What happens if I delete the All Mail folder in Gmail? Here you will find the reason why you can’t delete that folder and the steps to delete all emails in Gmail.
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Gmail has become an indispensable tool for countless individuals and businesses alike. With its vast storage capacity and user-friendly interface, Gmail offers a convenient and secure way to manage our emails. However, you might be curious about the All Mail folder in Gmail. Check the differences between Gmail Inbox and All Mail folder if necessary.
The All Mail folder in Gmail is a special archive that serves as a repository for all the emails you have ever sent, received, or archived. Unlike other labels or folders, it captures a comprehensive view of your email history, making it a unique existence within the Gmail ecosystem.
So, what happens if I delete the All Mail folder in Gmail? Here comes the topic of today.
Can you delete the Gmail All Mail folder? Absolutely you can't delete the All Mail folder in Gmail. Why? Because Gmail only allows you to delete the labels you manually added, not including System labels (Inbox, All Mail, Starred, Snoozed, Sent, Drafts, Important, Chats, Scheduled, Spam, Trash folder), and Categories (Social, Updates, Forums, and Promotions). Thus, you cannot delete the All Mail folder in Gmail, and the only thing you can do to the All Mail folder is delete all emails in the All Mail folder.
On the other hand, you can delete the folders (labels) that you added manually in Gmail, here is how to delete folders in Gmail:
1. Please log in to your Gmail account.
2. Tap the Settings icon on the top right > See all settings > Labels (Or you can click More on the left side, then click Manage labels).
3. Scroll down to find the folder you want to delete and click Remove in the Action section.
4. Hit Delete to confirm the deletion.
Important: Removing a label (folder) will not remove the messages with that label.
Now, you have deleted the folder in Gmail with success.
As a matter of fact, you cannot delete the All Mail folder in Gmail, but you can delete all mails in Gmail All Mail folder to free up Gmail storage space.
How to delete all emails in Gmail All Mail folder? There are two ways to help you make it.
Here is how to delete all mails in Gmail All Mail folder from the Web browser:
1. Please log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click More on the left, then choose All Mail.
3. Tap the Select icon on the top menu to select 50 emails in the All Mail folder, then choose the button named Select all *** conversations in All Mail.
4. Choose the Delete icon on the top menu or from the right-click context menu.
5. Don't forget to empty your trash to reclaim space.
If I delete All Mail will it delete my Inbox? If you delete all mails in Gmail All Mail folder, you will find that all your emails in Inbox, and other folders or labels except for the Spam folder will be deleted as well, and all the deleted emails will be moved to the Trash folder, and the email imported from another Gmail will also be deleted directly into Trash according to the test.
Then you can empty your Trash folder now or move all the emails to Inbox to restore them, Or you will get your Gmail emails permanently deleted after 30 days.
Important: If you restore all emails deleted from All Mail to Inbox within 30 days, all your emails will be stored in Inbox, and only a few emails will be archived in All Mail. You have to archive emails in the Inbox folder by choosing them and choosing Archive, all the emails in Inbox will be archived in the All Mail folder again.
On phones, you still cannot delete the All Mail folder in Gmail, you are allowed to delete emails in that folder only, here is how to delete all emails from Gmail All Mail folder on phone:
1. Please log in to your Gmail app on your phone.
2. Tap the three-line icon on the top left, then choose All mail.
3. Click the profile before the email to select the email, choose all emails in Gmail All Mail folder, and tap the Delete icon on the top menu.
4. Then it will show you a message: *(number) deleted.
5. Please tap the three-line icon > Trash > Empty trash now to permanently delete all emails in Gmail.
How to see all mails in Gmail in mobile and manage Gmail All Mail folder? Access the All Mail folder in your mobile's Gmail app and manage it as you want.
To let you manage Gmail emails easily, it's highly recommended to try the web-based cloud file manager - MultCloud, which allows you to archive emails in Gmail to save space, and then you can delete all emails from Gmail to free up space, receive and send emails back to normal if your Gmail storage is full.
Here is how to archive all emails in Gmail to Google Drive with MultCloud:
1. Please apply for a MultCloud account, then sign in.
2. Tap Add Email > Gmail to add, then tap Add Cloud > Google Drive to add.
3. Tap Email Migration, choose Gmail as the source, and choose a folder in Google Drive as the target.
4. Select Options > Migration Settings > Save Attachments, and other options you need to configure, and hit Save.
Notes:
5. Click the Migrate Now button to move all emails from Gmail to Google Drive directly and quickly.
Besides, you could use MultCloud to download Gmail Emails as PDFs, please ensure you have enough Google Drive storage space, or it will fail while exceeding the Google Drive storage limit.
What happens if I delete the All Mail folder in Gmail? Unfortunately, you can't delete the All Mail folder in Gmail due to its system labels. The only thing you can do to the All Mail folder is to delete all emails in Gmail All Mail folder, and please note that all emails in Inbox, and other labels will be deleted as well if you deleted all emails from the All Mail folder in Gmail.
If you have added other labels in Gmail, you're able to delete the folder in Gmail. Before deleting folders or emails, please make sure you have taken a backup of Gmail for the important messages.