Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email Automatically Remove Old Mail From Mac OS X Mail Trash Get rid of old messages—and retrieve any that you want back By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on September 11, 2020 Email Yahoo! Mail Gmail Trending Videos Close this video player The Trash folder in Mac OS X Mail serves a few different functions. Among them is acting as an in-between holding spot for messages you want to delete. To save space, you can set Mail up to automatically "take out the trash" permanently after a period of time you designate. The instructions here apply to Apple Mail installed as part of Mac OS X. The steps are similar in other versions of Apple Mail, however. Here's how: Select Mail > Preferences from the Mail menu. Go to the Accounts category. Highlight the account with the Trash folder you want to configure. Go to the Mailboxes Behaviors tab. Under Erase deleted messages, choose the appropriate option (for example, One month/week/day old ). Close the dialog to save your changes. Mail that is of the specified age will automatically be erased on an ongoing basis. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit