How to Quickly Archive or Delete Messages in iOS Mail

Swipe actions let you manage iOS Mail emails in seconds

What to Know

  • Archive: Go to Settings > Mail > Swipe Options > Swipe Right > Archive. In Mail app, swipe left to right over message and tap Archive.
  • Delete: Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > [your account] > Account > Advanced. Under Move Discarded, choose Deleted Mailbox.

The quickest way to archive or delete emails from the Mail app on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is to use the swipe motion (although there is another way to delete emails). Here's how to set up swipe to delete and swipe to archive using the Mail app on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices with iOS 10 or later.

How to Set Up Swipe to Archive

Swipe actions may be set up on your device, but if swiping an email doesn't do what you want it to, follow these steps to change what happens when you drag an email to the left or right.

  1. Open the Settings app.

  2. Go to Mail and then tap Swipe Options.

    Settings > Mail > Swipe Options on an iPhone
  3. Select Swipe Right and choose Archive.

    Email accounts that have Archive as an option for swiping left offer Trash (in addition to other options) for swiping right.

    Swipe Options on an iPhone
  4. Tap the Home button to return to the home screen. If your device doesn't have a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the Home screen.

Now that you've changed the Mail Settings, swipe from left to right in the Mail app to archive messages.

Archiving sends a message to the archiving folder, which is away from the Inbox but not in the Trash folder (you can still get it later). However, trashing an email sends it to the Trash folder.

How to Set Up Swipe to Delete

Newer versions of iOS include a separate set of instructions to enable swipe to delete.

  1. Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts and choose the account for which you'd like to enable swipe-to-delete.

  2. Select Account > Advanced.

    iOS Mail swipe delete
  3. Under Move Discarded Messages Into, select Deleted Mailbox.

  4. Select Account > Done.

    iOS Mail swipe delete

    Now you can delete messages by swiping from right to left and tapping the Trash icon.

Swipe Action Tips for iOS Mail

The best time to use the swipe action you set up is when you're viewing a list of emails and you want to quickly decide what happens to the messages without opening them. However, this only works if the email settings have been set to show previews. You'll find this option in Settings > Mail > Preview.

In the settings for the swipe actions, you can also use a swipe motion to quickly mark an email as read, flag it, or move the email into a new folder.

You can archive or delete an email from the message, but swipe actions don't work within the message. Use the menu bar at the bottom of the email to delete it or move it to a new folder such as Archive.

Was this page helpful?