Unread email on your mind? Lurking in dark corners of your folders? Find out here how to mark all emails as read fast on a Mac with Apple Mail, even across accounts.
First, People with Ideas
People with ideas, thoughts or opinions different from my own right now are not necessarily confused, ignorant or wrong.
People with ideas, thoughts or opinions different from my own right now are not necessarily confused, ignorant or wrong.
People with ideas, thoughts or opinions different from my own right now are not necessarily confused, ignorant or wrong.
People with ideas, thoughts or opinions different from my own right now are not necessarily confused, ignorant or wrong.
People with ideas, thoughts or opinions different from my own right now are not necessarily confused, ig❚
Now, while I continue to write this out… how about you read your emails—all of them, right now?
How to Mark All Emails as Read on a Mac
Mark All as Read in a Folder
Time needed: 1 minute
To mark all emails as read in a folder using Apple Mail for macOS on your Mac:
- Open the folder in which you want to mark all messages as read.
Multiple folders: You can mark messages as read across folders and accounts using Smart Mailboxes; see below.
- Press Command A to select all messages in the folder.
Menu: You can also select Edit | Select All from the menu.
- Now press Command Shift U to mark all emails as read.
Exception: If all emails in the folder were already marked read, the first pass of Command Shift U will mark all unread instead; do press Command Shift U anew to mark as read again.
Menu alternative: The corresponding menu item is Message | Mark as Read.
Mark All as Read Across Folders and Accounts
To mark as read all messages in all your Mail for Mac accounts:
- Select Mailbox | New Smart Mailbox… from the menu in Mail.
- Type
All Unread(or, naturally, another folder name that is meaningful for you) under Smart Mailbox Name:. - Choose Message is unread as the sole condition.
No more needed: This will automatically aggregate all unread messages from all folders (except Trash and Sent); you need not define any additional criteria.
Refinement possible: You can, of course, choose additional criteria—say, only include messages from specific accounts, particular folders, or senders, or from a certain date range. - Optional: Check Include messages from Trash and Include messages from Sent to include these folders’ emails respectively.
- Click OK.
- Now, in the All Unread folder mark all emails unread; see above.
How to Mark All Emails as Read on a Mac: FAQ
Do I have to use Smart Folders?
No.
To quickly mark all emails across accounts as read in Mail for Mac using search:
- Click in the Search mailbox field.
Mail keyboard shortcut: Press Command Option F to focus the search field. - Type
unread. - Select Message is Unread under Other from the auto-complete options.
- Go to the All Mailboxes folder under Search in the sidebar.
- Mark all emails in that folder read as above.
Can I set up Apple Mail to mark emails as read automatically?
Yes.
To set up a filter that marks all or certain messages as read as they arrive:
- Select Mail | Preferences… from the menu in Mail.
- Go to the Rules category.
- Click Add Rule.
- Select Mark as Read as the action under Perform the following actions:.
- Choose filtering criteria as needed.
- Click OK.
(How to mark all emails as read on a Mac tested with Mail for macOS Sequoia 15.0, Sonoma 14.2–14.3, Ventura 13.1 and Monterey 12.4; first published July 2022, last updated October 2024)