Delete emails and restore from Trash
Deleting moves a conversation to Trash until you remove it for good. How to delete a message or selection, restore it, and what permanently means.
Deleting in Private.Ki is a two-step affair. The first step moves the conversation to Trash, where you can still read it and put it back. The second step — Delete permanently or emptying the folder — removes it from our servers for good. Nothing moves from Trash to gone on its own: there is no automatic emptying, so mail stays in Trash until you act.
Move to Trash
- From the list. Right-click the conversation (long-press on the phone) and choose Move to trash.
1Move to trashWeb & desktop 
11Swipe right reveals Move to trashiPhone 11Swipe right reveals Move to trashAndroid - From inside a conversation. Open a message, click its ⋮ menu below the body and choose Delete — this moves just that message. To move the whole conversation, use the ⋮ menu at the top right and choose Delete thread.
- Several at once. Tick the checkboxes that appear when you hover over rows (on the phone, tap the select icon in the top bar), then click the trash icon in the toolbar. Its tooltip reads Delete.
A draft is different: Discard draft in its row menu deletes the unsent text immediately, without passing through Trash.
Swipe a row to the right to reveal Move to trash. A snackbar offers Undo for six seconds; after that the conversation is in Trash and you restore it from there as described below. At the top of an open conversation, the trash icon deletes the whole thread.
Restore from Trash
- Open Trash in the folder list.
- Right-click (or long-press) the conversation and choose Restore. Inside a conversation, the ⋮ menu below a message has Restore message and the ⋮ menu at the top right has Restore thread.
1Restore2Delete permanentlyWeb & desktop iPhone screenshotIn Trash the row menu gains Restore and Delete permanently.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.In Trash the row menu gains Restore and Delete permanently.iPhone Android screenshotIn Trash the row menu gains Restore and Delete permanently.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.In Trash the row menu gains Restore and Delete permanently.Android - The conversation returns to the folder it came from — received messages to Inbox, sent ones to Sent, drafts to Drafts.
You can also select several rows in Trash and click the restore icon in the toolbar, or use Move to to send them straight to Archive.
Delete permanently
Permanent deletion is only offered inside Trash, and it always asks you to confirm. There is no undo.
- One conversation: row menu → Delete permanently, then Delete in the dialog Delete Thread Permanently.
- One message: message ⋮ menu → Delete permanently, then Delete.
- A selection: tick the rows, click the trash icon in the toolbar (tooltip Delete permanently), then Delete.
- Everything in Trash: click Clear next to the Trash folder in the sidebar, then Empty in the dialog Empty Trash.
We cannot restore permanently deleted mail. It is encrypted with your keys, so even a backup would be unreadable to us — and there is no copy we could hand back. Do not empty Trash unless you are sure.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- What the deleted messages said — they were encrypted before they were stored
Can see
- That a conversation was moved to Trash, restored or permanently deleted, and when
Common questions
Does Trash empty itself after 30 days?
No. Mail stays in Trash until you delete it permanently or use Clear. If you want Trash to stay small, empty it yourself.
I deleted a message by mistake and it is gone from Trash too
If it was permanently deleted, it cannot be recovered — not by you and not by support. If you only moved it to Trash, it is still there: open Trash and use Restore.
Why does the swipe not delete permanently?
Because a gesture with no confirmation must not be able to destroy anything. In Trash the swipe to the right does nothing; permanent deletion stays behind the menu and its confirmation dialog.
Does deleting my copy delete the recipient's copy?
No. Deleting only affects your mailbox. For chat messages there is a separate Unsend function; email has none.