Deleted emails not going to trash in Mail for macOS Big Sur

Question

Deleted emails not going to trash in Mail for macOS Big Sur

I don't know when this started, but I deleted an email the other day and wanted to get it back. I used the undo feature but nothing happened. I went to the trash folder to get the email and my trash folder is empty. My emails are just being deleted without going to trash.

I checked my Account preferences and the 'Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox' is checked. I have the Erase Deleted Messages set to One Month. I changed both of these settings and put them back... thinking that the actual setting was not being saved... and my emails are still not going to trash.

I checked both of my Verizon email accounts as well as my Gmail account and all their trash folders are empty.

Lucky for me, I check my email on my iPhone most of the time and the trash still works there. Has any else had this issue and resolved it?

Thanks 8-)

Mac mini, macOS 11.1

Posted on Feb 8, 2021 2:20 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Feb 10, 2021 7:13 AM in response to Brian Williams 8-)

Hi there Brian,

From what we can tell, emails are being deleted from your Mac immediately instead of going to the Trash folder as expected for the time frame you've specified in your Mac Mail Preferences. We're glad you've joined us in Apple Support Communities, and we can provide some guidance.

To start, have you tried searching for a specific email that was affected by this behavior to see if it appears in another folder by chance? Have you checked the Trash folder for each account you have set up in Mail?

Next, let's try creating an 'All Trash' mailbox to see if that helps consolidate your deleted emails and allow you to access them. To do so, click the Add button at the top of Favorites in the sidebar, then select 'All Trash' from the pop-up menu (dimmed mailboxes are already in Favorites), then click OK. Learn more here:

Use favorite mailboxes in Mail on Mac

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers.

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Answer 2

Feb 10, 2021 1:11 PM in response to mingoslkd

Thank you so much for the help. I now have an All Trash folder that these deleted emails show up in now. There is still an issue, but I'm not too concerned with it now since I use my iPhone mostly for mail. But it is this... The All Trash folder shows my trash. When I click on the arrow to show all the trash boxes under it, they are all empty. The trash email only shows up in the All Trash folder. If I look at my All Inboxes folder, I can select the individual email inboxes under it and see the emails that are in each.

Again, this main issue is resolved. I can now go in and retrieve my deleted email. The Undo still does not work though. I can delete an email, but selecting Undo Delete from the Edit Menu does not return the email to the Inbox.

Thanks for your help. 8-)

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Deleted emails not going to trash in Mail for macOS Big Sur

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