Trash only keeps 30 days. UGH

If Mail isn't keeping your settings, this may help:

1. Quit Mail
2. Delete /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
3. Start Mail

Now try your settings. On another note, why would you have anything in your Trash if you want to keep it?

 

Because it's stuff you most likely won't ever need to look at but sometimes there is the odd situation that arises where it would be advantageous to go back and look.

I keep old messages for a week and have on occasion gone back in to look at a message to get some info. Like I regularly get messages that are not worth reading and I just delete them right away, but sometimes someone else will say "oh I actually read that one and it was useful" so then I can go back and retrieve it.

Ruahrc

 

Learn to archive instead of deleting. Honestly, you can't blame any application for deleting your trash data, because trash data is by definition stuff which should be deleted. Relying on such things is an insecure computing practice and must be avoided.

For instance, the only messages I ever delete are the spam email, everything else wonders into the Archive folder.

 

I think the only way you would get rid of this; is if you used a different mail application. Have you tried Sparrow?

 

It's not necessary to use a different app. Mail will do what the OP wants.

 

Why would you put it in the trash when you need those messages
Sorry I just don't understand and doesn't make sense to me.

 

lol why would you throw it away in the trash and complain?
just keep it in the inbox

 

^^ This!

I'll never understand why people use the trash as a storage bin. If you want to keep them for a year, create a folder called 1 year and stuff them in there. Then clean it out from time to time. Heck, you could probably create a job that would do it for you automatically.

 

Create a folder named _Trash, if your intent is to use trash as long term storage.

 

Is this an IMAP account? If so how do you know it's Mail deleting your trash and not the IMAP server?

 

Because OP said that mail.app settings go back to "delete after 30 days" every time he re-opens the application. And for the previous posts, no it's NOT ok for the application to delete mails on its own, otherwise what's the point of the "never delete" option at settings ?

 

I consider my inbox a todo list. When I no longer need to address something I delete it (having hundreds of emails in my inbox seems incredibly unorganized). That being said, at least once a week I will go into the trash to recheck something.

I will look into Sparow because I find mail to be VERY buggy. Maybe it is user error but, sometimes seemingly random things are deleted from my trash, or I will find 10+ identical copies of an email in the trash, and recently it has started changing the names associated with addresses by duplicating the last name (ex. Steve Jobs Jobs <jobs@apple.com>)

If anyone has fixes for these issues I would be very grateful.