How to Delete and Recover Email on Kindle Fire

Delete and Recover Email on Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire Email “Trash” folder lets you delete and often recover messages with ease and safety. Find out here how best to use it.

First, a Measure for Success in Life

Is life good? Am I ok?

A good way to find out, it seems to me, is one simple question:

Overall, are people happy to see me?

We can argue for lifetimes about ethics, transcendence, and solipsism; we can ponder which or whether rules should govern our lives, and if we have ways to learn or invent them; we can weigh habit, community, veils of ignorance, deception and free-riding with hands and feet—and we should.

All the while, I’ll see to apply my happiness yardstick.

Now, probably not the best measure for success in life: the size of your inbox—or that of your Kindle Fire’s email Trash folder.

Still, it can’t be bad to know how to manage the latter:

How to Delete and Recover Email on Kindle Fire

How to Move Messages to the Kindle Fire Email Trash

Time needed: 1 minute

To delete any email in the Email app on Kindle Fire:

  1. Swipe over the message from right to left.

    Swiping archives: For certain account types (Gmail, e.g.), swiping can be configured to move messages to the archive instead of the Trash folder. You can then delete by tapping the message’s selection circle or open the email followed by tapping the Trash button or, of course, change the setting.

  2. The email will be moved to the account’s Trash folder.

    More than one: You can also delete multiple emails in one go.
    No moving: You cannot move messages to the Trash folder; you have to delete them instead.

How to Recover Emails from the Trash on Kindle Fire

To rescue an accidentally deleted email from the Kindle Fire Email Trash folder:

  1. Go to the Trash folder for the account.
    Here’s how: Tap the hamburger menu icon, then tap Trash under the account; if you do not see the list of folders, tap Folders ˅ to expand the list.
  2. Tap the circle with the sender’s initial letter in front of the message you want to recover.
    What happens: A checkmark will appear over the initial.
  3. Select the Move to… icon in the toolbar.
    No POP: You cannot recover messages in a POP account using this method. What you can do is forward the message to yourself: open the email, tap the Reply button, and select Forward from the menu that has appeared.
  4. Now pick the Inbox or another folder.

How to Empty the Kindle Fire Email Trash

To permanently delete all messages in the Trash folder:

  1. Open the Trash folder for the desired account.
  2. Tap the three dots menu (⠇) in the toolbar.
  3. Select Empty Trash from the context menu that has appeared.

To immediately remove individual emails:

  • Swipe over the message to be permanently deleted from the right.

How to Delete and Recover Email on Kindle Fire: FAQ

How does the Kindle Fire Email “Trash” folder work?

Kindle Fire Email sets up a Trash folder for each account automatically.

POP Email Accounts

For POP email accounts (where messages and folders do not synchronize with the server and other email programs), the folder exists only on the Kindle Fire device and the Email app.

IMAP and Exchange Email Accounts

With IMAP and Exchange email accounts (which automatically synchronize emails and folders with the server), the Trash folder corresponds to the folder for deleted items on the server.

Emails you delete in Fire Email will be moved to the Trash folder in the app, on the server, in web-based email and in all email programs that also connect to the account using IMAP or Exchange.

Will messages be emptied from the “Trash” automatically?

Yes.

For IMAP accounts, this will depend on how the server and potentially other email programs treat the Trash folder. Emails will be removed from the Trash when either one removes them.

Typically, messages will remain in the deleted items folder for 30 days before they are purged automatically.

(How to delete and recover email tested with Email on Fire OS 5.7; updated March 2024)

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