My deleted emails don't go to my Mail Bin and can't retrieve them.

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Level 1

8 points

My deleted emails don't go to my Mail Bin and can't retrieve them.

I have just updated my old Mac desktop to a Mac Mini running Ventura. I used the migration assistant and all seems to have gone well, except this small niggle with the Mail application:

When I delete an email it doesn't go to the folder marked 'Bin' in my mail sidebar. I created a Smart Mailbox for a particularly important group of mails but found it appeared to duplicate them as they now showed in both the Smart and regular Inbox. So I deleted the ones in the Inbox only to find they had now disappeared from the Smart mailbox also.

Trouble is nothing I delete goes to the location marked 'Bin' in my Mail sidebar and I can't find any other 'Bin' to see where they have gone.

Please help!

Mac mini, macOS 13.3

Posted on Apr 20, 2023 3:20 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MrKanzi Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2023 7:17 AM in response to PRP_53

Thank you both for your speedy responses. I have resolved my difficulty which was predictably due entirely to my lack of familiarity with the new system.

My emails were shown in the mailboxes under the heading 'On My Mac' but deletions didn't show in the Bin/Trash in that mailbox group.

What I have just discovered is that there should have been a set of mailboxes associates specifically with my unique mail account, they were in fact their but were hidden. When I discovered the expand button they were shown along with their own 'Bin' and my deleted mails were all there.

I feel a little foolish but just happy it's sorted. Thanks again for your offers of assistance.

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

91,825 points

Apr 20, 2023 3:38 AM in response to MrKanzi

Try the information from Apple regarding and using " Favorite Folders " as the missing Bin is generally called Trash unless the user has created a separate Bin Folder ?

link below

Use favorite mailboxes in Mail on Mac

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

125,507 points

Apr 20, 2023 4:26 AM in response to MrKanzi

MrKanzi wrote:

I created a Smart Mailbox for a particularly important group of mails but found it appeared to duplicate them as they now showed in both the Smart and regular Inbox. So I deleted the ones in the Inbox only to find they had now disappeared from the Smart mailbox also.

FWIW, that's normal…

"If you change an email while viewing it in a Smart Mailbox—such as marking the email as read or unread, or moving or deleting it—the change is reflected in the mailbox where the email is stored."

From: Use Smart Mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

I don't use Smart Mailboxes so I don't know why when you delete an email from your Smart Mailbox or Inbox it doesn't end up in the Bin.

Maybe someone does and will reply.

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Answer 4

MrKanzi Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 20, 2023 4:09 AM in response to dialabrain

Thanks for your reply, P. Phillips. The information on the use of Favourites will be useful to me, thanks.

Perhaps I didn't construct my question well enough but the problem I need a solution for is that messages I have deleted do not show in the 'Bin' (Trash) box, therefore I am unable to retrieve them.

Thanks.

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Answer 5

PRP_53

Level 10

91,825 points

Apr 20, 2023 6:45 AM in response to MrKanzi

MrKanzi wrote:

Thanks for your reply, P. Phillips. The information on the use of Favourites will be useful to me, thanks.

Welcome.

Despite we were using , technically, different terminology for the same Folder, Bin vs Trash, we are able to communicate well enough on this unfortunate occurring issue

I do not use Smart Folders, again and generally, any Folder related to Mail would be within the ~/Library/Mail/V10/

This does not imply the Smart Folder will be there but . . . who knows

If you what to explore that folder

in Finder >> Go >> Go to Folder

Copy and past ~/Library/Mail/V10/ into it

Good Luck

Perhaps I didn't construct my question well enough but the problem I need a solution for is that messages I have deleted do not show in the 'Bin' (Trash) box, therefore I am unable to retrieve them.