Marking ALL mail in gmail as read

To mark all Google mail as read without having to page through lots of old messages

1. In the search box, type "is:unread", no quotes
2. In the dropdown that looks like a checkbox (yes, it does) select "All"
3. A link will magically appear that says "Select all conversations that match this search". When clicked, it selects all the messages that are not shown as well as the ones that are shown.
4. Finally, select "Mark All as Read" from wherever it is for you and wait a few minutes.

(via http://www.woodwardweb.com/technology/marking_all_mai.html)

It turns out that the search doesn't select messages in your Drafts folder.

~Matt