How to Stop MobileMe from Deleting Trash After 30 Days

MobileMe email has the annoying "feature" that unlike Gmail, if you "delete" an email, it only stays in the "Trash" folder for 30 days.

Here is a simple workaround for this problem:

1. Log into the MobileMe Mail site, and add a folder called "Archive" (or something else if you prefer). Move all your existing deleted emails in your Trash folder into Archive.
2. If you use MobileMe with Mail.app, right-click your MobileMe Inbox and select Synchronize MobileMe. Your new Archive folder should appear somewhere on the mailboxes pane. Select the Archive folder, and then go up to the Mailboxes menu and select Use this mailbox for > Trash. On my system, it changed the name of the folder to "Deleted Messages" when I did this.
3. If you use MobileMe on your iPhone, go into the Settings app and then Mail, Contacts, Calendars > MobileMe > Account Info > Advanced > Deleted Mailbox, then select your Archive folder.

This might actually make the new search on server feature useful!

Disclaimer: I just followed the above steps today. In theory it should work, but the above is untested. I will post a follow-up if I have any problems...