How to Find Unread Emails in Gmail Desktop

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Having tons of unread emails can be irritating. Especially if there is an important email you need to read. But how can we find such emails on Gmail?

Lucky for you. Gmail comes with sophisticated features that let you find unread emails quite easily.

In this guide, you will learn how to find all unread emails, including a filter to only show emails from a specific folder. You can also set Gmail to show the unread emails first at the top list.

Let’s jump into the guides!

#1 How to find all unread emails in Gmail

In the following tutorial, you will be able to show the entire unread emails on Gmail. This method can be applied to the Gmail desktop and Gmail app (Android).

1. Go to your Gmail account and head to the search bar at the top.

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2. Type label:unread and press Enter.

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3. You will see all emails from all folders on your Gmail.

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To be fair, having too many unread emails on a list like that might not so useful. That’s why I present you another method to show unread emails under a specific folder, such as Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, or Forums.

#2 How to find unread Primary emails in Gmail

We are going to use the search bar as the previous guide. However, we will add a filter so Gmail will only show you unread emails from the folder you selected.

1. Go to your Gmail account and head to the search bar at the top.

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2. Type label:unread category:primary and press Enter. Remember, you can replace Primary with the folder you want to search, such as Promotions, Social, Updates, and Forums.

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3. Now you can see unread emails from the category you have selected before.

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#3 How to bring unread emails to the top on Gmail

Unlike the previous guide, in this tutorial, we will change Gmail’s setting so it will bring all the unread emails to the top. This way will encourage you to read the email soon instead of ignoring it.

1. Click on the gear icon and select Settings.

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2. Go to the Inbox menu.

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3. Set Inbox type to Unread first.

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4. Scroll down and Save Changes.

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5. Now the unread emails appear on the top list.

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Okay. That’s how you can find unread emails on Gmail. I personally prefer the second method since it allows me to see the unread emails that I consider more important.

You will also probably interested to know about how to find archived emails on Gmail. It is very useful, especially if the email contains something valuable that you won’t lose.