Your inbox says 47 unread. You scroll it and count maybe six bold subject lines, all of which you've already decided to ignore. The other 41 are somewhere, quietly inflating a number you now can't act on.

The bold-text approach stops working the moment your inbox is longer than a screen. Unread messages get mixed in with thousands of read ones, filters push some of them past the inbox entirely, and category tabs hide the rest behind a click.

Gmail has three separate mechanisms for this: a search operator, an inbox layout, and a persistent panel. Which one you want depends on whether this is a one-time cleanup or a permanent change to how your inbox looks.

Quick answer: To see only unread emails in Gmail, type is:unread in the search bar and press Enter. Add in:inbox to limit it to your inbox. For a permanent version, open Settings, set Inbox type to Unread first, and Gmail splits your inbox into an Unread section on top and everything else below. Both work on desktop; the mobile app supports the search but not the layout. folk can summarize what's actually unread over text.

How do you search for unread emails in Gmail?

is:unread is the operator, and it's the fastest route. Type it into the search bar and press Enter.

On its own, is:unread searches your entire account, which includes archived threads and anything a filter routed out of your inbox. That's usually the right default, because it explains the count you can't account for. Google lists is:unread in its official search operator reference alongside is:read, is:starred, and is:important.

The operator gets genuinely useful when you stack things onto it:

Search	What it finds
is:unread in:inbox	Unread mail in your inbox only
is:unread category:primary	Unread mail excluding Social, Promotions, and Updates
is:unread from:jamie@example.com	Unread mail from one person
is:unread has:attachment	Unread mail with files attached
is:unread older_than:7d	Unread mail you've been avoiding for over a week
is:unread -category:promotions	Unread mail that isn't marketing

That last one is usually the honest answer to "what have I actually not read". Most inflated unread counts are newsletters sitting in the Promotions tab.

One documented quirk to expect: Gmail matches individual messages but displays whole conversations, so a thread can appear in an is:unread search even if only one message inside it is unread. On long threads this makes the result list look wrong when it isn't.

How do you put unread emails at the top of your inbox?

If you want this permanently rather than as a search you re-run, change the inbox layout.

1. Open Gmail on a computer.
2. Click the Settings gear at the top right.
3. Under Inbox type in the quick settings panel, choose Unread first.

Gmail splits the inbox into two sections: Unread at the top and Everything else underneath. Google documents this as one of six inbox types, alongside Default, Important first, Starred first, Priority Inbox, and Multiple Inboxes, on its inbox layout page.

A few things change once you switch:

• Category tabs go away. Unread first replaces the Default tabbed layout, so Primary, Social, and Promotions stop appearing as tabs. Those messages still arrive and still match category: searches, they just aren't separated visually.
• Reading a message moves it down. The message drops out of the Unread section as soon as you open it, which is either satisfying or disorienting depending on how you work.
• You can set how many show. Hover the Unread section header to adjust how many messages the section displays before it collapses.

Important first is the alternative worth knowing about. It sorts by Gmail's own guess at importance rather than by whether you opened something, which suits people whose unread count is mostly noise.

Can you make a permanent Unread section without changing your whole inbox?

Yes, through Multiple Inboxes, and this is the closest thing Gmail has to an Unread label.

Unread isn't a label. It's a state on a message, which is why it never shows up in your sidebar next to Starred or Snoozed. But Multiple Inboxes lets you define extra inbox sections using any search you like, so you can build one.

Set Inbox type to Multiple Inboxes, then define a section with the search is:unread (or something tighter, like is:unread -category:promotions). Give it a name, choose whether the sections sit above, below, or beside your inbox, and save. You now have a permanent unread panel that lives on your inbox screen without replacing your normal layout.

Two smaller desktop options while you're in settings:

• Unread message icon. Under Settings > See all settings > Advanced, enabling this puts your unread count on the browser tab's favicon, so you can see it without switching tabs.
• Mark as unread. Shift+U on a selected conversation flips it back to unread, which turns your unread count into a rough to-do list rather than a reading log.

How does this work in the Gmail mobile app?

Partially. The search works, the layout doesn't.

The search operator works exactly the same. Tap the search bar in the Gmail app on Android, iPhone, or iPad, type is:unread, and search. Every combination in the table above works too. This is the main tool on mobile.

The "Unread first" inbox type isn't available in the app. If you set it on desktop, the mobile app still shows your normal inbox. Inbox type is a web setting.

The navigation drawer shows unread counts per label. Swipe in from the left or tap the hamburger menu, and each label carries its own unread number. This is the quickest way to spot that 30 of your unread messages are in Promotions and none of them need you.

Unread messages appear in bold, same as desktop, and the app marks a message read the moment you open it, with no separate preview state.

How folk does it

folk is the personal AI assistant that lives in your texts (iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp). It connects to Gmail, and the question it answers is a level above is:unread.

Unread is a weak signal for importance. It tells you what you haven't opened, not what needs you. A search for is:unread returns the delivery notification and the message from your landlord with equal weight, and sorting that out is still your job.

• You ask what matters, not what's unread. "What came in overnight that actually needs a reply?" gets you a short list with reasoning, rather than a count. Setup is covered in connecting apps.
• It comes to you. You can ask folk for a morning rundown of your inbox on a schedule, so the triage happens before you open Gmail at all. See reminders and nudges for how recurring routines are set up.
• It drafts, you approve. If something in the pile needs an answer, folk writes it in your voice and waits for your yes. Nothing leaves your account without approval.
• It knows who's who. folk's memory means "flag anything from the accountant" keeps working next month without you defining who that is again.

If your unread count is mostly marketing, a filter fixes that faster than any assistant will. folk earns its place when the problem is judgment rather than volume.

The bottom line

is:unread is the operator, is:unread in:inbox is the version that matches what you see, and Unread first under Inbox type makes it permanent on desktop. The mobile app supports the search but not the layout, and the navigation drawer's per-label counts usually explain a mysterious unread number in about two seconds.

If the underlying problem is that unread has stopped meaning "needs me", get started with folk and connect Gmail during setup. It's the same assistant that reads and answers your email, and it can text you first when something actually warrants it. If a message you expected never showed up as unread, it may have been archived: how to unarchive Gmail messages covers finding it. And once you've found the one that matters, how to save an email as a PDF covers keeping a copy.