How to Show Only Unread Messages in Android Gmail App (Video)
One thing I don’t understand when it comes to the Gmail app for Android versus the one for iOS is the fact that the iOS one has the ability to display only unread messages while the Android one doesn’t. I use this feature on my web version of gmail since I generally mark messages as unread if I want to answer them later and without this feature they’d get lost in the fray of other messages. Even though the Android app doesn’t support this natively, there is a little trick to display them.
1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap the search icon.
3. Type in the following exactly as written and hit search.
is:unread in:inbox
4. This will display all of your unread messages. Sadly you do have to put this in everytime to see unread message but since google saves your searches you can usually bring this back up by simply tapping the search icon and scrolling slightly to tap this search query again.
Awesome! You are the man! This helped clear those obnoxious unread messages I couldn’t find.
This doesn’t work for me. When I type in the search window, there isn’t a button to start the search. Just an X to clear the field. Like it Auto searches for the key words is:unread in:inbox but can’t find it.
…er…you have to press the [enter] key on your keyboard.
Nice. I am Impressed.
That’s what we do over at TheUnlockr!
Nice! Much thanks for this!
can we set this as a label?
not from the app – not sure about the desktop version
Many keyboards support shortcuts. Set up a shortcut eg ‘gur’ (Gmail UnRead) to more quickly enter this
Awesome! Thank you so much!
Make label in gmail desktop with is:unread. Widget gmail label on android. Solved
That’s great but sadly it no longer works. Damn Google…
Wait really?? Let me check on mine in a bit…
It might be related to how many labels you have or messages or something like that, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t work on my Note 3. The Gmail app has been around a long time. This should have been added years ago, officially.
I just checked and it works. You might need to go to Gmail on a desktop. Then click on the Gear at the top right > Settings > Inbox > Change Inbox Type to Unread First and click Save.
Then in the Gmail app for Android, try the is:unread in:inbox search again. Let me know if that solved it so I can add it to the tutorial above! Thanks again!
Thanks David, but why would they shackle my Android phone app with desktop web based Gmail? That seems really stupid. So I have to change how I use it on one so it will change the other? That is like saying if you drive your sports car at 90 MPH, you have drive your family car at 90 MPH.
Also, this is exactly how I have set in my PC web based Gmail. I’m actually trying to make them the same.
This needs a serious fix.
I agree. Unfortunately though, doubt there will be a fix considering they’re pushing Inbox now. Check the app store for “Inbox by Gmail” I believe.
That is what I thought as well. Sadly I have a lot of filters and Inbox doesn’t like them, so I have stayed away from it. I’ll probably be forced to switch at some point. Who knows, if I wait long enough I may be able to skip Inbox and just go directly to the next thing they try after they abandon Inbox.