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User profile for user: nicole coelho
nicole coelho Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Thousands of deleted emails returning to inbox

I see that this question was raised back in 2018 and clearly it has not been resolved. It took me hours of work to clean up thousands and thousands of old emails yesterday from my Gmail account (through my Apple mail interface) and I see this morning every single email I deleted yesterday has repopulated my inbox.


The fact that this problem is still occurring is infuriating. I have religiously updated my operating system (now running Catalina 10.15) and it's incredible to me that this basic problem has not been fixed. Please advise, b/c this is unacceptable.

MacBook Air

Posted on Sep 15, 2020 8:15 AM

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User profile for user: neuroanatomist
neuroanatomist
User level: Level 9
50,167 points

Posted on Sep 15, 2020 8:52 AM

If they are still on the Gmail server, they will re-download to your Mac. By default, Gmail moves deleted mail to the archive folder, which means they remain in All Mail and will be synced back to your Mac. This setting is on the server (Gmail) side, not on the client (Apple Mail) side, so the issue is not with macOS or Apple, but with the way your Gmail account is configured.


This is from the Gmail browser interface > Settings (the gear at upper right) > See All Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab:


Set Auto-Expunge to off, then set the red-boxed setting to move to trash (where it will be kept for 30 days then expunged) or to immediately delete forever (where it will be expunged immediately).

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User profile for user: neuroanatomist
neuroanatomist
User level: Level 9
50,167 points

Sep 15, 2020 8:52 AM in response to nicole coelho

If they are still on the Gmail server, they will re-download to your Mac. By default, Gmail moves deleted mail to the archive folder, which means they remain in All Mail and will be synced back to your Mac. This setting is on the server (Gmail) side, not on the client (Apple Mail) side, so the issue is not with macOS or Apple, but with the way your Gmail account is configured.


This is from the Gmail browser interface > Settings (the gear at upper right) > See All Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab:


Set Auto-Expunge to off, then set the red-boxed setting to move to trash (where it will be kept for 30 days then expunged) or to immediately delete forever (where it will be expunged immediately).

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Thousands of deleted emails returning to inbox

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