How to Delete All Emails From One Sender in Gmail
Search with from:, select every match and move it to Trash, plus how to narrow the search, undo a mistake, and get deleted mail back.
To delete all emails from one sender in Gmail, search for their email address
using from:, select all matching results, and click the trash icon. You can
undo the action immediately or recover messages from Trash before they're
permanently deleted.
This is useful when one newsletter, store, or notification service has quietly contributed several hundred messages to your inbox. The sale ended three years ago. The emails stayed.
Here's how to clear them using Gmail on your computer, recover anything deleted by mistake, and handle the same cleanup in Unpile.
Before you start: check the sender and conversation view
Open a message and check the sender's full email address. A company may use different addresses for promotions, receipts, and customer support. Start with the address you actually want to clear.
Also check Conversation view. Gmail can group messages from several people into one thread, and deleting a selected conversation can remove the other messages in that thread too.
For a cleanup limited to individual messages from one sender, temporarily turn conversation view off:
- Open Settings → See all settings.
- Under General, find Conversation view.
- Select Conversation view off and save your changes.
You can turn it back on afterward.
Delete all emails from one sender in Gmail
1. Search for the sender
In Gmail's search bar, enter from:newsletter@example.com, replacing the
example with the sender's full address, then press Enter. The from: operator
finds messages sent by that sender.
Review the results before selecting everything. If the same address sends both discounts and receipts, you may want to narrow the search first.
2. Select every matching result
Click the checkbox above the message list. This initially selects the current page.
If more results exist, click the link above the list to select all conversations that match this search. The wording may vary with your view. Check the selection notice before continuing.
3. Move the selection to Trash
Click the trash icon. Confirm if Gmail prompts you. The selected messages move to Trash.
Delete only certain emails from that sender
You don't have to remove the sender's entire history. Add another condition to your search:
- Messages older than a year:
from:newsletter@example.com older_than:1y - Messages received before January 1, 2026:
from:newsletter@example.com before:2026/01/01 - Unread messages:
from:newsletter@example.com is:unread - Messages with "sale" in the subject:
from:newsletter@example.com subject:sale
Review the narrower results, then repeat the selection and deletion steps. These searches are starting points, so check that they capture what you intended.
How to undo the deletion
There are two recovery routes: undo the action immediately, or retrieve the messages from Trash later.
Undo immediately
Click Undo in the notification that appears after deletion.
If Gmail's keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you can also press Z immediately to undo the most recent action. Avoid clicking into a text field first. Gmail's shortcut is Z, rather than the Command-Z shortcut you might use in a Mac app.
If the notification has disappeared, use Trash.
Recover messages from Trash
- In Gmail's left sidebar, open More → Trash. Some language settings call it Bin.
- Find and select the messages you want to recover.
- Click Move to and choose Inbox or another available destination.
To locate that sender's deleted messages directly, search
in:trash from:newsletter@example.com.
Check the dates and subjects before restoring everything. The results may include messages you deliberately deleted during an earlier cleanup.
Moving messages to Inbox makes them available there again. It doesn't necessarily recreate their previous organization, so check any labels you rely on.
How long can you recover deleted Gmail messages?
Gmail automatically removes messages from Trash after 30 days. Emptying Trash manually, or choosing Delete forever, permanently removes them sooner. Keep that recovery window available until you're comfortable with the cleanup.
For a personal Gmail account, permanently deleted messages are no longer recoverable through the normal Trash workflow. Undo is not a backup.
If you use Gmail through work or school, contact your Google Workspace administrator promptly. Google documents an additional administrator recovery window of up to 25 days after permanent deletion, subject to its recovery limits. This option is separate from your own Trash folder and does not apply to ordinary personal Gmail accounts.
How to delete a sender's emails with Unpile
Unpile is a Mac app for Gmail that puts sender-level actions beside the message you're reading.
To clear a sender:
- Open one of their messages in Unpile.
- Check that the sender card targets the exact email address, rather than everyone at the domain.
- Click the red Delete button on the sender card. Its number includes both read and unread messages.
- Review the confirmation, then proceed.
You can also right-click a message and choose Delete Everything from…
Unpile moves the messages to Gmail's Trash. It cannot permanently delete them with the permissions it requests.
To reverse the action, click Undo or press Command-Z. Command-Z also works after the notification disappears; repeated presses undo earlier changes. If you're typing in a text field, it undoes your typing instead.
If you need to recover messages later, use Gmail's Trash while they're still there. Unpile's Undo does not extend Gmail's retention period.
Decide what should happen to the next email
Deleting the backlog doesn't stop the sender from emailing you again.
For newsletters you no longer want, unsubscribe. For messages you still need, consider a Gmail filter that applies a label or archives them automatically. Gmail's filters let you choose how matching incoming messages are handled.
If you're unsure whether you'll need the existing messages, archive them instead. Archiving removes them from the inbox while keeping them available in All Mail. That gives you room to work without putting those messages on a deletion countdown.
Start with one sender whose messages are easy to judge. Clear that batch, check the result, then move to the next.