Sent Emails Vanishing? How to Stop Your Google Workspace Messages from Auto-Trashing

The Mystery of Disappearing Sent Emails in Google Workspace

Imagine sending an important email, only to find it mysteriously vanishes from your 'Sent' folder and reappears in your 'Trash' within 24 hours. This frustrating scenario was recently highlighted in a Google support forum thread (Thread #411416818), where a user, 'Domain_Host,' sought help for this exact problem within their Google Workspace account.

The user's original post described a consistent issue: "My sent emails in the Sent Folder are being sent over to the Trash Folder within a 24 hour period of being sent. How do I stop this?" This isn't just an inconvenience; it can lead to missed follow-ups, confusion, and a significant disruption to professional communication.

The Crucial Clue: It's Not Gmail

The expert reply from 'bkc56' provided the critical insight: "That's an important clue because Gmail can't move messages around like that. That means it's being done by something you have connected to your account." This immediately shifts the focus from an internal Gmail bug to an external culprit. Unlike system notifications, such as those you might receive from google workspace alerts noreply, which are designed to inform you of account activities, this behavior indicates an active manipulation of your mail folders by a connected service.

Gmail, by itself, does not automatically move sent messages to trash after a specific period. This suggests that a third-party application, an email client, or a browser extension with access to your Google Workspace account is performing this action.

Identifying the Culprit: Your Troubleshooting Checklist

To resolve this issue, you need to systematically check all applications and services that have been granted access to your Google account. Here's a step-by-step guide:

• Review Connected Devices and Apps: Think about how you access your Google Workspace email. Do you use:
  • An email client like Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail?
  • A mobile app on iOS or Android (other than the official Gmail app)?
  • Any email notifier, add-on, browser extension, or third-party website connected to your account?
• Check Google Account Security Settings: This is your primary defense. To begin your investigation, navigate to your Google Account settings. While many users are familiar with the main Google Workspace dashboard, often accessed via https://workspace.google.com/u/1/dashboard for administrators, individual account security settings are crucial here.

Specifically, look for the 'Security' tab. This is your gateway to managing how third-party applications interact with your account, a key area within your broader Google Workspace environment. You can often find a direct link to 'Third-party apps with account access' at https://myaccount.google.com/u/0/permissions.

Check: Google Account Settings->Security Tab->Third-party apps with account access. This MAY work as a direct link: https://myaccount.google.com/u/0/permissions. Have you given account access to any other web-sites or utilities?

• Examine Gmail's 'Details' Link: In the Gmail web interface (https://mail.google.com/), scroll to the very bottom right corner of your Inbox. You'll find a small link labeled "Details." Clicking this will open a pop-up window showing recent account activity and any authorized applications accessing your account.

Please click on the “Details” link below the Inbox (lower/right) in the Gmail web interface (https://mail.google.com/), click “Show details” on any Authorized apps, and post a screenshot of the resulting pop-up window.

Taking Action

Once you identify suspicious or unnecessary applications, revoke their access. Carefully review the permissions granted to each app. Sometimes, an app might have legitimate reasons for accessing your email, but a misconfiguration within that app could be causing the issue. For instance, an email client might have a local rule set up to archive or trash sent items after a certain period.

By systematically checking these areas, you can pinpoint the source of the problem and regain full control over your sent emails in Google Workspace, ensuring your communications remain exactly where they should be.