iPad Emails (Kept Time, Change Kept Time, Old Email Showing)


In an era where many people work and study from home, there was a need for an elaborate way to send and receive formal messages through emails. If you are using an iPad, you may notice some issues with missing emails, and this article focuses on some of the aspects you should watch out for when using an iPad for emails.

So, how long do emails stay on an iPad? Generally, Apple servers retain emails on your iPad tablet for around seven days, after which the system automatically erases them. Luckily, you can make some adjustments on your iPad to increase this time frame. Using a few tweaks, users can retain them for about a month through your mail’s settings. Alternatively, you can find them in the archives or “Trash” if you mistakenly deleted them.

It may be disheartening if your emails disappear even when you have not opened them yet. If you have just bought an iPad and want to use it for work or school, it is one of your first questions because you would like the system to preserve all your important emails.

Apple’s server can delete emails sent to you when they stay on the iPad for about seven days. The system will automatically erase the texts from your tablet once the default number of days elapses.

However, it doesn’t mean that you cannot find old messages in your email account. You can tweak settings to increase how long the emails stay in your iPad or re-access accidentally deleted messages from the “Trash” or archives.

Primarily, how long your emails stay on your iPad depends on your settings. Otherwise, the default set-up will keep them for only seven days, after which the system automatically deletes them.

You may also delete the messages unknowingly. Luckily, the system stores them for you if you want them back. It is understandable for you to mistakenly erase a message knowing how sensitive the iPad screen is.

Erased emails have a grace window of one month for re-access. Otherwise, if you don’t retrieve them within the time frame, the texts become deleted permanently from your device and the email account.

Fortunately, some tricks help increase how long your mail stays on the iPad. For this adjustment, you can start with the Settings, scroll downward to find the button with calendars, contacts, and mails, and pick the mail account on the next screen.

From the open window, navigate down and select the “Advanced” button, and on the next page, click “Remove” below the deleted messages header. The following window will offer you options of how long you wish to let the system automatically erase the emails.

Pick a month, then tap “Advanced,” and finally click OK to complete and save the action. Now your mails can stay on the iPad for thirty days unless you delete them before this time.

It is also possible that you archived messages hoping to create more space in your inbox to allow more important texts to come in. On the other hand, you may also archive them accidentally by tapping the texts and sliding your finger to the left. Such emails can stay on the iPad without the auto-delete feature affecting them, and you can retrieve them any time, even after the thirty-day mark you have set.

How Do I Change How Long My Emails Stay on My iPad?

Now that you have learned how volatile emails are on your iPad, your next question may be whether there is anything you can do about it. The following steps may help you manually configure how long you want your mails to stay on your device.

If you want your emails to stay longer on your iPad, you will first navigate your tablet’s Settings from the main menu. Next, scroll the options to select Mail, Contacts, then Calendars, as you choose which account to set. On the next tab, click “Advanced” then “Remove” below the option “Deleted Messages”. Here, you can choose how long you wish to keep them. When you tap Done, your emails will stay on the server for as long as your specifications, and they will only disappear before this time if you delete them.

Many users accessing their emails with different devices often have issues with missing messages. Therefore, it is essential to confirm that your iPad or other gadget doesn’t delete crucial mails.

By default, your tablet will keep them for seven days, after which they will be inaccessible by any other device. Similarly, all the mails in the “Trash” will disappear after a week. The only workaround for this is to increase the time limit to allow important emails to stay on all your gadgets.

Luckily, the process of disabling the default setting is quite straightforward. Beginning with the Settings, you can scroll to the Mail then find Accounts if you have an iOS 14 or iOS 15; otherwise, use “Password and Accounts” if running on iOS 12 or iOS 13. Alternatively, you can find “Accounts and Passwords” if you have an iOS 11, “Mail” with iOS 10, or “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” if you have an iOS 9 or any other older model.

The next step is to click address@example.com, then Account address@example.com, and finally select “Advanced” under the account settings. There will be the option to “Remove” after that, and you can make the final configuration in the “Deleted Messages”, where you can set the mails to disappear in one month. Based on your selection, your messages will stay on your iPad the entire time unless you manually delete them.

After the changes, you can step back two previous screens and then tap to update the new settings. It is also critical to check that no programs automatically delete your messages from other devices that access your mails.

If your email disappears on your iPhone, it will automatically erase on your iPad. The recommended time frame is a month, enough to access and refer to the most important messages.

How Do I Get Older Emails on My iPad?

If you frequently send and receive emails, the chances are high that you have tons of messages on the app. Some of these emails are very important, and you wouldn’t want to lose them. If you have issues retrieving mails that you urgently need from your iPad, this section gives you a stepwise guide to get started.

To get older emails on an iPad, go to settings, passwords, and accounts, then choose the mail account. Confirm whether the “Mail Days to Sync” is running, then select the time frame when you received the email you want. Alternatively, you can go to the mail app and swipe down the screen from the middle as a search box will appear, allowing you to type in details of the email you want.

Unfortunately, the process may be tasking if you mistakenly deleted the emails. If it was only a few days ago, you could find them in the “Trash” as long as the system hasn’t automatically deleted them yet. 

If you never erase the messages from the mailbox, there is no need to panic. Navigate to the emails apps and click on the search tab where you can type a timeframe, for instance, January. All the emails you received during the particular month will appear, giving you an easy time clicking on the one you need. You can also use the email attributes such as the flagged messages or VIP mails.

The attributes method narrows your searches and makes the process faster. On the other hand, using the timeframe technique specifies your search to a particular group. However, you can add keywords to make the process even easier. For example, you can type wedding if your email has such words. Other options include typing the word “attachment” in the search field for all texts with attachments for email attributes.

Furthermore, if you didn’t open the messages, you can find them by typing “unread” on the search bar. It is imperative to know the status of the email you are looking for in the app because it is also likely that you mistakenly deleted or archived it. You can begin the normal search in your mails but look for the old texts from your trash mails and the archive mailbox if it doesn’t work.

If these don’t work and the process is still challenging, you can check whether the mail application and your account sync. You can click Settings on the email program then go to passwords and accounts.

The next screen will show the email account, and you can click the button next to it and let it switch to green. Alternatively, you can restart your iDevice or delete and reinstall a new email app.

Why Have My Emails Disappeared from My iPad?

Many people working or learning from home rely on their email accounts to receive and send work or school-related information. It would be alarming if your messages keep disappearing, especially when you have already sent them to stay longer on your tablet. To help you out, the following are the most probable reasons for this and the fixes you can deploy.

The problem of emails disappearing from your iPad is usually due to issues with your email app or accidental archiving or deleting. If your emails are still available when using a browser, solving it will take only a few steps. You can either restart your tablet or, if persistent, configure the emails’ sync time through the iPad settings.

Alternatively, you can delete then reinstall your mail account. You may have also accidentally deleted the mail, which you can retrieve from the “Trash” file. Lastly, you can transfer the message to “All Mails if mistakenly archived.”

One reason beyond your control happens when your mails disappear due to issues with the app’s operating system. You can confirm this when they are absent on your tablet but available through your browser.

Fortunately, this problem is common with iPads, and it is easy to fix using a few tweaks, and there are three ways to get your emails back. The most obvious troubleshooting involves restarting your tablet, which is most people’s first resolve.

A reboot may help eliminate some bug issues and restore your mails, and to be certain, you can wait for thirty minutes or more before turning it back on. If this doesn’t work, the second solution involves the iOS settings by rechecking the “Mail Days to Sync”.

It will tell you whether there are any delays with your mails, and you are free to adjust how long they should take before syncing. Generally, it is best to set “No Limit” for the emails to pop up every time.

Your emails should be back on your iPad after the above steps, but if not, there is a last resort where you can delete then reinstall your mail account. It may help, especially if your browser shows messages but you can’t see them on your tablet.

From your Settings, select Mail and find “Delete Account” at the bottom. When done, you can now install the application again, and you should have your mails back by now. File corruption may also be to blame.

Luckily, this is rare because Apple has strong anti-virus software to prevent file loss due to corruption. If you believe that this is happening, you can contact customer support for assistance.

Also, note that you may be the reason behind the missing mails when you take actions or settings unknowingly. The iPad’s sensitive nature makes it easy to tap the wrong key and mistakenly delete a mail.

If you find an important message in the “Trash,” you can always move it back to the inbox before the system automatically deletes it. It is also possible to archive an email by mistake. To confirm, you can check your list of archived emails, and if you find what you are looking for, you can return it to “All Mails”. It may be a mistake on your part or a system error, but thankfully, it is pretty easy to restore your lost emails by troubleshooting or checking archives and “Trash” folders.

Finally

The iPad is a great way to send and receive essential emails for school or work. However, most new users complain about missing emails that they urgently need to recover. The default setting for the iPad to retain emails is only seven days, after which they automatically erase across devices. Luckily, there are ways to increase this time frame to keep them longer in the system.

If you have made this setting, but your messages keep disappearing, it may be a problem with your application’s operating system. You can restart or reinstall your app, and your mails should be back. You are also likely to accidentally delete or archive them, and you can re-access what you lost through the “Trash” or archives.

Bal Kang

Bal Kang is a technology expert based in the UK, with experience across a number of technology areas from phones, tablets, computers to gaming.

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