How to delete all mail from 'Sent' folder?

Question

How to delete all mail from 'Sent' folder?

Sorry to add to the plethora of posts related to this, but every case seems to be different. My e-mail account (on my Mac computer and on my iPhone 3G) is BTinternet/Yahoo. My 'Sent' folder on the computer when I open the mail page (the webmail one, not anything to do with a mail client) has hundreds of e-mails sent from my computer stretching back long before I was given the iPhone. When I connect my iPhone to my computer, they all appear in the 'Sent' folder on the iPhone. I have three questions:

1. How can I stop this happening? I only want mail sent from the iPhone to appear in the 'phone's 'Sent' folder. (Deleted/trashed mails that are in the 'Deleted' folder on my computer do NOT appear on the 'phone, so why do 'Sent' ones appear?)

2. Is there any way of deleting all these 'Sent' mails from my iPhone all at once instead of one by one?

3. Is there any way of setting the 'phone automatially to delete mails from the Inbox or the 'Sent' folder after a certain time has elapsed?

Thanks to anyone with words of wisdom relating to these questions.

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 30, 2013 1:40 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 30, 2013 5:06 PM in response to Michael Graubart

More info: I was wrong. The 'phone also continually downloads hundreds of 'Deleted' messages from my BT/Yahoo mail account — as well as 'Sent' ones.

I have turned 'Push' off in the 'phone's Settings. But it continues to download. Like the Sorcerer's Apprentice! Was turning off 'Push' the right thing to do?

Thanks again — in hope!

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Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,317 points

Oct 30, 2013 5:09 PM in response to Michael Graubart

You have an IMAP account and that is the way it is supposed to be. Everything is synced between mail clients. If you want to remove them from the phone, remove them from the server. Easiest way is to do it on the computer, and then the iPhone will mirror that.

You cannot just have mail sent from the phone on the phone, the reason is the mail account type you have, the IMAP account I mentioned earlier.

Anything that you have on the computer, will show on the phone and vice versa. That is how IMAP works. Once it starts to sync, you cannot stop it unless you turn the phone off, or turn it on Airplane mode. Turning off Push will just affect the receiving of new mail in the Inbox.

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Answer 3

Oct 31, 2013 3:33 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thanks very much, ChrisJ4203. As long as that's what it's meant to do, I'm satisfied. As a newcomer to the iPhone I was a bit alarmed to see all these hundreds of e-mails pouring in and was afraid they would eat up all available memory on the 'phone.

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