# So did I just delete all my 9000 emails on Gmail by accident or not? (need answer Fastish)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-did-i-just-delete-all-my-9000-emails-on-gmail-by-accident-or-not-need-answer-fastish/750636>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 30, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-did-i-just-delete-all-my-9000-emails-on-gmail-by-accident-or-not-need-answer-fastish/750636 "2016-03-30T14:03:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-did-i-just-delete-all-my-9000-emails-on-gmail-by-accident-or-not-need-answer-fastish/750636/1 "2016-03-30T14:03:29Z")

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Happily pruning my Gmail inbox with the Mail app on OS X.

My method:  
go to message, select all of [sender x]/go to selection-result panel/select-all/move-to-Trash-on-My Mac

whoops.

a) my trash is empty (because they’re not physically local)  
b) when I go online by browser to my Google Mail account (I haven’t tried my Google app), there they are.

1. I see them all–I think-- in “flagged,” in my app, which goes back to crap in 2010 I was sure I deleted–meaning, _everything_ is flagged for deletion, but hasn’t been, because thats between me and Google?

2. So, with Mail app, I try to move all “flagged” back into Google inbox. No joy.  
I can live with them there, if indeed that’s them–they’re out of sight at least, but now everything’s swept under the rug.

Maybe I could delete the account in Mail, and have the new one import from the server? I’m confused about “import” versus “sync with the server” in this case. I figured I’d pause here and consult smarter people before I make matters worse.

And I was feeling so productive. Although I must say I feel kind of light and liberated right now.

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**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-did-i-just-delete-all-my-9000-emails-on-gmail-by-accident-or-not-need-answer-fastish/750636/2 "2016-03-30T15:15:23Z")

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You may be able to go (from your your iPad or PC, whatever) and go to the Trash folder, select all, and then right-click (if it’s a PC) and select “Move to Inbox.”

I did this literally 10 minutes ago after trashing a thread with a co-worker about a bid proposal…

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-did-i-just-delete-all-my-9000-emails-on-gmail-by-accident-or-not-need-answer-fastish/750636/3 "2016-03-30T22:04:10Z")

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If they’re all still there on the website, then deleting the account locally (while not connected to the Internet, if you want to be perfectly sure) and then creating a new account (connecting to the Internet when doing so) would almost certainly work.

Though even stuff you deleted long ago might still be on there, since you say they’re just flagged locally. You might want to go through your account on the website and delete the stuff you don’t want. Or just move it to another folder.

That said, there may be a way to unflag the emails, and that might be easier. I would not trust them never to be deleted in the future.