Submitted by Significant_Two_4926 t3_zy8gta in explainlikeimfive
Comments
Significant_Two_4926 OP t1_j24cezv wrote
Does G-mail fully delete it?
ryschwith t1_j24i9ik wrote
My suspicion is that the user wouldn’t have any way to recover it but Google could if they had some reason to (like, say, a nice letter from the FBI). So it depends a lot on what exactly you’re trying to avoid.
Skatingraccoon t1_j24d1eg wrote
According to this (https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7401?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop), GMail deletes emails from your account that have been in your Trash folder for 30 days, though you can manually empty that Trash folder earlier than that, too.
[deleted] t1_j24lklc wrote
[removed]
ixamnis t1_j24cyny wrote
Gmail moves it to the "Trash folder." Depending on your settings, those emails will completely be gone after 30 days. You can manually go in and get rid of them completely at any time. Or, you can recover them by going to the "Trash" folder and moving them to your "Inbox."
PM_ME_A_PLANE_TICKET t1_j24ux3s wrote
I think it's important that you understand that deleting something never truly deletes it.
Whenever some data is stored on a drive, it is stored in a specific location, along with a digital post-it note on it that says "This space is occupied, I'm here."
When you delete something (fully delete, removed from trash, completely gone as far as you can tell) it is not deleted at all. All that happens is that post-it note is switched from occupied to unoccupied.
Then the computer thinks nothing is there and it's allowed to overwrite what is/was there.
It's not actually gone until it has been overwritten, and up until that point, it can be recovered by forensic software.
Google says that deleted emails may take up to 60 days to be completely removed from their servers.
PD_31 t1_j269f1u wrote
There's likely still a copy in the sender's sent items folder, unless they routinely empty that.
PM_ME_A_PLANE_TICKET t1_j26a0n0 wrote
well yeah, there's nothing you can ever do about someone else's copy of an email.
FarmboyJustice t1_j24j2ub wrote
It depends very much on the service provider.
When you receive a message, it's a copy of the original message the sender wrote. The sender might keep a copy of it or they might not.
The server that sent the message on might also keep a copy, or not.
The email on your computer or phone is usually another copy downloaded from your mail service.
Deleting an email you received will usually move it to a separate trash folder so you can get it back if you change your mind. The mail service you're using may also have its own similar function so they can recover deleted messages even if you empty your own trash.
Also, the person who sent the email can delete their copy, and it goes to their recycle/trash bin. And the service they use probably has the same thing.
Also, there may be backups of any of these systems, each with a copy of your message.
So deleting an email in one place does not necessarily delete it everywhere.
Skatingraccoon t1_j24bhg8 wrote
Removes them from your account and possibly from the server depending on how the server is set up. Some email services might keep copies of email correspondence on their server for a set amount of time before fully deleting them, some will just delete them as soon as you hit "Delete" from your trash folder.