Empty Deleted Folder on Exit

[Tiro]

Hey,

After a full phone reset I had to set up Aquamail and my imap email account again.
Before the reset, the app would empty the «deleted» folder on exiting, thus removing those mail from both the app and the server.

Now, the deleted folder is only emptied if I manually select the «purge deleted» action, and never upon exiting.
I have the «purge deleted» option on under the «mail, other» menu.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks! :-)

[Tiro]

Thanks for your reply! 

My account is IMAP.
I'm not sure what you mean if I have lost my e-mails, but I simply did a factory reset on my phone for unrelated reasons, and when setting up AquaMail from scratch again, I can't get it to purge the deleted folder on exit (and hence delete the mails in that folder from the server).

If I tap "purge deleted" manually, the mails I have moved from inbox to the deleted folder are deleted both from the app and the server, as they should be. I want to replicate this behavior automatically on exiting the app.

[Tiro]

Yes, exactly, and I have it toggled on, but it doesn't seem to work. :/

[Kostya Vasilyev]

This setting, by design, only affects "local" (on-device) Deleted folders. This is more typical for POP3 than IMAP / EWS.

[Tiro]

I see, but then how do I set it up so the mails I delete from my inbox first go to the in-app deleted folder, and then are deleted both from the app and from the server when I exit the app?

I know it's possible, because it's how the app behaved before factory resetting my phone.

[Tiro]

It's set to «move to deleted first».

If I chose «delete immediately» deleted mails ARE deleted from the server, but they don't go to the deleted folder first, as they should...

[Tiro]

No, I'm trying to get mails I delete in the app to go to the apps deleted folder, and then have the in app deleted folder empty on exiting the app, hence deleting all those mail from the server.

[Tiro]

Yup, and they stay there (and thus on the server) until I manually tap "purge deleted".

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Yes, the "purge LOCAL deleted folder on exit" only works on local folders, just like it says.

Local folders are those that exist only on the device -- this is the only way to represent the Deleted for POP3, and is much less frequent with IMAP.

I'm reluctant to enable "purge deleted" for "remote" (server side) folders for IMAP and EWS, since it would affect messages moved there by all other mail apps / web mail, etc. Someone could lose important messages....

[Tiro]

Thanks for your input, it's beginning to make more sense now. :-)
However, there are still a few issues I don't understand.

1) My email account definitely is, and was, using IMAP. Why then did the «delete on exit» work? Is it possible that I could have configured my IMAP to ACT as a POP account?
2) Manually tapping «purge deleted» still deletes mails server-side. Is it the intended behaviour of AquaMail that for IMAP, the manual purge action works, whereas the automatic action doesn't?
3) What is the correct way to set AquaMail up if I want to use it with IMAP and have mails I permanently delete from the app also be deleted from the server?  Ideally, this should happen in a two-step process, first moving a mail I want to delete to a trash folder, and then deleting it from the trash folder and the server simultaneously?

To clarify, I don't need AquaMail to delete remote folders, I just need it to delete from the server those mails I have moved into the deleted folder using AquaMail.

Thanks!

[Tiro]

Thanks, and last question:

How can I set it up so that the process you described in answer #3 occurs automatically?

[Tiro]

Well I meant if there is any way those mail I delete in AquaMail can also be removed from the server at some point, without me having to manually tap «purge deleted»?

[Tiro]

Thanks Paris Geek for that excellent guide!

I have tested all three options, and all work as you describe.
My experience with the various options:

1) Since I frequently read mail on different devices and with different e-mail clients, I need all these devices and clients to appear "up to speed" (e.g. if I delete a mail in one place it is deleted everywhere). I check my e-mail many times a day on my phone, and manually emptying the deleted folder each time is inconvinient (requiring an extra 4 taps minimum). This thus often results in mails remaining in the "Deleted" folder in AquaMail, but in the "Inbox" on other clients. This will therefore not work for me.

2) The best option for me, ensuring that all platforms are "synced" so to speak. To avoid deleting important mails by mistake I will have to enable the "Confirm when deleting" option. The con here (and I'm nitpicking now) is that I have to confirm each delete action, meaning an additional tap per deleted mail.

3) Will not work for me as it leaves e.g. my phone and my web-based mail client "un-synced".


To sum up, thanks to your help I now have a fairly efficient system for maintaining my inbox and for deleting mails, although it is still sub-par to the behavior of the app prior to my phone reset.

I would therefore like to encourage Kostya Vasilyev to consider allowing the automatic emptying of the deleted folder on exiting also for IMAP.
It should not delete anything except what is already in the trash. If by mistake you delete a mail you can still retrieve it from the trash until you exit the app.

[Tiro]

1) Thanks, I thought I had tried that, but without getting the desired result.
Reviewed my settings and tested it again, and now it indeed behaves the way you describe - not sure what changed.
This means I would now prefer option 1! :-)

I would still like to be able to empty the trash automatically though, maybe AquaMail could do it every 7 days, or perhaps delete mails that stay in the trash for longer than 7 days?