Finding the earliest email thread date in Gmail using Apps Script

Other Questions Gmail
1

Hey everyone! I’m trying to figure out how to get the date of the oldest email thread in my Gmail inbox using Google Apps Script. I’ve been messing around with some code, but I’m not sure if it’s doing what I want. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

function getOldestThreadDate() {
  var allThreads = GmailApp.getInboxThreads();
  var oldestDate = new Date();
  
  for (var i = 0; i < allThreads.length; i++) {
    var threadDate = allThreads[i].getLastMessageDate();
    if (threadDate < oldestDate) {
      oldestDate = threadDate;
    }
  }
  
  Logger.log('Oldest thread date: ' + oldestDate);
}

This script goes through all the threads in my inbox, but I’m not sure if it’s actually finding the oldest one. Can anyone help me out or suggest a better way to do this? Thanks!

2

Your approach is close, but there’s room for improvement. I’d suggest initializing oldestDate with the current date using new Date(), then comparing each thread’s first message date against it. Here’s a refined version:

function getOldestThreadDate() {
var allThreads = GmailApp.getInboxThreads();
var oldestDate = new Date();

for (var i = 0; i < allThreads.length; i++) {
var threadDate = allThreads[i].getFirstMessageDate();
if (threadDate < oldestDate) {
oldestDate = threadDate;
}
}

Logger.log('Oldest thread date: ’ + oldestDate);
return oldestDate;
}

This should accurately find your oldest thread. Remember, processing all threads may be time-consuming for large inboxes. Consider adding a limit or using batch processing for better performance.

3

hey stella, ur code looks pretty good! but like livbrown said, getFirstMessageDate() is the way to go. also, u might wanna set oldestDate to a future date at first, like:

var oldestDate = new Date(‘2099-12-31’);

that way it’ll definitely find somethin older. hope this helps!

4

I’ve tackled a similar challenge before, and your approach is on the right track. However, there’s a small tweak that can improve your script’s accuracy. Instead of using getLastMessageDate(), you should use getFirstMessageDate() to get the date of the oldest message in each thread. Here’s the modified version:

function getOldestThreadDate() {
  var allThreads = GmailApp.getInboxThreads();
  var oldestDate = new Date();
  
  for (var i = 0; i < allThreads.length; i++) {
    var threadDate = allThreads[i].getFirstMessageDate();
    if (threadDate < oldestDate) {
      oldestDate = threadDate;
    }
  }
  
  Logger.log('Oldest thread date: ' + oldestDate);
}

This should give you the date of the oldest email thread in your inbox. Keep in mind that if you have a large number of threads, this script might take a while to run. You might want to consider adding a limit to the number of threads you process if performance becomes an issue.