How to Mark All Emails as Read in Gmail

A large unread count in Gmail can be cleared in one pass. You will select every conversation in the inbox, or only the unread ones, and mark them read at once.

Open the mail you want to clear

Click Inbox in the left sidebar, or open a label. To limit the change to unread messages, type is:unread in the search box and press Enter. Add a location to the search to stay within one place, for example is:unread in:inbox or is:unread label:newsletters.

Select everything on the page

Click the checkbox at the top left of the message list, above the first email. This selects the conversations currently visible on that page, up to 50 or 100 depending on your page size setting.

Select all conversations, not just one page

A line appears above the list reading Select all N conversations in Inbox, or Select all conversations that match this search when you searched. Click it. If the line does not appear, everything already fits on one page and is selected.

Mark them as read

Click the three-dot More button in the toolbar above the messages, then Mark as read. If Gmail shows a bulk action confirmation, click OK. With keyboard shortcuts turned on, pressing Shift + I does the same thing. The unread count next to Inbox drops once the list refreshes.

Keep it from piling up again

For mail you never read, such as notifications, create a filter that marks it read on arrival. Click the search options icon in the search box, enter the sender or subject, click Create filter, check Mark as read, and click Create filter again. Skipping the inbox at the same time keeps the noise out of view.

In the Gmail app. There is no select-all for the whole inbox. Long-press an email to start selecting, tap the others you want, then tap the three-dot menu and Mark as read. The app only handles what you select on screen, so a large inbox takes several batches.

Filters do not work backward. A filter with Mark as read only affects new mail as it arrives. The one exception is the Also apply filter to matching conversations box shown when you create the filter, which applies it to existing mail once.