Gmail’s label system is a powerful tool for organizing emails, but sometimes we can end up with too many labels, cluttering our inbox. If you’re looking to declutter and simplify your Gmail experience, removing unnecessary labels is a great place to start. Here’s how you can easily delete labels across different platforms.
Method 1: Using Gmail on desktop
Deleting labels on your desktop browser is the most straightforward and efficient method:
- Navigate to Gmail in your web browser. You’ll see all your labels listed on the left side under the ‘Labels’ section.
- Move your cursor over the label you want to remove. You’ll see three dots appear next to it.
- Click on these dots and select ‘Remove label’. Don’t worry, this won’t delete any of your emails.
- For bulk label removal, click the gear icon in the top right corner, then ‘See all settings’.
- In the settings page, select the ‘Labels’ tab and scroll down to find all your labels.
- Click ‘Remove’ next to each label you want to delete.
Method 2: Using Gmail on iPad and iPhone
While not as quick as the desktop method, you can still easily remove labels on your iOS devices:
- Open the Gmail app and tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left corner.
- Scroll down and tap ‘Settings’ in the menu that appears.
- On the Settings page, tap ‘Inbox customizations’ under the ‘Inbox’ section.
- Select ‘Labels’ to view all your Gmail labels.
- Tap on the label you wish to remove.
- At the bottom of the screen, tap ‘Delete [label name]’ and confirm your choice.
Important tips to remember
- Android users can’t delete labels directly through the Gmail app, but can do so via a web browser.
- If you accidentally delete a label, you can easily recreate it and reassign it to relevant emails.
- Instead of deleting, you can hide labels by clicking the three dots next to the label and selecting ‘hide’.
- Removing a label doesn’t delete associated emails, but you can delete all emails under a label by selecting them and using the trash icon.