How to Delete Gmail Emails from Phone But Keep on Computer?

Many people want to delete Gmail from phone but not computer, because they want to still access their email from their computer due to limited mobile storage space. Users are always confused that “Therefore, if you delete an email on one device, it will be deleted from Gmail and all other devices linked to the same account.”

Gmail works with cloud technology (Gmail users can view their emails on multiple devices) and therefore syncs data between devices. This guide shows you how to delete Gmail email on phone but not computer. Here, we will outline everything you need to know about removing Gmail messages from mobile devices but not your computer, why are my deleted emails coming back and what things you should keep in mind before you make these changes.

How Gmail Sync Works Across Devices

Gmail stores your emails on its servers, so if you delete an email from your Gmail account, that deletion will happen on all devices using that Gmail account. Therefore, when people ask if deleting an email from Gmail deletes it from all devices, most of the time they will receive the answer “yes.”

When you open an email on your phone, there is a local copy for convenience and speed. If you delete Gmail from phone but not computer while synced with the server, you will also remove it from your Gmail account. Therefore, if you delete an email on one device it will also delete on all Gmail, you would not have access to that email via any of those other synced devices. Understanding this process is important to avoid accidentally losing your emails.

Remove vs Delete: What Most Users Misunderstand

There is confusion for many users concerning the difference between removing or deleting Gmail from phone but not computer

Users have asked questions like, “when I delete emails on my iPhone they are still on my computer Gmail”, or ask, “if I delete emails from my phone will they delete from my computer” The answer to those questions to delete Gmail from phone but not computer depends on how you performed the action.

• Removing an account and app data only affects the device.
• When you remove email from inside of Gmail, it’s removed from all devices.
• Cache and sync settings remove emails only from your phone’s local storage, while the emails remain safely stored in your Gmail account.

Knowing these differences helps the user who wants to delete their Gmail email from their phone and not from their computer.

Delete Gmail from Phone but Not Computer (Safest Method)

To keep your Gmail emails safe while not having them visible on your phone, simply remove the Gmail account from the phone but keep it on the computer. By doing this, you will no longer see the emails on your phone anymore. You can still access your emails by logging into Gmail from a computer or the web.

This method solves a very common issue for people: How can I get rid of my Gmail emails from my phone, but have them remain on my computer?

There are several reasons why someone may want to delete Gmail from their phone, while still keeping it on their computer:

• Switching or selling a mobile device.
• Not wanting to access Gmail on their smartphone.
• Deleting Gmail from a smartphone without deleting Gmail from the computer.

After removing the Gmail account from the phone, any emails remain on Google’s servers and can be accessed from any other computer or device.

Turn Off Gmail Sync on Your Phone

Disabling Gmail sync is another way to resolve this issue. When you disable sync, Gmail stops updating email messages on your mobile device. This might help you delete Gmail from phone but not computer.

While you have sync disabled:

• Emails will not update on your mobile device
• Gmail will work fine on your computer
• Emails will remain on your Gmail account

Disabling Sync is useful when you require a temporary separation between your mobile device and your computer’s Gmail account.

Clearing Gmail App Storage and Cache

When Gmail consumes too much storage space, deleting the app’s cache or data removes any emails stored on the device and may help you delete Gmail from phone but not computer. This can also help answer the frequently asked question of ‘‘why are my deleted emails coming back?’, as follows:

If You Clear the Cache:

• Gmail removes locally stored email data from the device but does not delete emails from the Gmail account.
• Sync may download emails again later.
• Cloud does not delete emails.

If you do not turn off the sync, emails will continue to re-appear. This will make users think that the emails are still there, when in fact it is just re-syncing.

Why You Can’t Delete Gmail Emails on One Device Only

Most people ask, “if i delete an email on one device will it delete on another device?” The answer is yes, if you are deleting using Gmail’s standard deletion function.

You cannot delete emails via Gmail across devices. If you delete emails from the Gmail app on your phone, the emails get deleted from Gmail completely. This means that when you delete emails off your phone, you are deleting them off Gmail.

If you truly want to delete Gmail email on phone but not computer, follow the above guide.

Conclusion

To delete Gmail from phone but not computer, do not use the delete button but simply remove the account from phone. If you want to safely delete Gmail email on phone but not computer, then Disable sync, clear the data or cache of Gmail app. Understanding how Gmail works will reduce mistakes and confusion with respect to emailing and managing an Inbox on different devices. Moreover, to safeguard your important emails from loss, it is important to backup them instantly.