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I have over 200 unread text messages and voice messages on Google Voice. How can I mark these all as read without having to do it one page at a time?

I tried pressing "select all" and then looking for a "select all conversations that matched instead" button (similar to what Gmail has), but there is no button like that.

1

13 Answers 13

13

For the non coders not wanting to use the Python answer, the solution is shortcuts.

  1. Select "Show: Unread" instead of the default "Show: All" in the top bar towards the right.
  2. Try * (asterisk) then A (selects all)
  3. Shift I (marks all selected as read, then goes to next page)

I marked over 400 messages as read in under a minute.


If you happen to use AutoHotKey, here is a script that will perform the above by typing shift-F9. Just be sure to first click on the "unread" option at the top.

F9::
   SendInput *a!
   Sleep, 500
   SendInput I
   Sleep, 500
   SendInput n
return
0
13

The only way I can find would require you to write a bit of Python code.

This is the site that provides a module for Python http://code.google.com/p/pygooglevoice/

This page gives you details on how to set a message to read. Look for the Mark function under the Message section. sphinxdoc. github.com/pygooglevoice/api.html#message

I would write the script for you but I do not know enough Python to make an attempt.

Hope that helps some.

EDIT: shouldn't belittle my abilities. Here is a script to set everything to read.

from googlevoice import Voice,util

voice = Voice()
voice.login('YOUR USERNAME', 'YOUR PASSWORD')

while True :
    folder = voice.search('is:unread')
    if folder.totalSize <= 0 :
        break
    util.print_(folder.totalSize)
    for message in folder.messages:
        util.print_(message)
        message.mark(1)

UPDATE - gygooglevoice needs a change in its settings page to work properly, otherwise you will get a login error. Change needed is referenced here: http://code.google.com/p/pygooglevoice/issues/detail?id=64#c4 (just update the Login URL)

4
3

I was able to search for label:unread then quickly select all, mark as read, hit refresh. The search stays the same after hitting refresh which makes it quick to go through them all.

2

I used the auto hotkey solution posted earlier with a small addendum:

+F9::
Loop, X
  {
   SendInput *a!
   Sleep, 500
   SendInput I
   Sleep, 2000
  }
return

replace X with the number of messages you have divided by 10.

I left my laptop alone for a minute or two and went through 500 messages.

2

I liked SoulWinter's Apple Script idea but it didn't quite work for me.

I wasted a lot of time trying to get the Python programs to work which just seem to be too far out of date.

I modified it to work as follows. I was using Chrome, so you might need to change "Google Chrome" to your browser if you aren't. You also need to change X to the number of unread messages divided by 10 (plus 1), so if you have 934 messages replace X with 94.

  1. Open your Google Voice Inbox, e.g. https://www.google.com/voice/b/0#inbox, and click on "Unread" in the top (next to the page controls).
  2. Open "Script Editor" in your Applications (for recent OS X) or equivalent
  3. Enter the following code into Script Editor and push the Play button. (Make sure you don't click on other tabs or windows in between Google Voice and Script Editor.)

Code:

activate application "Google Chrome"
repeat X times
    tell application "System Events"
        key code 28 using {shift down}
        keystroke "a"
        keystroke "I"
        delay (1)
    end tell
end repeat
0
1

I modified to mark all as read, advance to next page, and continuously loop (no archiving). You'll need to install AutoHotKey to make this script work.

+F9::

Loop {
  Sleep, 500
  SendInput *a!
  Sleep, 500
  SendInput I
  Sleep, 500
  SendInput n
}

return
2
  • 1
    How do you use/implement this? Oct 29, 2013 at 5:49
  • @JacobJanTuinstra this looks like an autohotkey script. Dec 23, 2013 at 21:49
1

For non coders

The actual search bar shortcut is "is:unread" - then you can check all...ctrl i...then search again "is:unread"

the search bar doesn't clear after a search (at least for me) so it was easy to go through several unread messages to clear them all.

1

FYI: since the Google Voice revamp, marking all messages as unread may be more straightforward using the legacy interface, which is still available online: https://www.google.com/voice#search/is%3Aunread

1
  • That was very helpful even in 2021. I was able to shift-click to select many voicemails at once and then delete or archive them. Perfect.
    – cal
    Apr 27, 2021 at 17:54
0

I really like the AutoHotKey solution. I modified it a bit to archive the messages.

+F9::
   SendInput *a!
   Sleep, 500
   SendInput I
Sleep, 500
SendInput e
return

I tried to make it a loop so it would go automatically, but I couldn't get it to work.

0

AppleScript for OSX users: Open your preferred browser with your GV account in focus. Update the browser name / required iterations (script will advance page automatically), then run in AppleScript Editor. The one second delay is a 'buffer' for latency.

activate application "YOUR_BROWSER_NAME"
repeat x times
tell application "System Events"
        key code 28 using {shift down}
        keystroke "a"
        key code 34 using {shift down}
        key code 124
        delay (1)
    end tell
end repeat
0

Best Solution:

Get the mobile app if you don't have it "Google Voice". Open the mobile app Click the type of message / voicemail you want to mark as read. Tap the menu button, and choose "Mark all as read".

NOTE: There doesn't appear to be a way to do this through the web interface at the moment, but if you're a developer, there is a python scripting solution (I did not try it myself): Marking all Google Voice messages as read

1
  • didn't work for me on android. also the link here just goes back to the question on this same page
    – watsonic
    Apr 2, 2021 at 7:18
0

Up to date as of April, 2021:

  1. Go to https://voice.google.com and search "in:unread" (or directly do the search here)
  2. Type "?" (outside the search field) to pull up keyboard shortcuts. Confirm "j" still works to move to next item.
  3. Hold down "j" key or whatever key is the correct shortcut. Pause occasionally (see note below)

This will move through things very fast.

Notes:

  • I recommend pausing when the page is trying to reload the next batch. I had about 740 voicemails to get through and ~200 messages. At the end, even though I couldn't see any more bolded messages, I still had 11 "unread" voicemails somehow. Something got out of sync. I had to go back through and find the bolded ones.
  • You may find that searching "in:unread" or "is:unread" actually shows read messages/vmails. You may also find that it doesn't go far enough back in history. One way to go earlier than this is to search "before:2020-01-01" (or whatever your date is).
  • You may also search for only or sms (or vmail) via "in:sms". Search term guide can be found here
  • Using an external monitor and/or decreasing the font size on the screen is helpful (Command-(minus) on Mac)

I'm a Python programmer and attempted to find a workable Python solution, but its out of date fyi due to API shift.

-1

Use a filter to mark all emails from "[email protected]" as read, and apply it to all existing emails, also you can have them automatically sorted to a folder and archive them if you don't want to see them in your inbox.

1
  • 2
    Errr...he's not talking about his Gmail inbox, but rather his Google Voice inbox.
    – ale
    Jan 27, 2012 at 20:46

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