PROBLEM
Error message when trying to delete a message from iPad or iPhone:
Unable to move message. The message could not be moved to the Trash.
THIS FIX DOES NOT WORK WITH HOTMAIL ACCOUNTS
Hotmail is NOT IMAP, it used EAS and does not offer these options. To fix Hotmail the account needs to be removed fully and then setup as an "Outlook.com" email in the iOS Mail setup.)
SOLUTION
Navigate to your email account's settings
- Go To Settings (Gear icon).
- iOS 9 and earlier: Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
- iOS 10: Tap Mail.
- iOS 11: Tap Accounts and Passwords.
- Select your email account.
- Tap the "Account" line to pull up the settings sheet.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Advanced (At the very bottom. You may need to hide the keyboard to see this.)
Set up Mailbox Behaviors to store message in the correct folders "On The Server"
- Under the "Mailbox Behaviors" section, select "Drafts Mailbox"
- In the new window, select the "Drafts" folder from the "On the Server" section. You should see a check mark next to this folder. Do NOT check the "On My iPhone" "Drafts" selection at the top.
- Tap the "Advanced" button on the top left to go back to the advanced page.
- Repeat this process for the "Deleted Mailbox" and "Sent Mailbox", selecting the corresponding "On The Server" mailboxes. With Gmail accounts, you will also have the ability to map an "Archive Mailbox", which can be linked to the "All Mail" mailbox.
Back Out to Complete the Changes
- Tap the "Advanced" button on the top left.
- Tap on "Account Info".
- Tap "DONE" (do not tap Cancel).
You may need to then completely shut down, and then turn your iPhone back on.
Comments
82 comments
I get stuck after Advanced Settings. I don't have the option "Mailbox Behaviors". My options are:
-Use SSL (it is on)
-move discarded messages into: deleted mailbox archive mailbox ( deleted mail boxes checked on mine )
-S/MIME ( this is not checked on mine )
Any ideas where to go from here?
I temporarily lost my WiFi connection and found that I could delete emails that had refused to move to trash. I have since got rid of stubborn emails by the simple expedient of taking my Ipad with me when I go out and once out of range of the WiFi connection delete them.
MW.
Hi Jackie,
Try accessing your email online and see if you can delete the message there. Gray folders are also something you probably want to delete.
If you have multiple folders with similar names (sent-mail and SentMail) then...
Good luck!
You're welcome, Cathrine!
May 9, 2016...... iPhone SE Thank God for this...I had been on with Apple for hours.....Came here and fixed it right away....Thank you so much for sharing the solution....I was pulling my hair out..... had me back up phone and restore...it was a horror story....They will not be getting a good survey...
I have an email I cannot delete on my iPhone 5s that is udated. I've read thru this entire post and have tried everything you have suggested, but to no avail. I'm sure I'm messing up somewhere, but cannot figure it out. Help!
Hi Ben - thanks very much for the reply. I am using Exchange. Any ideas on how to get rid of these messages?
Great job guys. I spent hours with my SP with to no avail. Until I bumped on your site!
Thank you!
Hi there,
This didn't work for me. I have 2 messages that will not delete. When I go into Drafts Mailbox and when I look for the Sent Mailbox is it greyed out unless I go down into my other folders where I see sent-mail and SentMail and I have tried choosing those and finish the instructions, power down but there are 2 messages that will still not delete. I have tried this a few times. Thanks,
JMN, if "mark as read" (then delete) doesn't work, then contact your Exchange Host or IT Support provider. There's no reason why this should be a problem.
Hi Ben, I have the same question as Deb Brunelle from July 2016, to which you responded in September, which I did not understand how to fix the problem Deb & I share - specifically, how to reduce the Gmail emails on my iPhone 5 and retain all of them on the Gmail server (iPhone 5s, 10.2.1, IMAP, Mail linked to Gmail, avoiding Gmail App which I find clumsy). I had been very careful not to tap on some of my folders (particularly 'All' and 'Sent') but accidents happen and suddenly my iPhone downloaded hundreds of messages, gobbling up tons of storage.
My 'Mail Behaviors' are already set up as per the top of this page. Your reply to Deb of...
The best way to keep email on a server and limit the number of messages on an iPhone is to use IMAP or Exchange accounts. POP accounts are not good for this.
...did not really say how to reduce emails on iPhone (or if it did, I didn't grasp it); the link points to a discussion of the difference between POP and IMAP.
Have I missed something? I thought I might add a new folder on laptop, say, Anti-Sent, relabel all Sent messages as Anti-Sent, empty the Sent folder, sync the iPhone and then move all Anti-Sent back into the original Sent folder but I can only label 100 messages at a time (2400 Sent, 4800 All). Must I really do this manually or is there another workaround?
Am so glad to have found this site.
Update - so I was actually able to get rid of 1 of the messages - what I hadn't done is follow the instructions for both my ipad and iPhone - once I did that it worked. What is really strange is that I have a second message that it will not work for? I still get the same message "Unable to Move Message....??
Ok, so I get to this point In the new window, select the "Sent Mailbox" folder. From the "On the Server" listing in the lower portion of the window, select the "Sent" folder. You should see a check mark next to this folder. And I do NOT get a check mark next to "Sent". Now what do I do????
Hi Ben,
Thanks so much for all of your help. I went on-line and did some clean up and things seem to be working great now.
Hi Joe, so you can see the folder you want to sync, but it's not selectable?
Hey Ben,
Thanks a lot! Keep up the good work!!
Hi @Lyndseyskidmore,
"Greyed out" might be normal. What are you trying to select that is not selectable?
@kimzey, I'm guessing your email account may not be IMAP ... maybe it's POP? Who is your email provider?
Same problems as Heidi for me on my ipad2, no 'Mailbox behaviors' in the advanced settings. And many messages i can't delete in my hotmail mailbox on the ipad (while these messages are not visible anymore in my mailbox on pc?) no solution?
Yes that is the issue, it's there, but I can't select it. I can get that cool little check mark on just about everything EXCEPT that folder. I do truly hate technology :)
This helped a lot, but I also needed to change the check mark in the section titled "move discarded messages into:" and the check was on archive mailbox, so I switched it to deleted mailbox. Now, my swipe allows the deletion of the email instead of the archive. the "move discarded messages into" section is right below the "mailbox behaviors" section. FYI. Thanks!!
Hi Ben, I followed all instructions but I don't have the option to save to server. Included the screen grab for you :)
Hi Susan, Have you tried restarting? :) Or check for iOS updates ... Settings > General > Software Update.
What a star you are! I was slowly losing what's left of my mind over this but back to some semblance of normality now. Thank you!
By the way i'm using an iPhone 6 on iOS 9.2
Thank you so much. Worked on iPad and iPhone.
Readers,
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Thanks!
Hi JMN,
What type of email account are you running? Not all email will have this option. IMAP and iCloud will have the "Advanced" option. Microsoft Exchange (ActiveSync) will not because it is not required (the folders are automatically mapped appropriately). I have not tested POP accounts (we also do not recommended POP :).
Are these applicable to iPhone 5 as well? I went through these steps & found my settings to already be as suggested. The message that I am trying to delete does not show up when I check my email on a computer, or on my iPad, just my iPhone. Suggestions?
Hi Ben,
I have tried all of the above steps. however I still end up with the mailbox settings being gray. I have another account hosted at the same provider and with the same settings and that one goes fine.
I have copied the settings but it still does not work out.
regards
david
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