The inbox of one of my GMail accounts has over 5000 emails going back 6 years, most of them not worth keeping.

I would like to start deleting items, starting with the oldest.

My account is set at 100 emails per page. It appears as though the only way to go all the way back is to go one page at a time. That means waiting as each of 50 pages loads.   Is there a simpler, faster way in Gmail to back track through the inbox to the oldest stored emails??

I would write a script but a more user friendly (untested) method could be this: https://www.labnol.org/internet/gmail-auto-purge/27605/

3 hours ago, dddave said:

Is there a simpler, faster way in Gmail to back track through the inbox to the oldest stored emails??

Yes, just go to the top of the page where it shows the number of emails showing, hover over the numbers and a box comes up with the option of switching to oldest first.

 

I just had a flash. If you connect Thunderbird or another desktop mail client then it's a lot faster to delete a large amount of email. 

Another way, would be to create a new Label, MOVE (not copy) all the emails you do want to keep to the new Label, then in Inbox, Select All and delete.

It will take as long as it takes but you won't need to sit and watch it.

 

You could then move the kept emails back to the Inbox if you wanted to.

 

Alternatively, use the GMail "Archive" facility for the ones you want to keep, presumably the latest?

 

https://usingtechnologybetter.com/demystifying-gmails-archive-button/