Gmail labels are a way of categorizing and organizing emails, similar to folders. But unlike folders, you can put multiple labels on an email.
Labels can be a great way to organize your emails if you get numerous of them every day.
Ironically, as useful as they are, too many labels can be a hassle to manage. So, if you’re looking into how to delete labels in Gmail, kindly follow us through this article.
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Reasons to Delete Labels in Gmail.
- There are way too many labels
- You don’t require a label anymore
- You accidentally created a label
- There aren’t any emails associated with the label anymore
How to Delete Labels in Gmail
Deleting a label will only remove the label itself. It won’t delete the emails associated with that label.
You can delete labels in Gmail using your computer or your smartphone.
This article will go through both of those methods in detail. Follow the steps mentioned below regarding the procedures to delete labels in Gmail.
Delete Labels in Gmail on a Computer
As there is no dedicated Gmail app for the computer, you need to use a browser to delete labels in Gmail on your computer.
To delete labels in Gmail on your computer, go through the steps listed below:
- Log into your Gmail account from a browser
- On the left panel, hover your mouse over the label you want to delete
- Click on three little dots to open a drop-down menu
- On the menu, click on Remove label
- Click on Delete to confirm
If you want to delete multiple labels, here’s how you can do it.
- On the left menu panel, click on More to expand the contents
- Click on Manage labels
- Scroll down to the Labels section
- Corresponding to the label, click on remove to delete that label
- Click on Delete to confirm
Delete Labels in Gmail on a Phone
Well, don’t worry if you can’t access Gmail through your computer. You can also access Gmail via smartphone, you can use it to delete labels in Gmail.
There’s a dedicated Gmail app on both Android and iPhone. While you can delete labels in Gmail on iPhone using the app, you can’t do the same through your android app. You need to log in to Gmail using a browser on your phone.
As respective to your mobile device, go through the steps mentioned below to delete labels on Gmail:
On Android
- Go to gmail.com on your browser.
- Tap on Use the web version
- Sign in to your Gmail account (if not already)
- Click on the Menu icon on the top left corner
- Scroll and tap on Desktop at the very bottom of the page
- Tap on “I’d like to use HTML Gmail” when prompted
This will change the page to the desktop version, where you can edit labels.
- Now on the left side, click on Edit labels
- Tap on the Remove button next to a label to delete it
On iPhone
To delete Gmail labels on your iPhone, follow the steps below:
- Open the Gmail app
- Tap the Hamburger Menu icon on the top left corner
- Tap on settings
- Choose the account you want to delete labels from
- Under the Label section, go to Label settings
- Select the label you want to delete
- Tap on Delete.
Related Queries
How to Create a Label?
To create a label in Gmail, follow the steps below:
- Log into your Gmail account on a browser
- On the menu panel, click on More
- Scroll down and click on Create new label
- Enter the name you want to give it and click on create
However, you cannot create a label in Gmail using the mobile app. You need to use your phone’s browser to do so. Open Gmail on a browser and switch to Desktop mode. From there, follow the same steps as above.
How to Apply a Label to an Email?
To apply a label to an email on your account, go through the steps below:
On PC
- Go to your Gmail account
- Tick the little box in front of an email to select it
- Click on the Move to icon, as shown in the image
- Select the label you want to apply
On Mobile App
- Open the Gmail app on your phone
- Tap and hold to select an email
- Tap on three little dots on the top right corner
- Select Change labels (Labels in iPhone).
- Check the label you want to apply
- Hit Ok
Can You Apply Labels Automatically to an Email?
You can create filters to automatically apply labels to emails based on specific terms such as email address, word, size, etc.
This saves you the trouble of manually applying labels to every email.
Follow the steps mentioned below to create a filter and automatically label emails:
- Open Gmail
- Click on the “Show search options” icon
- Enter the term you want to use as a filter and click on Create filter
- On Apply the label, choose the label you want to apply
- Click Create filter
How to Delete All Emails Under a Label?
Unlike folders, deleting a label won’t delete the emails associated with that label. But if you’re looking to delete all the emails related to a specific label, you can follow a different approach.
Follow the steps below to delete all emails under a specific label:
On Browser
- Open your Gmail account on your browser
- Select the label you want to delete emails from
- Check the small box below the search bar to select all the emails
- Click on the delete icon
- Now, head to the trash and select all the emails again
- Click on Delete Forever
On Mobile App
- Open the Gmail app on your phone
- Go to the label you want to delete all the emails from
- Tap and press on an email to select it
- Select every email one by one
- Tap on the delete icon and confirm
- Now, go to the Bin and delete the emails from there too.
How to Create Sub-labels?
Sub-labels or Nested labels help to organize your emails even further. They are labels under labels.
To create a sub-label, follow the steps below:
- Open your Gmail account
- Hover your mouse over the label you want to create a sub-label for
- Click on the three little dots to open a drop-down menu
- Select Add sub-label
- Enter the name for the sub-label
- Click Create