600+ emails to look at in new job

Hey folks! I got promoted in work and the person who had the job before me had not opened their emails since September 2024.

I am normally good with admin but the sheer amount of unopened emails is seriously making me seize up when I open my laptop! I could just mark them all as read, but I don’t want to risk losing important contacts from people who reached out in the last few months. Could definitely use some advice on how to attack this behemoth