Get 15GB of free storage with a Gmail account, and in the early years, it seems impossible to fill that much space. But after a decade of saving messages just because“If it is.” receipts, family vacation planning threads, coupon codes for a store where you never buy, love letters, so to speak, you will find yourself near this cap. The time has come to suppress it.
I set up my Gmail account in 2007 and let’s just say I wasn’t diligent about keeping it organized. I try to unsubscribe from lists when things get too difficult, but actually cleaning up almost 15 years of emails is daunting.
Fortunately, you can massively delete Gmail messages without having to manually select them, and it’s actually quite easy. In the top search bar, type: Tag: all mail and press Enter. Options will appear directly below the search bar, including the ability to choose emails from a specific sender, a certain period of time, or messages that include attachments. I have a bad habit of subscribing to newsletters which I then let accumulate without ever opening them, so I usually use the sender’s specific method of mass deletion, but I forget the attachments it can take up a ridiculous amount of space (2008 email chains, we almost didn’t know that).
Once you’ve selected the filter method, click to check the box at the top left, above the list of messages, to select them all. If you want to delete more than 50 messages displayed on the page, click Select all conversations that match this search. Then click on the trash can icon.
In case you change your mind, Gmail keeps all your emails in the trash for 30 days by default. You can always go in the trash to delete these emails forever; just click the checkbox at the top left of the Trash folder and click Select all conversations that match this search. Then click Delete forever. REST IN PEACE.