How do I delete all my drafts in Gmail?

Last reviewed: October 20, 2026 · Markdown version

Open Drafts, select them all, and delete. The one thing to know first is that drafts do not get the 30-day safety net other mail has: "When you delete a draft, you can't recover it from Trash" (Delete messages in Gmail, read 20 October 2026). Google's missing-mail page says the same in other words: "When you discard a draft, you can’t recover it" (Gmail messages are missing, read 20 October 2026). Scroll the list once before you clear it.

Where the drafts are

Gmail keeps them without being asked. In Google's words, "Drafts are saved automatically. To find a draft, go to the label named Drafts" (Write & send email, read 20 October 2026). That sentence comes from Google's guide for people moving from Outlook; Gmail Help has no page of its own about managing drafts that we could find on 20 October 2026, so the steps below come from its general delete page. That is why so many pile up: every reply you began and abandoned is in there. A scheduled email you called off lands there too, because "When you cancel a scheduled email, it becomes a draft" (Schedule emails to send, read 20 October 2026).

On a computer

Google's bulk steps on the delete page are written for any label you open on the left, though its examples are Inbox, Promotions and All mail rather than Drafts:

Click Drafts on the left.
Tick the Select box at the top left. This covers the current page.
If you have more than a page of drafts, use the link in the notice above the list. Google's sample of that notice, written for the inbox, reads "Select all 2,000 conversations in Inbox".
Click the delete button at the top.

The delete page does not say what that button is labelled inside Drafts (the Delete messages in Gmail page above). Whatever it reads, the result is the one in the first paragraph: the drafts are gone, not in Trash.

In the Gmail app

The Android and iPhone versions of the delete page give one bulk method for messages: touch and hold one, tap the box next to "Select all", then tap Delete. They warn that "By default, Gmail selects up to 50 messages to delete", so a long Drafts list takes several rounds (Delete messages in Gmail (Android) and (iPhone & iPad), read 20 October 2026). Neither page mentions Drafts by name. Open Drafts from the menu, then use those steps. If the list runs into hundreds, a computer saves you the repeats, as deleting in the Gmail app explains for the inbox.

Why there is no undo

The behaviour is built in, not a quirk of one screen. Google's reference for developers describes deleting a draft through Gmail's API in a single line: it "Immediately and permanently deletes the specified draft. Does not simply trash it" (Method: users.drafts.delete, Gmail API, read 20 October 2026). So keep any half-written message that matters: send it to yourself, or copy the text out, before you clear the folder.

Do drafts use storage?

Google's storage page lists "Gmail messages and attachments, which includes your Spam and Trash folders" as counting against your quota, and does not mention drafts either way (How your Google storage works, read 20 October 2026). If you are clearing drafts to win back space, measure first. A size search finds the mail that actually weighs something, and what takes up space in Gmail lists the searches worth running.