How to automatically delete iCloud mail from trash in Mail

Over time the amount of email we can receive can be piled on Mail. Opening, reading, and answering the mail is, without a doubt, something that we will have to take care of personally, but deleting the mail that goes to the trash can deal Mail.

Thanks to the app settings Mail, we can configure the application to automatically clean our trash after certain preset periods of time. It should be said that this cleaning or elimination is at the server level, so, especially if we choose small periods of time, such as a day, we can see a little lag. In my tests, I have even seen a delay of a couple of days beyond the indicated date, although most of the time it is perfectly punctual.

How to empty the Mail trash on our iPhone or iPad

The steps are very simple:

1. We open the app Adjustments on our iPhone or iPad.
2. We touch our name.
3. We came in iCloud.
4. At the bottom, we enter Mail.
5. We touch Advanced.
6. Under Deleted messages, we play in Remove.
7. We choose between Never, After a day, After a week or After one month.
8. We press <Advanced.
9. We press <Mail.
10. We press okay.

How to empty the Mail trash on our Mac

The steps are similar:

1. We open the app Mail on our Mac.
2. On the menu Mail we choose preferences.
3. We enter the tab Accounts.
4. We touch the sub-tab Mailboxes.
5. Under Erase deleted messages we touch the options and choose between Never, After a day, After a week, After one month or When leaving Mail.

Let’s notice that just above this option we have another section in which we read Delete unwanted messages where we can choose between the same options. Same as above setting Mail will deal with remove spam after intervals that we decide. This option, at least for now, is only available on the Mac.

How to empty the Mail Trash on iCloud.com

In the case of Mail for iCloud, the option to automatically delete the email from the trash is predefined, without us being able to adjust it. The mail is automatically deleted 30 days after its arrival in the trash.

It is worth mentioning that, with this function activated, sometimes an email may appear on our devices from which, although we see the subject, the body of it has already been deleted. This will be shown with the text This message has not been downloaded from the server. The reason for this is that the mail itself has been removed from the server while on the device the message still exists. This is the reason for the small delay in the elimination of messages that there may be and we mentioned at the beginning of the article.

As far as productivity is concerned, it is clear that being able to automate email management as much as possible, even in apparently small tasks such as emptying the trash, is a contribution. If we do it this way and get used to it, in the end it is one less thing to think about.