Gmail is a free Web-based e-mail service that gives customers a gigabyte of message storage and allows users to search for specific messages. Gmail also creates a conversational thread by automatically grouping together relevant messages.
According to Larry Page, co-founder and president of Google, a user’s letter led the firm to build Gmail because of issues with current Web e-mail services, such as the continual need to delete messages to keep under storage limitations and the absence of any search capability.
Gmail is similar to other email services in that it allows you to send and receive emails, prevent spam, build an address book, and perform other basic email functions. However, it also offers several distinctive characteristics that contribute to its popularity as one of the most widely used online email services.
If you’re like most Gmail users, your inbox is clogged with hundreds or even thousands of unread emails, making it impossible to recognise when new messages arrive. Marking all of your previous messages as read might help you prioritise and get a new start, but Gmail’s basic interface only allows you to mark one page of messages at a time. Gmail’s advanced search function allows you to mark all of your unread messages at once, so you don’t have to go through your messages page by page.
Marking all of your previous messages as read might help you prioritise and get a new start, but Gmail’s basic interface only allows you to mark one page of messages at a time. Gmail’s advanced search function allows you to mark all of your unread messages at once, so you don’t have to go through your messages page by page.
- Press “Enter” after typing “label:inbox is:unread” (without the quotes) into the Google search bar at the top of the page. The first 20 unread messages in your inbox are displayed in Gmail.
- Select “All” by clicking the “Down” arrow on the Select button.
- In the notice towards the top of the screen, click “Select All Conversations That Match the Results.” The message changes to show that all of the emails that match your search criteria have been selected.
- Select “Mark as Read” from the “More” menu, then click “OK.” Gmail labels all of your communications in your Inbox as read. If you have hundreds of unread messages, this procedure may take several seconds or longer.