Q: In Gmail, I created a personal folder to save received e-mails for future reference. But Gmail removes them from this folder after a month or less. Where did these e-mails go, and how can I keep them?

JOHN WEZOWICZ, Suffield, Conn.

A: There are many possible sources of the problem. But one of the main causes is a misunderstanding of how Gmail operates.

To look at the Gmail screen, you would think that you had at least two copies of every message. There's one in the inbox and there's another one in the "all mail" folder. But that's an illusion. Gmail has only one copy of each e-mail, and it resides in the "all mail" folder. If that e-mail is deleted, it's sent to the trash folder, from which it will be permanently erased after 30 days.

So, let's say you want to keep an e-mail. You drag it from the inbox to your personal folder. This causes the e-mail to appear in the personal folder and to disappear from the inbox (this is accomplished by "labels" that Gmail uses to make e-mails appear to be in different folders.) Stop there. Don't delete any "duplicate copies" of the e-mail because there aren't any — there's only the original that stays in "all mail."

Something similar happens with group e-mails, in which people respond to an e-mail you sent. Both the original e-mail and the responses are grouped together as one e-mail that resides in "all mail." If you delete the original e-mail or one of the responses, the whole chain of messages is sent from "all mail" to the trash folder.

What are the other potential causes of e-mail loss in Gmail?

  • Your account might have been hacked. If that's the case, change your password and check Gmail's settings for tampering (See "Securing your account" at tinyurl.com/4nh5zws9).
  • If you use a computer-based mail program such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, e-mails may have been deleted from the mail server once you downloaded them to the mail program. Changing mail program settings can fix this.
  • You may have created an e-mail filter that automatically archives or deletes some e-mails. These filters can be changed to fix the problem. If you can remember the words in these e-mails, you can search all of Gmail in hopes of finding any messages that were archived.
  • If your Gmail automatically forwards e-mails to another e-mail account, the original Gmail message may be deleted unless Gmail's settings are adjusted to keep a copy.

(See tinyurl.com/4e5tkswf to fix these problems or to ask Google to help recover lost mail.)

Q: Many of my friends are using texting instead of e-mail, but I don't have a smartphone. Is there a way I can use a desktop or laptop computer to send and receive text messages?

MARK KARNOWSKI, Lindstrom, Minn.

A: You can send and receive text messages through your e-mail account, although it's slower than with phone-to-phone texting. Address the e-mail to the person's mobile phone number followed by the cellular carrier's e-mail suffix. For example, to send a text message to the Verizon Wireless phone number 612-xxx-yyyy, use the e-mail address 612xxxyyyy@vtext.com (or, if your text message includes a photo, use 612xxxyyyy@vzwpix.com). (For the e-mail suffixes of other cell phone companies, see tinyurl.com/95ek9sp5).

E-mail tech questions to steve.j.alexander@gmail.com. Include your name, city and telephone number.