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You are here: Home / iPhone / Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?

Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?

By Elizabeth Jones 59 comments Last updated October 20, 2019

Are you trying to swipe to delete mail on your iPhone’s or iPad’s Mail App, but only see the options to Archive, Flag, or More? Or wondering what the heck happened to the Delete Trashcan option? Are you only finding the Delete Trashcan in the Trash folder?

We get these common questions a lot, and basically, they boil down to “how do I delete emails on my iPhone, not archive??” So if you’re looking for a fast way to delete emails, so they go straight to Trash instead of Archive, we’ve got some tips for you.Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?

Many of our readers tell us that after updating to a new iOS, they find their Mail App Settings return to defaults and are only able to locate the Delete Trashcan when actually in the Trash folder. Not good! And plenty confusing.Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?

So let’s get to it!

Since iOS often sets quite a few settings back to default, we need to actually tell our iPad’s or iPhone’s Mail App to delete that email when we swipe left. So you guessed it, we need to visit the Settings App.

iOS 12+ and iPadOS call this setting Passwords & Accounts and in iOS 11, this as Accounts & Passwords, so if you’re having trouble locating your Email credentials and account information make sure you check out Settings > Passwords & Accounts (or Accounts & Passwords.)location of iOS 12 passwords and accounts

Contents

  • How-To Change Swipe to Delete Mail Instead of Archive Mail iOS 11+ & iPadOS
    • Change Your Swipe iOS 11+ and iPadOS
  • Steps for iOS 10 Mail Swipe to Delete
  • Want to Keep Swipe to Archive? 

How-To Change Swipe to Delete Mail Instead of Archive Mail iOS 11+ & iPadOS

As mentioned in iOS (11+) and iPadOS, it’s a little more complicated.

But you can update your Mail Account Settings to allow swipe to delete messages. We’re using a Gmail account as an example but you find similar settings for Outlook and others.

The trick is to find the heading “Move Discarded Messages Into” and update that to Deleted Mailbox.

Change Your Swipe iOS 11+ and iPadOS

  1. Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts (or Accounts & Passwords)
  2. Select your Gmail Account (or another email account) Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?
  3. Tap the Account Name
  4. Choose Advanced (also called Advanced Settings) Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?
  5. Tap Deleted Mailbox under Move Discarded Messages Into
    1. A checkmark appears next to Deleted Mailbox
  6. Verify that under Mailbox Behaviors your Deleted Mailbox is pointing to the Trash
    1. If not, tap it and change to Trash
    2. Not all email accounts offer this setting
  7. Press the Back Arrow to return to your account
  8. Tap Done Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?
  9. You may need to restart your iDevice for changes to take effect

Perform these same steps for all your Mail App connected email accounts. Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?

Once you update all accounts, confirm that swiping now shows the Trash to delete individual emails instead of Archive.

Steps for iOS 10 Mail Swipe to Delete
ios 10 mail swipe to delete

  1. Go to Settings > Mail 
  2. Tap Accounts to display all your connected email accounts
  3. Select your email account
  4. Tap Advanced
  5. Find Move Discarded Messages Into
  6. Select Deleted Mailbox instead of Archive
    1. Deleted Mailbox should now have a checkmark
  7. Press the Back button to return to Account Details
  8. Tap Done
  9. You may need to restart your iDevice for changes to take effect

Perform these same steps for all your Mail App connected email accounts.

Want to Keep Swipe to Archive? Swipe to Delete Mail Not Working on iPhone or iPad?

If you want to keep swipe to Archive Mail, it’s still fairly simple to delete your email. It just takes a couple of extra steps. When swiping on an email choose More instead of Archive. Then tap Move Message and then select your Trash to delete that email.

liz - apple
Elizabeth Jones

For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!

Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.

Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.

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Show 59 Comments

  1. Mark Geerlings says

    May 27, 2021 at 9:41 PM

    On wy wife’s new iPhone with IOS13, I tried your suggestion to make it possible to delete a mail message by a left swipe. But immediately *All* e-mails in her Inbox disappeared! Yes, when a new (test) message from my phone arrived in her inbox, she could delete it with a left swipe. But why changing that setting moved all existing messages? And where did they go?

    Reply
  2. Marie says

    April 8, 2021 at 9:11 PM

    1. Help! The problem is with the horizontal scrolling in the apple email program. It is easy to accidentally delete contacts, emails, messages, etc. Is there a simple checkbox for horizontal scrolling. Or is there a way to eliminate the choses that appear on each side on a message i.e. unread, delete?

    2. if a draft is deleted is there a way to find it? – it was not in the trashcan.

    Reply
  3. Kathleen says

    February 15, 2021 at 6:01 AM

    Thank you so much!

    Reply
  4. John says

    November 9, 2020 at 6:58 AM

    Thank you so much for posting this really helped!

    Reply
  5. Marcelo says

    October 15, 2020 at 10:18 AM

    Thanks, been looking for this.

    Reply
  6. Meglanon says

    August 30, 2020 at 10:34 AM

    Perfect, Thanks!

    Reply
  7. Mutam says

    August 12, 2020 at 2:58 PM

    Great , thanks for the tip it really worked for me on my iPhone SE.

    Reply
  8. Biscuit says

    June 19, 2020 at 3:34 PM

    thank you, worked like a champ.

    Reply
  9. Gordon says

    June 4, 2020 at 10:06 AM

    I couldn’t figure out how to get left swipe to show the trash option when I added gmail to my new iPhone SE (as it did for my work email). Your fix in settings was fantastic and worked immediately… I would never have stumbled upon this in settings without your advice… you saved me from a lot of frustration and extra touches to do it via the “more” option… thanks…

    Reply
  10. Laura says

    May 12, 2020 at 7:23 AM

    Worked great! Thank you 🙂

    Reply
  11. Laura says

    May 12, 2020 at 7:22 AM

    These step by step instructions are great. Did exactly what it said and it worked! Thank you!

    Reply
  12. Marcela says

    April 30, 2020 at 9:12 AM

    On my Iphone xr the gmail does not swipe either right to left or left to right.I have done what is indicated above

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Jones says

      April 30, 2020 at 5:41 PM

      Hi Marcela,

      Check that your Mail app has set swipe options.

      Go to settings > Mail > swipe options, then choose an options for the left and the right.

      Reply
  13. Deb says

    March 12, 2020 at 12:27 AM

    Thank you so very very very very much❤️
    Deb

    Reply
  14. Richard says

    January 25, 2020 at 8:35 PM

    Helped so much. Thanks!

    Reply
  15. David Baker says

    January 17, 2020 at 5:02 PM

    Excellent solution to my problem. It’s great to be rid of that useless Archive option in IOS mail.
    Thank you

    Reply
  16. Tara Lyman says

    January 16, 2020 at 4:32 PM

    I looked everywhere for this information. You rock. All other sites were outdated or just plain wrong for my situation

    Reply
  17. Justin says

    December 26, 2019 at 4:36 PM

    So this worked as described! However—in email settings there still is no longer an option to change “Swipe Options” to ONLY delete… as opposed to swiping and giving a couple options. This makes deleting messages take an extra swipe or click… this sounds trivial, but it does bother me (especially since previously they option was available and it was so easy to delete individual messages at a quick pace!)

    Any methods to get this function back?

    – also, side concern: I wanted to change my “archived mail location” but it always defaults to “All Mail” as opposed to STAYING On whatever option I select, after I press “Done.”
    – why is this happening…. haha, thanks so much !

    Reply
  18. Anisa says

    November 14, 2019 at 8:18 PM

    Thank you so much for this!

    Unfortunately, I tried your method for swiping to delete but it won’t let me choose trash for the archived mailbox—only the All Mail category is not greyed out.

    Any idea why this is?? Thank you 🙂

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Jones says

      November 15, 2019 at 8:06 AM

      Hi Anisa,

      Can you tap Deleted Mailbox so it’s check-marked under the heading Move Discarded Messages Into?

      If you can’t change these settings, we suggest you reconfigure the account by deleting it and adding it back in.

      Since email is stored on your email provider’s servers, you should not lose any email.

      To delete, go to Settings > Passwords & Account and choose the account that’s not letting you make changes

      Tap Delete Account

      Restart your device and then return to Settings > Passwords & Accounts and choose Add Account. Select the type (Google/Gmail, Yahoo, Aol, etc.) and follow the on-screen steps to add it in again

      Reply
  19. pete says

    November 14, 2019 at 3:03 AM

    Thanks – fixed an annoying setting back to a better function!

    Reply
  20. Nancy Prince Jackson says

    August 5, 2019 at 1:32 PM

    My iPhone 7+ all of a sudden will not let me open my mail app, it just blinks out. I have tried the methods listed above and none work. This has been going on for 3-4 days and I have shut it down like 7-8 times a day to no avail. WHAT’S NEXT to try

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Jones says

      August 5, 2019 at 2:46 PM

      Hi Nancy,

      Close all your open apps and then restart your device. See if you can open Mail after that.

      Close an app
      1. On an iPhone or an iPad with no home button from the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen
      2. On an iDevice with a home button, double-click the Home button and swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close
      3. Swipe right or left to locate the app you want to close
      4. Swipe up on the app’s preview to close it
      5. Repeat for all open apps

      If not, remove your email account from Settings > Passwords & Accounts and then add them back in.

      Reply
  21. David Evans says

    April 4, 2019 at 6:22 PM

    Suddenly stopped working. Setting has changed, but now emails are archived when swiped. (Yet another iOS “enhancement”). This is my last iPhone.

    Reply
  22. Emily says

    January 31, 2019 at 3:10 PM

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!

    Reply
  23. Izabela Salgado says

    January 23, 2019 at 4:56 PM

    Thank you very much!!!!! Loved it!

    Reply
  24. kate mushinsky says

    January 13, 2019 at 7:43 AM

    What if you don’t have “advanced” as an option?

    Reply
  25. Shannon says

    December 18, 2018 at 7:03 PM

    THis was REALLY helpful. Thank you!!

    Reply
  26. Maureen Blouin says

    October 26, 2018 at 10:33 AM

    Thank you!

    Reply
  27. Jeffery Colkmire says

    October 24, 2018 at 9:40 PM

    I have a 6S+ iOS 12.0

    I’ve followed your instructions step by step and to the letter at least three times. Including the restart. When I swipe an email, left or right, it goes to archive.

    I checked the settings and it points to trash.

    I would send you screen prints, but there’s no way to do that.

    How do I get it to work correctly? Thank you.

    Other than that, your instructions were very easy to follow.

    Reply
    • MJ says

      February 11, 2019 at 1:38 AM

      Jeffery, after your deleted mailbox in “mailbox behaviors” points to trash it is important that in the next section “move discarded messages into” make sure “deleted mailbox” is checked instead of “archive mailbox”.

      Then tap “account” to go back to the prior page and tap “done”.

      Then reboot your iPhone or iPad which should hold your changes. This worked for me.

      Thanks, Elizabeth!

      I knew it had to be a setting I was missing since the email accounts on my iPhone would do it but not the iPad.

      Reply
  28. Gerry says

    October 12, 2018 at 11:22 PM

    Better to have gmail swipe option as on Android. You can swipe left to delete, right to archive. I wonder why this isn’t available on iPad – or am i missing something?

    Reply
    • SK says

      October 13, 2018 at 8:54 AM

      Hi Gerry,

      You aren’t missing anything. iOS currently only allows a swipe to the left to reveal options–swipe to the right doesn’t offer anything!

      A great suggestion! Consider sending Apple your user feedback here.

      Reply
      • Jeffery Colkmire says

        October 25, 2018 at 9:33 AM

        My phone 6S+ iOS 12.0 sends email to archive swiping right or left. Go figure.

        Reply
        • SK says

          October 25, 2018 at 9:46 AM

          Hi Jeffrey,

          Let;s try this:

          1. Open Settings
          2. Open Passwords & Accounts
          3. Tap the name of the email that’s going to archive
          4. Tap the name of the account that’s next to Account
          5. Tap Advanced
          6. Change Move Discarded Messages Into by tapping Deleted Mailbox instead of Archive Mailbox
          7. Take a look an make sure that deleted Mailbox is checked
          8. Tap the back Account button at the top-left
          9. Tap Done in the upper right to save changes
          10.Tap back to get to the Settings App again

          Now, restart your iPhone and see if it works as expected.

          Sam

          Reply
          • Lara says

            July 26, 2019 at 5:52 AM

            If you use the O365 client instead of the generic apple email, please note that in the O365 email inbox, click on the very top left circle to the left of the word Inbox, it will open a side panel on the left.

            At the very bottom of the side panel is a gear icon underneath a question mark, press that gear to get into settings.

            Look for the Swipe Options and choose that then under swipe right choose Mark Read/Unread and under Swipe left choose Delete.

  29. Wendy says

    September 25, 2018 at 4:10 AM

    Beyond frustrated with this… i use gmail as my main mail account and i can only archive, not delete. in the advanced option of passwords and accounts, i cannot select “trash” because it is greyed out. moreover the swipe options in my “mail” app are flag, mark as read, move, archive… there is no delete. i have an iphone 7 running an up2date IOS. no idea why everyone else can make this work but i can’t. please help. thanks.

    Reply
  30. Lance says

    July 10, 2018 at 12:55 AM

    Excellent, thanks

    Reply
  31. Chris says

    May 31, 2018 at 3:23 PM

    This does not work. Still archiving my gmail. I pressed done and restarted.

    Reply
    • SK says

      June 1, 2018 at 9:13 AM

      Hi Chris,

      Sorry that this process isn’t working for you. Add on the step of closing your Mail App before you make the setting change. Close an app by double pressing Home or swiping up on the Home Gesture Bar and then swiping off the top of the screen the app preview for Mail.

      See if that works!

      Sam

      Reply
      • Jeffery Colkmire says

        October 25, 2018 at 9:42 AM

        Tried this. Didn’t work. Or I didn’t understand the directions.
        Could you break it down for me? At 66 I’m not quite as savvy as most.
        What would happen if I deleted the app, followed the steps described in your article and re-do the app? My initial thought is it wouldn’t work because Gmail would no longer be in my Accounts.

        Reply
  32. Aterla says

    April 19, 2018 at 10:59 PM

    Writing just to thank you a lot for this tip. Have a nice day.

    Reply
  33. Beth says

    April 18, 2018 at 3:25 PM

    I love this! Thank you so much for this – it has been driving me insane.

    Reply
  34. Steve Gaenss says

    April 6, 2018 at 1:56 AM

    Thx sooooo much guys for the how-to to enable swipe to delete again!!! I was getting crazy about that I always have to mark the mails, push on move and then set it to trash…..

    THX!!!!

    Reply
  35. Esther says

    March 13, 2018 at 12:58 PM

    Thanks, i Couldnt find the Advanced section for days until I found this post. The key was to click on your email address after selecting Gmail! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      March 14, 2018 at 8:54 AM

      You’re totally welcome Esther. Thanks for letting us know the tips helped get things sorted out and you’re able now to delete email at will!

      Liz

      Reply
  36. Cassie says

    February 26, 2018 at 5:21 PM

    Thank! I googled this for 15 mins and this was the first site that gave me the actual answer! Have been wondering how to do this for so long! Drove me crazy!

    Reply
  37. C says

    February 16, 2018 at 6:36 AM

    THANK you! It was driving me nuts.

    Reply
  38. Tony says

    February 9, 2018 at 3:21 PM

    Tried this several times and it didn’t work. When I swipe still have archive or schedule

    Reply
    • SK says

      February 11, 2018 at 8:55 AM

      Hi Tony,

      Sorry that it’s not working for you. What type of account settings are you adjusting–i.e. a yahoo, gmail, outlook, etc?

      Also, make sure after selecting your options for Mailbox Behaviors and Move Discarded Messages Into that you are pressing Done–that saves your options. Then restart your device and see if those settings take.

      If you’ve done all those steps already and it still isn’t working, please let us know what type of account you’re trying to modify and we’ll take a look.

      SK

      Reply
      • Adam Frank says

        October 20, 2019 at 12:06 AM

        I am having same experience as Tony — I have followed the instructions precisely, and I have been sure to include “Done” instruction, and the change is not being implemented. I am using standard Gmail account. Every swipe — right or left — archives the message. I want to swipe and delete. What now?

        Reply
        • Elizabeth Jones says

          October 20, 2019 at 7:11 AM

          Hi Adam.

          When you go back and check the Advanced settings for that Gmail account in Passwords & Accounts, is it defaulting (check-marked) back to Archive under Move Discarded messages into?

          First, let’s close and reopen the Mail app. After closing the app, relaunch it and see if swipe to delete now works.

          Close an app
          1. On an iPhone or an iPad with no home button from the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen
          2. On an iDevice with a home button, double-click the Home button and swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close
          3. Swipe right or left to locate the app you want to close
          4. Swipe up on the app’s preview to close it

          Let’s try to change it again, but close all apps on your device and restart.

          If that didn’t work

          1) Close all open and suspended apps so no apps are open/suspended on your device (in particular, close the Mail app)

          2) Restart your device by powering off, waiting 20 seconds, and powering back on

          3) Open Settings > Passwords & Accounts and make that change again

          4) Only after making the change, launch your Mail app and see if the swipe now works

          Reply
  39. Christa says

    November 21, 2017 at 11:32 AM

    Thank you soooooo much!!!! You saved my life

    Reply
  40. Michael says

    November 11, 2017 at 8:52 AM

    Thanks very much. Most of the links that supposedly showed how to do this were incorrect. Yours was the only one I saw that actually did it right. You da Man (or woman).

    Reply
    • SK says

      November 11, 2017 at 8:57 AM

      Michael,

      Awesome! Thanks…from this woman 🙂

      Liz

      Reply
  41. Rob says

    October 16, 2017 at 8:37 PM

    There is no ADVANCED option under Any mail accounts in accounts and passwords.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      October 17, 2017 at 7:34 AM

      Hi Rob,

      Please let us know what type of email account you’re using. Usually getting to the Advanced (or Advanced Settings) option takes a few taps–first Account & Passwords, then tap the specific account, then tap your specific account name (usually your email address) again. Then underneath the Account Information, you should see the Advanced Menu.

      Liz

      Reply
  42. JALR says

    October 11, 2017 at 11:15 AM

    Thank you- this is the 6th site I visited to find a solution and the only one that had the correct fix.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      October 11, 2017 at 12:15 PM

      Awesome! Thanks for sharing and letting us know.

      Liz

      Reply

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