How to delete your Gmail search history

When you search Gmail, it gets added to your search history and shows up in autocomplete in future searches. While this is usually a useful timesaving feature, you may get annoyed when some old searches appear. The simple solution is to delete your Gmail search history, which you can do on mobile devices and the desktop.

Editor’s note: We used a Google Pixel 4a with 5G running Android 12 and a custom PC running Windows 11 to put these instructions together. Keep in mind steps might be different depending on your hardware and software.

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.

• Open the Gmail app and tap the three-line menu button.
• Go into Settings.
• Tap General settings.
• Choose the three-dot menu button.
• Select Clear search history.
• Confirm by tapping Clear.

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 Gmail on a desktop browser.
• Enter the search term you want to delete in the Search mail text box.
• The search term should appear. Hover your cursor over it, and an X will appear next to it. Click it.

How to delete 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.

• 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. Also, note that if you’re using Google Workspace Gmail, you’ll need to choose Google Apps, not Gmail.
• You’ll now see your filtered results. To delete, click the big X to the right of each search result and work your way down the list, ticking and deleting as you go.
• If you want to delete by time period, click the Delete dropdown menu to the right of Filter by date or product. Gmail will now present you with periods you can delete by. Click one to nuke everything between those dates.

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