How to delete all emails in Gmail

Want to wipe your Gmail inbox clean? With Gmail's bulk delete option, you can delete all emails from your Gmail account at once with a few clicks. This works on the Gmail website, and we'll show you how.

If you use the Gmail app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android, you can't delete all emails at once on your device. This means that you will have to rely on Gmail to disinfect your inbox.

Also, be aware that deleting all your emails doesn't delete your Gmail account. You can still send and receive emails after deleting all your existing emails.

How to delete all emails in Gmail at once

To start removing emails in Gmail, first, open the web browser on your Windows, Mac, Linux or Chromebook computer and go to the Gmail website. Log in to your Gmail account on the site.

Tip: If you're not sure you want to completely lose access to your emails, consider downloading an archive of your emails.

When Gmail loads, in the sidebar on the left, click on "All Mail". If you don't see this option, click "More" to reveal the option.

In the left pane, you will see all emails in Gmail, including archived emails. To delete these emails, you will first have to select all these emails. Do this by clicking on the "Select" option (square icon) at the top of the Gmail interface.

Gmail will select all emails displayed on the current page. To select emails that are not on this page, at the top of the list of emails, click "Select all conversations X in all mail", where "X" represents the number of emails in the "All Mail" folder.

All your emails are now selected. To start deleting them, at the top of the Gmail interface, click on the "Delete" option (trash can icon).

You will see a "Confirm bulk action" box. Here, click OK.

Gmail will start deleting emails and moving them to the Trash folder. To permanently remove your emails, you will have to empty the Trash. To do this, in the left sidebar of Gmail, click on the "Trash" folder.