How to “Select All” in Gmail (Updated 8/2014)

I don’t know why this is hard for me to remember, but I forget how to “Select All” in any gmail view whether in an advanced search or a label view. And the first searches on the web I found for this are dated. So thought I’d write it down here.

In this example, I’m trying to delete over 6,000 notices that have been auto-filed in a label (folder) I call “backup”.

Here are the steps:

1. Perform a search or switch to a label view. In this case I have 6,157 messages in a label view called “backup”.

gmail-select-all-step-1

2. Choose “All” under the drop down selection box. Gmail will only select all 50 showing in the view, but…

gmail-select-all-step-2

3. Gmail will offer you an option to choose all items with a link! Now I can select all and trash or label thousands of messages at once.

gmail-select-all-step-3

I guess it is hard to remember that a link is going to show when I know All doesn’t mean All (at least not at first.)