Q: We have Samsung phones and an iPad. Why do these devices not have a way to "select all" for deleting old e-mails, pictures and phone logs?
David Beal, Minneapolis
A: You can mass-delete data from the e-mail, photo and phone log categories of your mobile devices. But it isn't as simple as it should be.
The latest iPad and iPhone software allows you to delete multiple e-mails this way: Click "edit" and check the box in front of each e-mail you want to delete, then click "trash" at the bottom of the screen. (To empty the Trash folder, click two successive "delete all" commands.)
For photos on Apple devices, click "select," then touch the pictures you want to delete. Once the photos are chosen, touch the trash can icon at the bottom of the screen, then click "delete photos" (the number of photos being deleted appears between the two words.) To get rid of phone logs, click "edit," then "clear," then "clear all recents."
Samsung offers websites with directions for deleting all e-mails, photos and call logs from its phones, but the instructions vary from one model to another. To find the directions for your phone, search for the phrase: "delete all e-mail, call log and photo (here insert your model number) Samsung phone."
A one-step "delete all" button for mobile devices would certainly make our lives easier.
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