Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
When you make a search on Gmail, it gets added to your search history, and will also show up in autocomplete in future searches. While this is usually a useful timesaving feature, you may get annoyed having some old searches show up. The simple solution is to delete your Gmail search history, which can be done both on mobile devices and desktop.
Read more: How to delete all emails in Gmail
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To delete Gmail search history on a mobile device, go to Gmail Settings. Tap on your account and select Clear search history. On desktop, enter the Gmail search term you want to delete, and then click the X next to it to wipe it from your search history.
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How to delete Gmail search history (Android and iOS)
Deleting search history on a mobile device is an all-or-nothing affair. Unlike the desktop method, which we’ll look at shortly, deleting any search history items on the Gmail mobile app is the equivalent of hitting the nuclear button. You either wipe it all or none at all. You can’t select certain ones to keep and certain ones to delete.
If you don’t mind this, here’s how to wipe the entire lot in one fell swoop.
Click on the three horizontal lines at the top-left of the screen, and scroll down to Settings.
Now tap on the email account you want to wipe the history for.
Scroll down to Privacy and tap on Clear search history.
You’ll then be warned that the Gmail search history will be wiped across all devices logged into your Gmail account. If you’re fine with that, click Clear, and it shall be done.
How to delete Gmail search history (desktop)
If, on the other hand, you’d prefer to get a bit more granular and only select some searches for termination, then you’ll need to put your phone to one side and head to a desktop computer.
Open up Gmail on a desktop device and type in the search term you want to nuke. On the right, you’ll then see an X. Click that to remove the search term from your history.
How to delete Gmail search history in batches (desktop)
The previous method only lets you delete search terms one-by-one. But what if you want to go on a real crusade and purge lots of Gmail search history at the same time? There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon….
To do it this way, head to My Google Activity and log into the Google account in question.
Under the Search your activity box, click Filter by date & product.
Now scroll down the box, select Gmail, and click Apply. That way, all non-Gmail search results will be removed. Do note though that newer search results may take a while to appear on the list. Also note that if you’re using Google Workspace Gmail, you’ll need to select Google Apps, not Gmail.
You’ll now see your filtered results. To delete, just click the big X to the right of each search result, and work your way down the list, ticking and deleting as you go.
Or if you want to just delete by time period, click the Delete dropdown menu to the right of Filter by date or product. You’ll now be presented with time periods you can delete by. Click one to nuke everything between those dates.
