This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Gmail draft emails not being automatically deleted after being sent

more options

I have the same problem as asked in: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1440873#question-reply (I can no longer reply to that thread as it has been archived, so I am asking again now in search of an answer).

To reiterate the problem, draft emails are save correctly into the 'Drafts' folder in both Thunderbird and the Gmail web app, but only Thunderbird will correctly delete the draft once the email has been sent. In the Gmail web app, the draft email remains in the 'Drafts' folder.

Why can't Gmail automatically delete draft emails that have been sent? Is there a solution?

I am using Thunderbird 128.5.1esr (64-bit) on Windows 11.

I have the same problem as asked in: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1440873#question-reply (I can no longer reply to that thread as it has been archived, so I am asking again now in search of an answer). To reiterate the problem, draft emails are save correctly into the 'Drafts' folder in both Thunderbird and the Gmail web app, but only Thunderbird will correctly delete the draft once the email has been sent. In the Gmail web app, the draft email remains in the 'Drafts' folder. Why can't Gmail automatically delete draft emails that have been sent? Is there a solution? I am using Thunderbird 128.5.1esr (64-bit) on Windows 11.

All Replies (3)

more options

You're asking about fixing an issue with Gmail, not with Thunderbird. The issue, from my perspective (as I also cope with this issue), is that Thunderbird creates a new draft every xxx minutes depending on your settings. After sending, the draft is deleted, but all the remaining ones are still there. The email host just sees them as pending messages. I mitigate this by setting the time interval to save at a higher number. Another option I use on one account is setting the draft folder to local. That solves the issue when I compose and send from one PC.

Helpful?

more options

Thanks for your reply and for the suggestion of using a local draft folder.

Helpful?

more options

Thanks for the tips, David.

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.