Tired of an email thread you’re not interested in bubbling up to the top of your inbox again and again? Find out here how to mute a conversation in Gmail and have new replies go to the archive automatically.
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First, Eggs, Flour, Bread and…?
You’ll need flour, of course, to coat a Wiener Schnitzel, eggs, breadcrumbs best made with rolls from three days ago — and some sparkling water.
It is a tip and theory often floated: adding some splatters of sparkling water’s carbon dioxide to the eggs will make for the kind of fluffy coating one aims to obtain for a truly felicitous Schnitzel. So why not?
Now, if you’d prefer new emails in a bubbling conversation not to float to your Gmail inbox, you can take all the fizz out:
How to Mute a Conversation in Gmail
Using Gmail in a Desktop Browser or the Gmail App
Time needed: 2 minutes
To mute future emails sent in reply to a conversation in Gmail:
- Open the conversation or thread you want to mute in Gmail.
More than one: To mute multiple emails’ conversations at one time, select all threads in the message list instead of opening an individual conversation.
In one place: You can use Gmail search (and its search operators) to find just the conversations you want to silence, e.g., all those from a particular list. - Open the three dots menu for the conversation.
Here’s what it looks like: The menu button sports ⋮ in a desktop browser and ⋯ in the Gmail apps for Android.
This not that: Use the menu that applies to the whole conversation (at the top, next to the Labels button), not an individual email (next to the Reply button).
Gmail keyboard shortcut: You can press . (period) to open the menu. - Select Mute from the menu that has appeared.
Keyboarding: See below for muting with the keyboard in Gmail.
Their word: Google include information on muting in Gmail help.
Silenced a thread in Gmail?
Tips help fuel these email and tech how-tos.
Using a Gmail Browser Keyboard Shortcut
To mute conversations quickly in Gmail:
- Open or highlight the email threads you want to mute in Gmail.
- Press 8.
Keyboard shortcut not working: If the shortcut does nothing, check that Gmail keyboards shortcuts are enabled.
No unmute shortcut: Note that pressing 8 will not unmute the conversation; you need to use the mouse or menu to restore a muted email conversation in Gmail.
It’s un-mutable: How to Restore Muted Emails in Gmail
How to Mute a Conversation in Gmail: FAQ
What does muting mean in Gmail?
When you mute a conversation in Gmail:
- Future emails in reply are archived automatically.
Exceptions: When a new reply is addressed only to you (with no other recipients in the To: or Cc: fields) or when you are newly addressed explicitly (in a thread you otherwise received through a distribution list, for example), the reply still appears unread in your Gmail inbox.
Another way to archive automatically: How to Auto-Archive Emails in Gmail Using Rules
(Tested in a desktop browser and the Gmail app for iOS; first published March 2024, last updated October 2025)