How to Delete All Messages in Yahoo Mail

Last Updated: June 7, 2021

This wikiHow teaches you how to delete all email messages on the Yahoo! Mail mobile app and on the Yahoo! website. Yahoo! Mail can delete up to 10,000 messages at a time. If you have more than 10,000 messages in your inbox, you'll need to repeat the deletion steps more than once.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

On Mobile

1
Open the Yahoo! Mail app. It's a purple app with an envelope icon.
2
Tap and hold the first message. This adds a checkmark to the box (Android) or circle (iPhone/iPad) next to the message.

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3
Tap the "Select All" checkmark. It's in the upper-left corner of the app. This selects all messages in your inbox, whether read or unread.
- The number of messages selected appears at the top-left corner of the screen.
- If you have more than 10,000 messages in your inbox, only the first 10,000 will be selected. After deleting your first 10,000 messages, you can select all remaining messages and delete them—repeat this until all messages are deleted.
4
Tap the trash can icon. It's at the bottom-left corner. If you're using an iPhone or iPad, this will automatically delete your messages.
- If prompted, tap OK to confirm deletion.
- After deleting your messages, they'll remain in the Trash folder for 7 days, or until you empty the trash (whichever comes first).^{[1]
  X
  Research source} To empty your Trash folder now, continue to the next step.
5
Tap the mailbox selector. It's at the bottom-left corner of the screen. The icon is an envelope that says "Inbox" by default.
6
Tap the trash icon to the right of "Trash." A confirmation message will appear, asking if you want to permanently delete the messages in the folder.
7
Tap OK to confirm. All of the messages are now permanently deleted.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

On the Web

1
Go to http://mail.yahoo.com in a Web browser. If you're not already signed in, you'll be prompted to do so now.
2
Click the Select All checkbox. It's the empty square above your inbox's top-left corner. The square has a small downward-pointing arrow beside it. When you click the checkbox, a checkmark will appear inside, and all messages on the page will gain their own checkmarks.
- The number of selected messages now appears to the right of the checkbox.
3
Scroll down farther in your inbox. If you have more messages than what you see on the page, scroll down until you see at least one unselected messages.
4
Click the Select All checkbox again. This removes the checkmarks from all messages. Don't worry, you'll be adding them back in the next step.
5
Click the Select All checkbox one more time. Now all messages in your inbox should be selected.
- You can only select up to 10,000 messages at once. If you have more than 10,000 messages you need to delete, delete the first 10,000 first, and then repeat the steps to delete the next.
6
Click Delete. It's next to the trash can icon in the toolbar above your email messages.
7
Click OK to confirm deletion. All of the selected messages will be moved to the Trash folder, where they will remain for 7 days (or until you empty the Trash—whichever occurs first).
- Repeat these last steps until your mailbox is empty.
- If you want to empty the Trash folder now, continue to the next step.
8
Hover your pointer over Trash. It's in the left panel of the window. A trash can icon will appear to the right of Trash.
9
Click the small trash can icon. A confirmation message will appear.
10
Click OK to confirm deletion. All of your Yahoo! Mail messages are now permanently deleted.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I delete all of my emails at one time?

Community Answer

Click "select all." However, even this option will only allow 100 messages to be deleted at a time.
Question

Where is the select all button?

Community Answer

It is on the top left of your messages.
Question

How can I delete all 30,000 of my emails?

Community Answer

You can check the "select all" button, and then click "delete."