Emails not deleting permanently

Question

Emails not deleting permanently

Over the past few months, when I delete an email in Mac mail, it will disappear then reappear seconds or minutes later. I have various email accounts linked into Mac mail, mostly gmail. It does not matter which account the email is linked to, I have this issue. I have gone into the settings to make sure the trash setting is correct, the issue will stop then start up again. Can someone advise the correct settings for trash and if there is something I may need to do that I am not considering?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.6

Posted on Oct 10, 2026 5:28 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 11, 2026 6:34 PM in response to kristiefromtx

When you delete an email a “notification” is sent to the mail server to remove the master copy of the message. If the server copy is not notified of the deletion then the next time you sync it will reappear.

Perhaps a long shot:

Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. Updates sometimes "break" VPN, and it needs to be removed. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.

Reply