Mark Archived Gmail Messages as Read Automatically

You can use Google Script to mark all archived unread emails messages as read automatically. The script runs every hour and looks for email messages in your Gmail mailbox that are unread and are not in your inbox. If there no Gmail label assigned to a thread, it is marked as Read.

To install this Gmail script, go to script.google.com and copy-paste this snippet. Next choose Run -> createTrigger to set the time-driven trigger that runs every hour automatically.

function markGmailAsRead() {
  // Find Gmail Messages that are unread but not in inbox
  var threads = GmailApp.search('is:unread -in:inbox', 0, 50);
  for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
    // Does the message thread have any user-assigned labels
    var labels = threads[i].getLabels();
    if (labels.length == 0) {
      // Mark the entire thread as read
      threads[i].markRead();
    }
  }
}

// Create a trigger that execute every hour and processes 50 messages in a batch
function createTrigger() {
  ScriptApp.newTrigger('markGmailAsRead').timeBased().everyHours(1).create();
}
Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

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Digital Inspiration has won several awards since it's launch in 2004.

Google Developer Expert

Google Developer Expert

Google awarded us the Google Developer Expert award recogizing our work in Google Workspace.

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

Our Gmail tool won the Lifehack of the Year award at ProductHunt Golden Kitty Awards in 2017.

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Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft awarded us the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) title for 5 years in a row.

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Google Cloud Champion

Google awarded us the Champion Innovator title recognizing our technical skill and expertise.

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