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How to permanently delete an email in Gmail? Step by step guide

Still having the email only to receive messages, there comes a time when the inbox looks cluttered, while there is still storage space for the 15 GB that Gmail grants to each user for free. When it is not necessary to have so much space occupied, a recommended option is to permanently delete emails.

Many times messages are deleted, but they are sent to the recycle bin or another folder where they can be rescued on a certain moment. Nevertheless, this time we are talking about deleting them and not having the possibility of recovering them again.

If you want to know how to carry out this irreversible procedure when deleting messages, In this course you will learn the steps you must follow on any device, but we will go further, by teaching you how to block messages from certain users and how to bring back an email deleted by mistake.

Learn step by step how to permanently delete an email from your Gmail account quickly and easily

One of the advantages of permanently deleting emails from the Gmail account is that the inbox is optimized, so it looks more orderly and we also recover space that we can give you another use.

Let’s see how to do it according to the operating system:

On Android and iOS

The messages you have in your inbox can be deleted individually or by batch, all depending on your tastes and needs. What you have to be sure is that we no longer want to have them with us.

Cleaning from a mobile is done as follows:

  • Open the Gmail app on your device.

New Gmail Interface on Android

  • Tap on the photo or letter which is next to the message or messages you want remove.
  • You have the option of click on the three vertical points that are in the upper right corner and in which the menu is displayed, touch on “Move to” and indicate where you want the emails to go.

Move to in Gmail for Android features

  • Or the other way is to select and tap the trash icon which is on the top bar of the interface tray.

Move an email in Gmail for Android

  • Once they are deleted, a notification indicating that they have been sent to the recycle bin.
  • If you want remove them from the recycle bin, you click on the left menu and search “Paper bin”.

Delete emails in Gmail for Android

  • Once there, you hit “ANDeliminate the messages definitively ”.
  • With that there will be disappeared from your account.

On Windows or MacOS

Before deleting an email, it is necessary that you review its usefulness and that you save the messages that you actually need using a tag.

As long as you are clear, you can delete any message from the web browser in the following way:

  • Sign in to you Gmail account.
  • Check the box which is next to the message you want remove.
  • Click on the trash can which is in the top bar, which is the function “Remove”.

Delete emails on the Gmail web

  • If there are several messages that you are going to delete, you select them and at the end you click “Remove”.
  • From there they go to “Paper bin” which you must access by clicking on “Plus” in the left side menu.

Access the Gmail Trash

  • Once inside the trash, select the message and at the top it tells you “Definitively delete.”
  • Or failing that, if you want to empty it completely, tells you “Empty the trash now.”
  • In this simple way and in a short time you free up space in your mail.

Are emails actually deleted from my Gmail account?

Responding directly we say no. You can remove them from your view or from your account, but they are kept on Google’s servers, where your personal data is also stored, which is part of the conditions that are accepted when the email is created.

Nevertheless, Google allows you to delete content from your account that you will not be able to recover againunless you have personally made a backup. When you delete an email, it goes to the Recycle Bin, where after 30 days it disappears definitively.

Find out how to block email messages from a user in Gmail or stop receiving email campaigns

Every day we receive a number of emails that we probably do not want or that were subscriptions that we once made out of interest in a particular topic but we no longer need them. To block these types of messages we will use one of the tools that Gmail brings.

Here’s what it is:

Block incoming emails

Sometimes campaign messages arrive with different email addresses, but if we already know the email account that frequently sends us content, we can block it in the following way:

  • Login to your Gmail account on the mobile or on the computer.
  • Opens the email you want to block.
  • Once inside, click on the three vertical dots icon.

Block users on Gmail web

  • A window appears in which the function appears “Block to …”
  • The on-screen notification informs you that from that moment the messages from that address are will mark as SPAM.
  • In that way will not be visible in the inbox.

Disable Newsletter subscription

Unsubscribing from a newsletter that you voluntarily or involuntarily subscribed to is very easy in Gmail. With just one click you will stop seeing these promotions.

See how to do it in these steps:

  • Sign in to the account of Gmail.
  • Opens the email containing the newsletter that you don’t want to receive.
  • click in option “Cancel subscription” or in other cases “Change preferences”, both located at the end of the email.

Unsubscribe in Gmail

  • Confirms that you no longer want to continue receiving the message and it will be removed from your inbox.
  • In the end it appears to you a notification indicating that you have been unsubscribed.

We show you how to recover an email accidentally deleted from your Gmail account

Check out these tricks that you can apply if you accidentally deleted an email, because you were going to transfer it to a label or file and did wrong steps.

Do not worry, you will have them back in your tray in a simple way:

Access the Trash

Access the Gmail Trash

As we said before, the messages do not go completely from the account, the initial process is to spend a period in the recycle bin during which the user has the option to rescue them.

Of course, they should not take more than a month there, because they will be deleted automatically:

  • For this you must enter your Gmail account.
  • Go to the left sidebar, Click on “Plus” and finally in “Paper bin”.

Look for the message

Retrieve emails from Trash in Gmail

Once inside the trash, the task is to find which of the messages you have there is the one you need to recover. If you have deleted many others, it will take a little time. They are classified by date.

Now, what you must do to recover them is the following:

  • Once you find the message, select it.
  • With the right mouse button, select the option “Move to received”.
  • And now the message is will be able to see again in the inbox along with the others.

If the time has passed and the message is not in the trash, You will have to ask the person who made the shipment again to see if they still have it available. However, this deleted message rescue function can get you out of more than one trouble.