With the new version of iOS, we’ve got an ability that I've been waiting for since approximately when dinosaurs ruled the earth—marking all of the messages in a mailbox as read. It really seems like such a simple, minor thing, doesn't it? But when you've got even a few dozen messages that you need to mark as read, not being able to do the whole shebang at once is frustrating, to say the least.
So to perform this action on your own mail, go to the mailbox that contains the messages you’d like to mark as read first. This can be your inbox, your trash, or even the “All Inboxes” section. Once you’re there, touch the Edit button at the top…
…then select “Mark All” in the lower-left corner.
Afterward, you’ll get a pop-up with the “Mark as Read” option.
That’s all there is to it!
Wait, not quite—if all of the messages in your chosen mailbox are already marked as read, then the pop-up will switch to “Mark as Unread,” which is pretty handy also if you've got items in there that require follow-up. I swear to you guys that those little red icon badges are the only things that remind me that I've got work to do sometimes.