Enable The Swipe To Trash iOS Mail Gesture

It’s common nowadays to own a crowded email account. If you’re an iPhone or iPad user which added his Gmail account to the built-in iOS Mail app, you might be annoyed that the swipe-left gesture doesn’t delete the selected mail. Instead, this shortcut sends the selected entry to the Archive. Basically your message remains unscathed and continue to be available in Gmail!

Swiping left, within iOS Mail, can be done in two ways. You can either perform a half-swipe which unveils three edit options: More, Flag and Archive; or do a full-swipe which automatically archives the email. The More selection uncovers the following options: Reply, Forward, (Un)Flag, Mark as (Un)read, Move to Junk, Move Message… and Notify Me…

How To Delete Mail
With the default settings, deleting an email within the iOS Mail application is really time consuming and not handy at all. You can erase a message in three ways:
1. Edit – In the Mail home screen tap Edit, available in the top-right corner. Next, select the email/s you want to delete. Now, tap Move (bottom of the screen) and select the Trash folder.
2. Half-Swipe – Within Inbox, select which email message you wish to erase, perform the half-swipe gesture described above, tap More, select Move Message… and pick the Trash folder.
3. Move – Open the email in question and tap the Move icon available in the lower part of the screen. Next, select Trash and you’re done.

Enable Full-Swipe To Trash Gesture Shortcut
All the above mail deletion options are annoying and will probably slow you down. This is why you have to enable the full-swipe to trash feature.
It’s done by visiting Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Gmail -> Account… -> Advanced -> Move Discarded Messages Into:.
Now, tick the Deleted Mailbox option instead of the default Archive Mailbox setting.
That’s it. From now on, every time when you’ll swipe left on a mail it will be instantly sent to Trash!

How To Empty Trash Folder
Mail comes with a safety net. Deleted messages are sent to Trash. Here you have 30 days to reconsider and recover the mail if needs. After a month, all emails are erased forever. If you have a private message, you probably want to delete it completely. In this case, you have to visit the Trash folder, after you erase the message from Inbox. Wipe it out for good by performing the left full-swipe once again, or by taping Edit, to delete multiple entries at once. You also have the option to passcode your email to keep it private, without deleting it.

What is iOS Mail Archive?
The built-in Mail app, on your iPhone or iPad, provides an alternative to deleting mails from your Gmail account. By default, Archive is enabled and replaces all traditional delete options.
Whenever a message is archived, it’s sent to the All Mail folder and won’t be displayed in Inbox or any other secondary folder.
However, if this doesn’t suit you, Archive can be disabled and replaced with Trash as described above!