This is a prime candidate to move to Brainstorm, since you're basically _brainstorming_ on the bugreport.

Better said is: Press, hold for 3 seconds then choose delete then confirm you want to delete the email you just chose, pressed and held for 3 seconds. Doesn't get more purposeful than that and doesn't solve this issue on a user-definable option to remove the dialogue.

Anyway, I'm guessing most know you can do this because it is so common. I've long split deleting this way vs. the email itself about 50/50. More like 90/10 on the N900 because if I delete from within the email, it goes to the next email with no option to return to the inbox (which I've always used and prefer). There are problems marking unread after opening synching back to server (and extra steps to mark unread anyway.

But I digress as usual...

I guess what I consider brainstorming is different than is commonly used around here. This is a common function - what's to brainstorm? It's not a complex problem - it is simply implementing a USER-DEFINABLE OPTION that exists on every other device and client out there. I have gone through a dozen phones (mine and friends) all 3 or less years old - I couldn't find one where this doesn't exist. What should we brainstorm on? Not trying to be rude, but I simply don't get why it needs any brainstorming particularly with it being USER-DEFINABLE and the confirmation doesn't prevent the mistake anyway. If you purposefully choose to delete, you are 99% likely to just hit yes anyway.

Having said this - here is what I have found:

I've tested on a couple IMAP servers (dovecot and Google).

You can update server-side IMAP settings on how to handle expunged/deleted items so that items deleted from the device won't be completely removed from the server.

Right now there is an issue in modest that prevents this to be used properly, but has been marked as fixed (along with a number of other issues) in modest-3-2 branch coming in an update.

You can configure server-side not to fully expunge the message, but move to Trash. Right now, in gmail if you have the 'lab' for extended IMAP settings enabled, you can disable full/immediate expunge and choose move to trash. Doesn't fully work, but if you delete (read or unread) it marks as read and leaves in the inbox so you can deal with it later.

With the current N900 client, this isn't ideal, but does help concerns now of not having trash on the N900 and will fully help with the next release.

(You can already access your IMAP trash folder if made available so not having a local folder may not be a showstopper for this option with the update. I don't ever mess with POP these days so can't speak to that - it's been several years, but who the heck still uses POP besides hotmail?)

I should mention as I was asking about this and looking at phones they were asking why. When I told them their reactions were, well, speechless in most cases that it doesn't exist and even more amazed at how difficult I have to work to get this considered.

"You are making clear that this is up to the user and giving the user the option aren't you? Why is this a debate?"

Um, I think so and I don't know. All I could say.

do any of you guys know how to mass delete emails or do you HAVE to click top then delete then, press on each email seperately to highlight them? surely not, or am i missing something? if you have a few hundred emails that could be very time consuming. thanks in advance.

300? C'mon now, that's not what a tablet is for. Get a blackberry :-) I quit saying 'surely this isn't the only way to [fill in]' a long time ago. I also quit saying 'this feature/functionalty can't be missing because my winmo 5 Dash from 4-years ago even did this'.

What you said is the only way to mass delete. Doesn't even have a way to select all, or search based on date or keyword(s) so you can easily delete list mails/whatever. For that matter, no way to search a folder in general - I am always dropping f bombs because of this. Or go checkbox-style.

I think the design goal was for people like my grandfather who only receive 20 emails a day because of those two missing features, the confirmation to delete every email and other features you want/need when you receive more tan 50/day or go on holiday for a week are all missing.

Its obvious this whole email interface was designed an implemented by very few engineers (possibily just one) who doesn't receive much email and only has one email account.

multi-select and showing which email account mail notifications come from would have been the first feedback from any non-nerd.

What bothers me is when a new email comes and it doesn't let you delete it when reading it. You have to go back to the inbox and then delete. Silly !

Now fixed, should become available in a future firmware update (hopefully the next).

That's good to hear. This is a very annoying bug, not being able to delete emails from within.