For how long does Mail keep e-mails?

Question

Level 1

9 points

For how long does Mail keep e-mails?

I get the impression e-mails are only saved for a certain amount of time before being deleted automatically. Is this the caes and is it possible to control/change this?

thanks,

J

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jan 12, 2014 1:14 AM

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Answer 1

petermac87

Level 5

7,453 points

Jan 12, 2014 1:29 AM in response to Beecroft

My emails go back to 2007 and that was after a huge cleanout recently. You can set the options you wish in Mail > Preferences > Accounts > General > Mailbox Behaviour. I have never had anything deleted automattically after a period of time.

Cheers

Pete

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Answer 2

Jan 12, 2014 2:08 AM in response to Beecroft

Are you using IMAP or POP ?

Nowadays most email account being configured as IMAP you will always (as long as you have left the default settings in the Mail > Preferences > Accounts > General > Mailbox Behaviour) have the same Emails on the server than on your local Mail program. If you delete on one side you will do so on the other too.

Depending on your Mail provider it will allow you only to store a certain amount of emails before requesting you to delete some. It would be very surprising that would be done without your action. On the other hand you may have configured rules in your Mail account to archive older Emails or to delete them. Check in the Mail > Preferences > Rules section if this applies to you.

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