We have those days where we decide to do a
massive “spring clean” of our emails, and we go into a deleting frenzy – and
why not, especially given the feeling of accomplishment you get seeing your
Inbox count dramatically drop. The other day I was watching a friend doing one
of these “spring cleans” (albeit in winter) of her email accounts on her Apple
iPad. Watching her smash through her Hotmail emails, and her Microsoft Office
365 emails you could see the relief that she was getting.
I went back to what I was doing only to
hear her yell some words in frustration that are best not repeated here. When I
asked her what was wrong, and she told me that she had accidentally moved a big
batch of Gmail emails (50+) into her Sent folder instead of in the Trash
folder. It only took me a second to realize what had happened - without even looking
at her iPad. And the reason I knew is because I used to do the exact same thing
that she was doing (which is a little embarrassing considering I am a techie).
For those of us who have Gmail on our Apple iPad, or Apple iPhone, we know that when we swipe and email, or press the Edit
button and select a bunch of messages, we are not presented with a nice, red
Delete button. Instead we are given an Archive button, which as we know just
‘hides’ the emails. Some people love this feature, as you never have to worry
about deleting an email that need later – although many people, like myself,
want our emails GONE, not just hidden.
Anyway, what my friend had done (as I have
done myself), is selected a big bunch of messages, tapped the Move button, and
instead of tapping Trash, she tapped Sent… Now
those emails she want deleted are scattered throughout her Sent items
What she didn’t know – and something that
took me a while to find myself once upon a time – was although this Archive feature
enabled on Gmail accounts by default, the good people at Apple give us the
option to turn it off. So instead of getting an Archive button, you will get a Delete
button just like every other email account.
If you are anything like me, or my friend,
you will love this quick tip that will save your sanity, and keep that feeling
of accomplishment, when clearing out your Inbox.
