A Gmail bug is preventing users from emptying their spam and trash folders

Google is aware of the problem and is working on a fix.

What you need to know

• Your email might be a bit messier than usual today.
• The Gmail app on Android is no longer showing the option to clean the spam and trash folders in their entirety.
• Google has said this is a bug and will hopefully fix the problem soon.

The Gmail app on Android is acting up a bit, as reported by the folks at Android Police. If you navigate over to your spam or trash folders on the app, you might notice that the app is no longer displaying that helpful option to clear all spam/trash with one click at the top.

Before and after the bug

Things are even worse in the case of the trash folder because you can't even delete those emails individually. While you can still manually select and delete individual emails from the spam folder, they ultimately end up in the trash, so there is, it seems, no way of getting rid of the trash at the moment. It looks like Gmail's come up with a case of the Unruly Teenager Syndrome — and you're the nagging mom.

Thankfully, this is a bug, not a feature. Support staff on Google's forums confirmed as much earlier in the week, and the company's engineers are said to be working on a fix so you'll hopefully be able to make your inbox a tiny bit tidier once again — before you're drowned in another avalanche of investment opportunities from Nigerian princes, of course.

In the meantime, the Gmail web app is working just fine, so if you really can't stand looking at a populated trash folder, go ahead and fire up Chrome on the desktop.

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