How To Clear All Inbox Emails At Once: A Complete Guide

How to Delete All Emails at Once in Gmail on Android

Let’s be real—if your inbox is anything like mine, it eventually gets completely out of hand. Thousands of emails, mostly old news, promos, or just things you meant to deal with but never did. And the worst part? Gmail’s mobile app doesn’t exactly make it easy to bulk delete everything in one tap. So after some trial and error, I finally found a way to clear out a huge chunk of emails directly from my Android phone, though it’s kinda clunky and not perfectly straightforward. Just a heads up: Gmail’s mobile app doesn’t have that “select all” checkbox in the same way the desktop version does—so it’s a bit of a workaround.

Getting to “All Mail” and Navigating Your Inbox

First, open up your Gmail app. Make sure you’re logged into the right account—these days I’ve got a few and mixing them up can lead to deleting emails from the wrong account, which would be a disaster. Next, hit the menu icon in the top left corner (that hamburger menu—three lines). It slides out a sidebar, and here’s the tricky part: you want to find “All Mail”. Not your inbox, not sent, but all mail. That’s where everything ends up, including archived messages and sent items, so it’s the perfect place to mass delete if you want to clean everything.

If you don’t see “All Mail” immediately, scroll down the menu or tap on “More” to expand the options. On some devices or newer app versions, “All Mail” might be near the bottom or tucked away under labels, which can be a pain to find. It’s worth spending a minute locating it because once you’re there, you’ll see every email stored in that account, regardless of labels or folders—great for cleaning everything quickly.

How to Select Multiple Emails (And the Hidden “Select All”)

This is where it gets messy. To start selecting, tap and hold on any email to activate its checkbox and entry into selection mode. Then, you can tap additional emails to include them. But here’s the catch: the app doesn’t just let you click “select all” in one go. After selecting a few messages, a checkbox pops up at the top (sometimes labeled differently depending on app version), allowing you to select all emails on that screen. But if your inbox has thousands of emails, you’ll need to keep scrolling and manually select heaps of messages—often a bit tedious.

In my case, after selecting a handful, I noticed a toggle or option to “Select All” for the folder. It’s usually tempting but not always obvious—sometimes hidden behind a menu or only available after selecting multiple messages. Be warned: selecting everything can sometimes freeze or slow down the app, especially with thousands of emails. So patience is key.

Doing the Actual Deletion

Once enough emails are selected, look for the trash bin icon at the top. Tap it, and Gmail moves those emails to Trash, but they aren’t permanently gone just yet. Gmail keeps deleted emails in Trash for 30 days by default, but if you want to free up space immediately, you need to empty Trash manually.

If you’ve managed to select all emails in the folder—sometimes Gmail will pop up asking, “Are you sure you want to delete all of these emails?” and you’ll see a message about thousands of emails—I’d recommend confirming but be aware it might take a little bit to process. Especially if your inbox is enormous—tens of thousands of messages—it can hang or take a while. Patience is the name of the game here.

Empty Trash and Clear It Out for Good

After deletion, go to the Trash folder. Just tap the hamburger menu again, scroll down to find “Trash” and open it up. Inside, you should see all the recently deleted emails. To delete permanently, look for an option like “Empty Trash Now”. Sometimes it’s tucked behind a three-dot menu or labeled “Delete Forever”—click that, confirm, and Gmail will wipe out everything in Trash instantly.

This step is crucial because otherwise, Gmail might keep those emails around for up to 30 days before it automatically deletes them, which defeats the purpose of your cleanup.

Final Check and Tips

Once you hit “Empty Trash Now,” give Gmail a moment to process it all. If your emails aren’t showing as deleted after a few minutes, try refreshing the app (pull down on your inbox or Trash to reload). I found that with really large deletes, I had to do it a couple of times or restart the app. Also, be aware that if your device is slow or your inbox super big, everything might lag—sometimes it crashes, too, so don’t get frustrated.

So yeah, while it’s not one tap, you can clear out a giant mess on your Android device without needing a computer—if you’re willing to put in a bit of patience. Just remember: be careful with the “Select All” option—double-check what you’re about to delete, especially if you’re dealing with thousands of emails.

Hope this saves someone else a headache, because it took me way longer than it should’ve to figure this out. Double-check you’re deleting the right account, don’t forget to empty trash afterward, and you’ll be back to a clean inbox in no time. Good luck!