Cleaning Up G-Mail

[somchai69]

I use Thunderbird to read my G-mail accounts and have it set to delete READ messages

after 5 days, which is seems to do.

However the complete set of all my SENT mail is still there, going back months...........

I have just deleted over 1000 messages, manually

Is there any simple way to get these deleted automatically?

[CMSteve]

I'm sure you can change the settings for your sent folder, but if not you can always click in the window and do a CTRL - A then press delete.

saves a lot of time when choosing a lot of files/messages

[Pib]

Just continue to log onto Gmail occassionally via the web to clean up certain folders like the Sent and Spam folders. It only takes a few minutes...it ain't hard. Just consider the Sent folder on Gmail another storage locations for you Sent email until you deleted them. I logon via the web every two weeks or so just to check for non-Spam email that got put in the Spam folder. The rest of the time I just do a POP download/upload using Outlook. Just the other day I found a important/valid email in my Gmail Spam folder...and it was from an email address that I get one or two emails a month from....glad I did a web logon....I find a valid email gets put in the Gmail Spam folder at the rate of one or two month....and these are emails from govt agencies, airlines, individuals who send me email preiodically, ....the Gmail Spam filter ain't foolproof...but I think it does a durn good job overall in stopping Spam. Since email in the Gmail Spam folder is deleted automatically every 30 days, you could end up missing some valid emails unless you log on via the web at least once a month.

But to your basic question of how to have Gmail automatically delete Sent email/not store Sent email until you manually delete, I don't know of a way to do that. I even looked at Gmail via the web a few minutes ago to see if such a setting existed. I didn't see one, but that don't mean one may not exist. Good luck.

[Phil Conners]

There's a discussion in Google Support Forum here discussing it that might have some useful information.

[somchai69]

Thanks PIB

I do agree that a manual check via the web of the Spam is worthwhile.

I too find erroneously filtered messages.

Spam does get emptied after 30 days.

I have checked everything I can think of in Thunderbird and G-mail

for something similar on the Sent mail side, but without luck so far.

[AyG]

I sounds like you're using POP/SMTP to access your GMail account. If you switch to IMAP (a more modern protocol) the problem should go away - your folders should always be synchronized between GMail and your email client, so if your client is set up to delete sent messages after x days, they'll also be deleted on GMail.

[somchai69]

I am not sure I want to delete the mail inside Thunderbird,

but I do want to get the gmail side to tidy up automatically.

Judging from the link that Phil posted (thanks), it is known problem

without a current solution.

[Pib]

I expect Google could program in a setting to Delete Sent email immediately, after X-days, etc., if they really wanted to. But just maybe their super computers evaluate your sent email to determine what ads to focus toward you during webmail sessions and their super computers really need a few hours/days to fully evaluate your Sent email. Now, if this is the reason Google don't have any Automatic Delete Sent Email Options I doubt Google would ever admit it. Fine with me...it's a free email service...if I couldn't accept such terms I can always cancel by Gmail account. I just use my Outlook email client to do my POP downloads/uploads to avoid any webmail ads....and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I log on via webmail a few times a month to check for valid email misplaced in the Spam folder.

[thaimite]

I expect Google could program in a setting to Delete Sent email immediately, after X-days, etc., if they really wanted to. But just maybe their super computers evaluate your sent email to determine what ads to focus toward you during webmail sessions and their super computers really need a few hours/days to fully evaluate your Sent email. Now, if this is the reason Google don't have any Automatic Delete Sent Email Options I doubt Google would ever admit it. Fine with me...it's a free email service...if I couldn't accept such terms I can always cancel by Gmail account. I just use my Outlook email client to do my POP downloads/uploads to avoid any webmail ads....and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I log on via webmail a few times a month to check for valid email misplaced in the Spam folder.

This is probably not thecase.

As I understand GMail even though you delete mail from your acount, although you may not see it, it is still there and could still be used for targeted advertising or to show other people who may want a look at what you have been sending