How to Mass Delete on Gmail

Mass-deleting your email in Gmail will save you time and hassle.

When you register for an email account with Gmail, you are given 2.5 GB of space for your emails, however this can go quickly when you send and receive a large amount of emails. If you need to clear some space in your Gmail account but do not have the time or energy to delete them individually, you can do a mass delete by selecting a large amount of emails at one time and deleting in one session.

Instructions

Mass-Delete Your Inbox

1. Log in to your Gmail account and click on "Inbox" on the left-hand side of the screen. Click on the drop-down box located directly above the list of emails and select "All"; this will select all of the emails on the first page of your inbox.

2. Click "Select All Conversations In Inbox" that is located directly below the labels button. Clicking this is going to select all of the emails in your inbox, not just the first page. If you have a lot of emails in your inbox, it may take some time to remove them all.

3. Click "delete" with the emails selected to remove all of the emails from your inbox. There is a delete button on the top and bottom of your screen. This will move all emails to your "Trash" so you will need to go to the trash located on the left-hand side of your screen and click "Empty Trash Forever."

Mass-Delete With A Filter

1. Log in to your Gmail account and place the cursor inside of the search bar located at the top of the page. Select a filter to choose a group of emails to delete at one time. For instance, if you want to remove all emails that contain a photo or document attachment, type has:attachment and press your enter key. You can also type in the name of a recipient, a label words or phrases.

2. Click on the drop-down box located directly above the list of emails and click on "Select All." This will select all of the emails located on the first page only. You will need to click "Select All Conversations That Match This Search" to click the remainder of emails Gmail found from your filter.

3. Click "Delete" to remove all of the selected items to the trash. Click on "Trash" located on the left-hand side of the screen then click "Empty Trash Now" to remove these emails completely.

Tips & Warnings

• Emails that are deleted into the trash are obtainable if you made a mistake but when you empty the trash, they are gone forever so be sure you want to delete the selected items.

References

• Creative Bits: Clean Up Your Gmail Account; October 2006