#WeirdBug: Gmail not letting users clear out spam, trash
Gmail, one of the most famous email apps on the internet, has been plagued by a small, albeit highly annoying, issue. According to multiple reports shared on Twitter/Reddit, the latest version of the app for Android carries a bug that removes the option to clear out Spam and Trash folders completely. Here's all you need to know about it.
First, a quick recap on 'delete' options
For years, the Android app of Gmail has been providing the 'Empty trash now' and 'Empty spam now' options to let users clear out the two folders. The options appeared on top of the email list as soon as you opened 'Spam' or 'Bin', making it relatively easy for users to clear out all the clutter in one go.
However, the two options are missing now
While the options offered an easy way to remove unnecessary emails, users are reporting that they cannot be accessed anymore. Specifically, Gmail's Android app no longer shows the empty buttons, leaving users with the option to select, delete specific Spam emails, not all at once. After that, the messages would go to Bin, where they'd have to wait 30 days to be permanently deleted.
Apparently, it's a display bug
Initially, the disappearance of the buttons looked like an intentional product change made with the latest version of Gmail Android. However, later, it became evident that the issue is nothing but a display bug, which is keeping the empty option from appearing on the top, Android Police reported. In fact, many users of the latest Gmail were not even affected by the issue.
So, how to fix it?
So far, Google has neither acknowledged the issue nor said anything about when we can expect a fix for it. However, until the official patch rolls out, you can use some tried and tested work-arounds to make the empty button appear, like switching to landscape mode or opening an email in Spam or Trash and then going back to the list again.
Alternatively, you can roll back to previous version of Gmail
If none of the these methods work, you may try installing a previous version of Gmail on your Android phone (while disabling auto-update setting on the Play Store), or use the mobile web or desktop version of Gmail.
