BIN Not auto emptying

Randomman42 · 8 Jan 2011, 05:04 AM

I've noticed that despite the message "(messages that have been in Bin for more than 30 days will be automatically deleted)", that there are emails in my bin that are 9 months old. Clearly I can press the 'Empty bin now' link but I shouldn't have to. Not a huge problem, but, today, my Step Mother's mail file had >5200 in the bin going back to 2007 and her space allocation had run out. So it seems to be a wider problem than 'just me' I can't find any settings that switch this auto-delete on/off ( if there were one i would expect the information message to go if the option is off.)
Anyone got any ideas?

**CyberSmurf** · 8 Jan 2011, 07:37 AM

I'm sure if you leave it alone, regular maintenance will eventually kick in.

I've also noted that GMail webmail sorts messages by the Date header, which may not actually be the date that the message was sent or received. GMail will delete messages according to the date that the message was received.

jrafter · 8 Jan 2011, 12:16 PM

FWIW, my experience is that Gmail deletes mail only after it has been in the Trash for thirty days, regardless of the date when the message was received.

**CyberSmurf** · 8 Jan 2011, 07:07 PM

Thanks for that correction. I was thinking of spam.

But, it's probably the same for spam. I've never kept an eye on those messages that I've had to flag as spam.

Randomman42 · 10 Jan 2011, 01:54 AM

Thank you for your replies, but waiting three years for it to kick in is not acceptable. There is clearly an issue.

bramhall · 10 Jan 2011, 02:22 AM

Messages in Gmail's bin are emptied 30 days after they are binned, irrespective of the creation/delivery date, Are you sure your stepmother deleted the messages in 2007 and not a few days ago?
Do delete them now manually and tell her not to wait with deletion until the account is full.

jon348fmf · 11 Jan 2011, 12:17 AM

Hi Randomman42, I was wondering if either of you are accessing gmail via imap. I've noticed Apple's mail program will create its own trash bin which gmail would not touch.

Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomman42

I've noticed that despite the message "(messages that have been in Bin for more than 30 days will be automatically deleted)", that there are emails in my bin that are 9 months old. Clearly I can press the 'Empty bin now' link but I shouldn't have to. Not a huge problem, but, today, my Step Mother's mail file had >5200 in the bin going back to 2007 and her space allocation had run out. So it seems to be a wider problem than 'just me' I can't find any settings that switch this auto-delete on/off ( if there were one i would expect the information message to go if the option is off.)
Anyone got any ideas?

Randomman42 · 11 Jan 2011, 07:58 PM

bramhall : It is now empty. given the query over when they were actually deleted, I will run an experiment for the next 40 days and come back with the outcome

jon348fmf : No, apart from selected Google lab options, both GMail accounts are vanilla, stand alone, and accessed via browsers. No emails are fed from outside accounts and no third party applications are involved.

Thank's for your ideas all. I'll report back at the end of Feb.

Randomman42 · 7 Feb 2011, 09:15 PM

As promised, I monitored my GMail bin, and - it's true! Emails are removed 30 days after being deleted, regardless of the send/receive dates of the email.

8 Jan 2011, 05:04 AM	#1
Randomman42 Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 4	BIN Not auto emptying I've noticed that despite the message "(messages that have been in Bin for more than 30 days will be automatically deleted)", that there are emails in my bin that are 9 months old. Clearly I can press the 'Empty bin now' link but I shouldn't have to. Not a huge problem, but, today, my Step Mother's mail file had >5200 in the bin going back to 2007 and her space allocation had run out. So it seems to be a wider problem than 'just me' I can't find any settings that switch this auto-delete on/off ( if there were one i would expect the information message to go if the option is off.) Anyone got any ideas?

8 Jan 2011, 07:07 PM	#4
CyberSmurf Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: British Columbia Posts: 4,011	Thanks for that correction. I was thinking of spam. But, it's probably the same for spam. I've never kept an eye on those messages that I've had to flag as spam. Last edited by CyberSmurf : 8 Jan 2011 at 07:39 PM.

7 Feb 2011, 09:15 PM	#9
Randomman42 Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 4	End of experiment As promised, I monitored my GMail bin, and - it's true! Emails are removed 30 days after being deleted, regardless of the send/receive dates of the email.

8 Jan 2011, 07:37 AM	#2
CyberSmurf Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: British Columbia Posts: 4,011	I'm sure if you leave it alone, regular maintenance will eventually kick in. I've also noted that GMail webmail sorts messages by the Date header, which may not actually be the date that the message was sent or received. GMail will delete messages according to the date that the message was received.

8 Jan 2011, 12:16 PM	#3
jrafter Essential Contributor Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: USA Posts: 363	FWIW, my experience is that Gmail deletes mail only after it has been in the Trash for thirty days, regardless of the date when the message was received.

10 Jan 2011, 01:54 AM	#5
Randomman42 Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 4	Thank you for your replies, but waiting three years for it to kick in is not acceptable. There is clearly an issue.

10 Jan 2011, 02:22 AM	#6
bramhall Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 369	Messages in Gmail's bin are emptied 30 days after they are binned, irrespective of the creation/delivery date, Are you sure your stepmother deleted the messages in 2007 and not a few days ago? Do delete them now manually and tell her not to wait with deletion until the account is full.

11 Jan 2011, 07:58 PM	#8
Randomman42 Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 4	bramhall : It is now empty. given the query over when they were actually deleted, I will run an experiment for the next 40 days and come back with the outcome jon348fmf : No, apart from selected Google lab options, both GMail accounts are vanilla, stand alone, and accessed via browsers. No emails are fed from outside accounts and no third party applications are involved. Thank's for your ideas all. I'll report back at the end of Feb.