How to make email unread in gmail

When you receive an email but don’t want to take action on it yet, you can easily mark it as unread. Hence, when next you check your unread messages, it will catch your attention as an unread mail so you can take the required action. But the question is, how do you mark email messages as unread in the Gmail app? 

You can “mark as unread” email messages in the Gmail app by using its toolbar function or swiping it to the side. Using the swiping method lets you select a message at a time to mark as unread. In comparison, the toolbar method lets you mark multiple messages as unread. 

The “mark as unread” is not only a Gmail feature but also available in other major email providers. So, if you want to take advantage of this feature, this article will teach you two straightforward ways to mark email messages as unread even after reading them. 

Two Ways To Mark Messages As Unread in Gmail App 

The mark as unread email messages is a feature available on the Gmail mobile app for Android and iOS users. So, even if you have opened a message, you can use this feature to denote which messages you haven’t handled and those that still need some attention. 

The best part about this feature is that there are two different ways to mark messages as unread, depending on your need. Let’s look at how to go about them in the section below. 

Methods #1: Toolbar 

Whether you are an Android or iOS user, the Gmail app on your device comes with a toolbar. This toolbar appears at the top of the Gmail app when you open an email or select an email from the conversation list. On the toolbar, several buttons perform different actions depending on what you want to archive. 

For example, when you want to delete an email, you can do so from the toolbar. You can also use an option in the toolbar to archive emails. More importantly, there is the option to mark email messages as unread. 

Here’s how to use the toolbar in the Gmail app to mark email messages as unread.

1. Open the Gmail app if you have it on your device, or download it for your iPhone or Android and launch it. 
2. Select the email message you want to mark as unread or select a group of messages by tapping the envelope display icon at the right corner of the mail. 
3. Tap on the opened envelope icon at the top-right corner of your screen whether you opened the mail or selected a group of messages. 

The email immediately becomes bold, indicating it has been marked as unread. 

Methods #2: Swiping 

Another way to mark email messages as unread is to use the swiping action. Now, this action might be fast when handling one or two messages, but it might not be the best method when handling a bulk of mail. 

When you swipe an email in the Gmail app on your Android or iOS device, by default, it will send it to the archive. If you want to use the swiping action to mark messages as unread, you must make a few changes to your iPhone settings. You can always go to your “Archive” folder and move mail in it to the inbox folder as mails you move to your archives are not deleted. 

Here’s how to use the swiping action in the Gmail app to mark email messages as unread.

1. Launch the Gmail app on your Android or iOS device, or download it if you don’t have it. 
2. Tap the menu button, which is represented by the three horizontal lines at the top-left corner of your screen. 
3. Scroll down and select the Settings option to make changes in the app. 
4. Select “General Settings“.
5. Tap the “Mail Swipe Actions” option to proceed. 
6. Click “Change” under the “Right Swipe” or “Left Swipe” option depending on the action you want, and in the pop-up options, select “Mark as read/unread“. 
7. Go back to your email folders, and swipe on the message you want to mark and unread, and it will become bold, indicating it has been marked as unread.

If you feel limited by the options in the Gmail mobile app, you can always try out the Gmail desktop version, which has more features that surpass that of the mobile app.

Conclusion 

If you are like most people who use Gmail on their mobile phones, it helps to know this feature. Regardless of your device, you can use this feature to manage your Gmail messages better and reduce the chances of missing an important email message. So, when next you read an important email you don’t want to take any action on, mark it as unread rather than going through the long process of setting a reminder.