Can I make All Mail the default view in Gmail?

Last reviewed: October 8, 2026 · Markdown version

Not as a setting that Google documents. Gmail's page on inbox layout lets you choose how the inbox is arranged, but every choice on it is a way of showing the inbox; none opens Gmail on All Mail, and the page offers no option to start on any other label (Change your Gmail inbox layout, read 8 October 2026). What Google does document is a handful of fast ways to get there, which in practice gets you most of the way. What All Mail actually holds is covered on what All Mail is.

What the settings do let you choose

On a computer, Settings, then "Inbox type", gives six options: "Default", "Important first", "Unread first", "Starred first", "Priority Inbox" and "Multiple Inboxes" (the Change your Gmail inbox layout page). Each one splits or sorts the inbox, for instance "Unread" at the top and "Everything else" at the bottom. The page, and its Android and iPhone & iPad versions read the same day, never mentions All Mail and describes no setting for the view Gmail opens on. The choice between those six layouts is on changing your Gmail inbox type.

The quickest documented routes

On a computer: "On the left, click More All Mail." In the Gmail app: "At the top left, tap Menu All mail." (Archive Gmail messages and its Android version, read 8 October 2026).
By keyboard: Google's shortcut list has "Go to All mail" as g then a. Shortcuts may need switching on first: Settings, See all settings, then "Keyboard shortcuts on" and Save Changes (Keyboard shortcuts for Gmail, read 8 October 2026). The page also warns they "aren't supported by all languages or keyboards."

Keeping it one click away

Google's labels page explains how to choose which labels appear in the left-hand list: Settings, See all settings, the Labels tab, then "Next to a label, click Show or Hide" (Create & manage labels in Gmail, read 8 October 2026). That page does not name All Mail, so it does not promise All Mail is in that list. Our suggestion is to look for it there and set it to Show, so it stops hiding under More.

A second suggestion of ours, not something Google documents: on a computer, open All Mail and bookmark the page in your browser. Opening the bookmark should bring you straight to All Mail rather than the inbox. Check that it works in your own browser before you rely on it.

If what you want is the archived mail

Many people asking for All Mail really want the mail they archived. All Mail shows that mixed in with everything still in the inbox. Google's archive page gives a narrower search: "Enter: in:archive" (the Archive Gmail messages page above). Finding archived mail is covered on finding archived emails.

On a computer you can also put that search on the inbox screen itself. The Multiple Inboxes type builds extra sections from "the search criteria you want to add for each section", and Google says "You can only set up multiple inboxes with a computer." (Manage your emails with multiple inboxes, read 8 October 2026). A section built on in:archive is our idea, put together from those two documented pieces, not a setup Google describes. It is the nearest thing to opening Gmail on your archive.