While there are various email providers available, Gmail remains one of the most popular ones. Gmail has some specific ways of organizing emails, so it is crucial to understand them to use Gmail effectively. In this article, we will address the mysterious “All Mail” folder, what it is, and how it works. We will also touch on deleting emails in Gmail and your Gmail account itself.
All Mail Folder in Gmail
Let’s briefly explain how “All Mail” works in Gmail. Strictly speaking, Gmail does not use folders to sort your emails. All your emails are contained in “All Mail”, and when you view them in Inbox, Drafts, etc., you are just getting a “view” of those emails based on labels that were assigned to them by either Gmail or you (if you create personal labels).
For example, received messages are assigned the label “Inbox”, and you can view them in the Inbox and All Mail. However, there is always only one copy of any given message.
So, even though you can view a new message in both Inbox and All Mail, deleting it from All Mail will result in it being deleted from Inbox as well, since Inbox is just a label assigned to it. It will also be deleted from any other labels that you assigned to it.
Bearing this in mind, you might be asking yourself: When you delete an e-mail in Gmail, where is it moved to?
Once the email is deleted, it will be moved to the Trash and permanently deleted after 30 days unless you move it from the Trash. The Trash folder, along with the Spam folder, are the only “real folders” in Gmail, together with the All Mail folder.
How to Delete All Mail in Gmail
If you want to start with a clean slate and delete all your emails, the easiest way is to delete them from All Mail. You will find it on the left panel of your email; it is usually not displayed by default, so you will need to click the “More” button to view it.
When you open All Mail, you can select all the emails by clicking the checkmark icon on the top bar, which will select all your emails. You also have the option to click the arrow next to the checkmark box, which will reveal a drop-down menu. There, you can choose to delete specific emails, such as Read, Unread, Starred, or Unstarred.
It’s not always a situation of “delete everything and run”, though. You might be more interested in how to delete all mail belonging to a specific category. To do that, take advantage of the search operators like from:, subject:, older_than:, and many more. This way, you can filter out exactly the messages that you have absolutely no use for anymore and only delete them.
How to Delete All Mail in Gmail App
You can delete emails from All Mail on your mobile phone in a manner similar to how you would delete them in the desktop webmail, including the use of search operators.
However, the mobile app limits the number of emails you can select. After you tap on the “Select all” box, the app selects only 50 emails. If you keep scrolling and end up at the end of the selected list, you can gradually select up to 200 emails.
Considering this, it makes sense to deal with the email cleanup via the desktop webmail. Not to mention the fact that checking which email should stay and which can be deleted will be much more convenient using the desktop interface anyway.
Deleting emails could be a bit of a scorched-earth approach, though. Sometimes, when you want to hide certain emails from view to keep your inbox tidy, archiving them might be a better, easily reversible alternative.
If you want to learn more about how archiving works, check out this link!
How to Delete an Email Account
Sometimes you just want to get rid of the whole account - you might not need it, or you want to wipe your entire online presence and start an off-grid life of adventure. In that case, can you delete a Gmail account - and if so, how to do it as easily as possible?
Deleting a Gmail account is only possible if you delete the whole Google Account. First, it’s important to note what happens once you delete your Google account. By deleting your account, you lose all the data associated with that account, so all of your emails, Google Drive files or pictures, and your Google calendar data. You also won’t be able to use any subscriptions or content associated with your Google account.
If you want to, you can export and download all of our account data via the Google My Account webpage before deleting the account.
Once you have exported any of the account data you wish to keep, you can proceed with the deletion. In the “Data & Privacy” section of your account, you will find the option to delete your account under the “More options” subsection. After clicking on the “Delete your Google Account”, you will be asked to confirm your credentials, and only then can you permanently delete a Gmail account.
Gmail has its specifics, and understanding them will help you navigate your inbox without unnecessary issues. However, deciding not to deal with Gmail at all and deleting your entire Google account is also a valid option. There are many alternatives in terms of email providers, and all of them will have both pros and cons. No matter which email provider you choose, eM Client will always be here to provide you with a clean and easy-to-use interface for viewing any of your email accounts, calendars, contacts, tasks, notes, and chats in one place.