Oliver Haslam on August 26, 2015, 9:56 am

How To Have iOS Mail App Ask Before Deleting Or Archiving Emails

Our iPhones and iPads are with us almost all of the time, and that means that they are often the places where we do some of the most basic of things, whether that be browsing the web or replying to emails. Both of those examples can be taken care of by the stock Safari and Mail apps, and while it’s true that there are a plethora of third-party alternatives in the App Store, we’d argue that the vast majority of iOS users use the apps that their devices are shipped with and the stock apps are more attuned to the OS itself than said alternatives.

Unfortunately, both Safari and Mail can be found wanting in some areas, and the latter can be especially frustrating to use at times. One of our biggest irritations with Mail is that it can be all too easy to accidentally delete or archive email. By default, tapping the delete/archive button at the bottom of the screen when viewing an email will immediately delete or archive it, depending on which setting you are using. That’s all well and good, to a point, but if you accidentally tap that button, then you can end up searching around to find the email you never wanted to get rid of in the first place.

Thankfully, iOS has a feature that should stop that from happening, and by adding an extra button press to proceedings, accidental email deletions should be a thing of the past.

Here’s what you need to do to enable a confirmation dialog when archiving or deleting email:

Step 1: Open the Settings app.

Step 2: Open the Mail, Contacts, Calendars section and scroll down to the Mail portion of the options.

Step 3: Here, toggle ‘Ask Before Deleting’ to the On position.

You’re done. The change is immediate, and the next time you delete or archive an email, you’ll be asked to confirm the action. Good stuff! The prompt confirmation appears in the form of a menu at the bottom of the screen consisting of the Archive/Delete and Cancel options.