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I cannot get mail to stop removing mail in the Delete mailbox from the server after 30 days. I have made sure that "Never" is selected for the time until removing deleted mails from server on all my devices (2 iPads, 1 phone, one iBook ). I even looked at the iCloud mail client to make sure it wasn't doing it.
I never have had an issue controlling this behavior before (many many years).
Any ideas?
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)
thanks for the comments!
Regarding the ISP, I can't see how they can affect the situation. Apple Mail emails don't touch the ISP servers.
I already triple checked all my devices to make sure none of them was misconfigured. Checked my wife's and kids too. They should have never had my Apple Mail account on them but I looked anyway.
As far as old computers I always wipe old computers before I "hand them down". I might have missed one but I doubt it.
I was hoping there was a soothing like a system file somewhere in iCloud preferences that I could kill that was the problem.
What is the policy of your ISP/server? When I had Comcast, I found it regularly ignored my preferred setting in Mail preferences and did what it does on its own schedule. This is especially true for an IMAP account.
It's possible that the setting was configured on a computer that is in use, but you don't use for email now. The Mail application doesn't have to be launched for this to happen. if Mail was configured that way for an account that still exists on a computer that is still being used to access the internet, the messages can be deleted. If you can find the account on such a computer, and don't wish to use it, deleted it in the Internet Accounts item of System Preferences while logged into the account where it exists, or delete the account from the computer.
I don't mean that it was transferred, I mean that it's possible that a computer was previously configured for use with the 30 day automatic deletion of trashed messages in that email account, and the user stopped using Mail on that computer under the assumption that if Mail was not opened there for use with the account, its settings would no longer affect the account's deleted messages. I've discovered through personal experience that the assumption is incorrect. It may not be an issue for every version of mail or every version of the OS, but it has been an issue, and certainly may continue to be one. If the situation exists, one way to prevent trashed email on the server from being deleted might be to delete all vestiges of the email account that ever existed on the computer where Mail is no longer actively used for that account.
When I was troubleshooting the situation that made me aware of the problem I described, the user I was trying to help had 3 Macs (2 laptops and a desktop), and he had stopped using Apple mail in the the email on the first laptop, which was older. I checked the settings on the newer laptop and the desktop, which were in constant use, and found that removal of deleted emails after 30 days on the server was not enabled on either. When I found out about the old laptop, I had the user log into the account currently in use, and there was no Mail configuration for it, but when I asked the user about an additional user account that I discovered on the old Mac laptop, he told me he had not logged into that account on that Mac for some time - months, perhaps years. He was able to log into the account, however, and when Mail was opened, it was configured for the account, and the setting for removal of deleted mail after 30 days was enabled. After we turned the setting off, the problem appeared to be solved.
One difficulty in troubleshooting this problem, I think, is being able to correctly assume that a mail item from 30 days back was never intentionally expunged from the server, which Apple Mail allows at any time. If you're sure you never use that feature of the interface, then I guess you can make the assumption. I'm assuming you have emails in your trash that are 30 days old so you can confirm that they are gone after today. If that's the case, you can temporarily work around the problem by copying those emails to another folder where they won't be deleted after 30 days. Maybe you're already doing that?
I am curious: how exactly are you proposing that a setting in an account on one computer transfers itself to another computer/account? Are they synced?
Apple Mail emails don't touch the ISP servers.
Really? How do you think they are transported from your computer/mail app to someone else's?
Mail removing deleted messages after 30 days
