to the Mailbox section.
3. If needed, expand the dropdown and select Archive to view all your archived Gmail emails.
4. To delete them in bulk, tap Select on the bottom toolbar and then tap Select All.
5. Finally, tap the Trash icon and confirm the deletion.

Delete by most frequent senders

Gmail doesn’t offer a built-in tool to easily manage or delete emails from your most frequent senders. To tackle this, you’ll need to rely on alternative methods or third-party tools like Clean Email.

One of the most effective solutions is Clean Email’s Top Senders filter, which is part of its Smart Folders feature. This filter automatically groups emails based on the senders who contact you most often, making it simple to manage them in bulk.

Smart Folders are designed to help you organize your inbox by categorizing emails into specific groups based on certain criteria. These folders don’t physically move your emails, but they give you a more organized view by grouping similar messages together, making it easier to manage your inbox.

After checking your top senders, you can select one or multiple senders and send their emails to Trash, delete them permanently, or create a rule to delete their future messages once they arrive.

Mass delete by email topic

Gmail doesn’t offer a simple way to filter emails based on specific topics or keywords. Sure, you can use the search bar to find messages with certain words, but this approach is time-consuming. You have to come up with all the possible keywords, and even then, you might still miss some emails that don’t exactly match your search.

This is where Clean Email can come in handy. Clean Email’s Smart Folders are designed to do what Gmail can’t. Instead of making you search for keywords, Smart Folders automatically group your emails into predefined categories based on common topics. For example, emails related to Online Shopping, Seasonal Sales, or Productivity Tools are all neatly organized into their own folders.

Note that these are not real folders like the ones Outlook uses. They function more like labels or tags, so you don’t need to worry about missing unread messages from your inbox.

When you open a Smart Folder, like Productivity Tools, it shows you all the emails in that category. You can easily select emails from specific senders by clicking the circular checkbox next to them (or select them all at once). Then, just click the Trash button to delete those groups of unwanted messages.

This approach saves you from having to create extra filters in Gmail to find and delete emails on specific topics, like online shopping-related emails, which can accumulate quickly.

How to Delete Gmail Emails in Bulk on Android and iPhone

Managing mass email deletions in the Gmail mobile app isn’t as straightforward as it is on the web. While the Gmail app does let you select all emails, it only works for the ones currently visible, meaning you’ll need to keep scrolling to load more. This can make the process feel slow and tedious, especially if you have hundreds of emails matching the filter.

For example, if you want to delete all emails under one label (or a category like Promotions or Social), follow these steps:

1. Launch the Gmail app on your iPhone or Android device.
2. Navigate to the desired label or category.
3. Tap the circular icon next to any email to select it.
4. Tap Select all to choose the first 50 emails on the screen.
5. Scroll down to load all emails under this label or category, then tap Select all again to select all email messages.
6. Tap the Trash icon to delete them.

Sometimes, you can’t delete all emails in a folder or category because they may contain important information, so you need to select certain messages to clean up.

Here’s how to mass delete emails on Gmail app:

1. Open the mobile app on your Android or iOS device.
2. Navigate to your Inbox or any other folder where the messages you want to remove can be found.
3. Tap the thumbnail to the left of each message you want to remove.
4. Tap the Trash bin icon to remove the selected messages.
5. Empty the Bin folder to free up the storage space occupied by the messages you’ve just deleted.

Another handy feature for deleting mass emails in the Gmail mobile app is utilizing the Swipe feature for quick, one-by-one deletions (though this isn’t ideal for very cluttered inboxes).

Here is how to delete Gmail emails in bulk on iPhone using Swipe:

1. Start by tapping on the three-lined settings icon located at the top-left corner.
2. Proceed to scroll down until you find Settings, then select it.
3. Search for the Inbox customizations option and tap it.
4. Select Email swipe actions from the list.
5. Choose your preferred direction for deleting emails - Right swipe or Left swipe.
6. From the list that appears next, pick Bin.
7. Click Done and head back to your inbox. From now on, swiping in the direction you selected will send your messages to Trash.

How to delete Gmail emails faster on Android

In the Android Gmail app, the process is similar to that on the iPhone. Navigate to Settings, select General settings, then choose Mail swipe actions. From there, you can customize the actions for either a left or right swipe, including the option to delete emails.

How to mass delete Gmail emails on mobile using Clean Email

If you want to select and delete more than 50 emails at once on your smartphone, you can easily do it with Clean Email:

1. Open the app on your mobile device.
2. Navigate to the All Mail folder or any other Smart Folder in the menu on the right-hand side.
3. Tap the Select button at the bottom or the circular icon next to any sender to select all emails from that sender.
4. Then, tap Select All at the bottom.
5. Tap the Trash button and confirm your action. Alternatively, tap … More and select Delete to permanently remove the emails.

As you can see, there are no limitations in Clean Email on mobile devices, so you can easily clean up your mailbox whenever you need to.

Clean House—Delete Them All!

Let’s say that your inbox is so neglected and overflowing with useless messages that you’re ready to apply the Gmail bulk delete features to get rid of everything in one go.

Here’s how to delete emails in Gmail Inbox:

1. Log in to your mail account on the web.
2. Navigate to the Inbox folder.
3. At the top of the list of email messages, you'll find a checkbox. When you click on it, it will select all the messages on that page.
4. Click the Select all [number] messages in Inbox option.
5. Now that all emails in your inbox are selected, click on the Trash bin icon at the top of the email list.

All the messages that used to fill your inbox are now in the Trash folder. If you're sure that you won't need to recover deleted emails from Gmail, you can go to the Trash folder and click on the Empty Trash now option. Alternatively, you can let Gmail do the work for you, as it will automatically empty the Trash folder after 30 days.