Quickly Find Your Oldest Gmail Messages

This article explains how you can sort by date in Gmail to display messages in reverse chronological order. Instructions apply to the web version of Gmail. It's not possible to sort messages by date in the Gmail app.

How to View Gmail Messages in Reverse Chronological Order

When you sort messages by date in Gmail, you see the last page of messages first, but the messages are still listed from newest to oldest. If a folder has only one page of messages, look at the bottom of the screen to see the oldest conversation. If a folder has multiple pages of messages, use this workaround:

1. In the upper-right corner just above your messages, there's a number that shows how many emails are in the current folder. Hover your mouse over the email counter until a small menu drops down and choose Oldest. You should immediately be taken to the last page of emails in that folder; the oldest message is listed at the very bottom.

   To move back to a previous screen to see newer messages, use the back arrow next to the email count.

   

2. If you want to read your Gmail messages in their default order, select the email counter and choose Newest from the drop-down menu.

   

Search Gmail by Date

If you just want to find a message from a specific point in time, you can search your Gmail by date. You can even combine search operators to display messages between specific dates. Examples of valid search queries include: