Leo: Is there a way to delete forever emails in Google without going through Trash and All Mail, and selecting each one and deleting it manually? In Outlook Express, I can use the “Shift + Delete” keys and delete the email after I read it, and it’s gone, and not in my trash file. I use Gmail as my primary email program, but I also retain OE for things, such as buying online so I don’t get solicitations in my primary program.
In this excerpt from Answercast #24, I give another warning about Outlook Express and show how to easily delete email in Google’s Gmail.
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Deleting emails
If you’re using both Gmail and Outlook Express, you’re actually using two different email accounts. There’s nothing specific about Outlook Express that wouldn’t allow you to use Gmail with it.
You can in fact use Outlook Express with multiple accounts and you can configure it to download Gmail, if you want to.
Time to move away from Outlook Express
That being said, I strongly recommend you stop using Outlook Express. I have an article on it, “Why Outlook Express Must Die.” The problem with Outlook Express is that, in my experience, in my nine years of doing this, I have seen more email lost to various problems with Outlook Express than with any other email program. And Microsoft isn’t supporting it anymore.
I strongly recommend that you move to something like Thunderbird.
Deleting emails in Gmail
To address your question, the thing to do in Gmail is to go ahead and click the Delete button on the messages.
Yes, that will move them to the Trash; but if you then view the Trash folder, near the top, there should be a link or a line that says Empty Trash Now.
That should empty the entire contents of the Trash folder right then, which I think is exactly what you’re looking for: a true, permanent delete.
- Realize that anything that’s in the Trash will get deleted after 30 days anyway.
And, I’ll say this again: use the Delete button and not the Archive button. The Archive button means you want to keep the email, throwing it into the 10 GB of space they now give you.
- It’s the Delete button that signifies to Gmail that you really want to delete the mail.
- Gmail then moves it into the Trash folder, which you can then empty immediately, if you want to.
- Or you can just let it sit for 30 days and things will end up getting permanently deleted automatically.
Next from Answercast 24- Are Evite invitations safe?
Is there a specific page where I can delete Gmail emails right away? I found it once but can’t seem to find it now. I want to delete some Gmail emails permanently asap. Thank you.
Sign in to your account at gmail.com
“If you’re using both Gmail and Outlook Express, you’re actually using two different email accounts.” I don’t understand how that is two accounts. Gmail is an email account and Outlook Express is an email program.
Looks like I misspoke. They’re two different things.