Q: How can I sort Apple Mail messages by the date they are deleted

When I delete messages from Apple Mail the messages appear in my Trash folder sorted by the date I received the message. I would like to instead have the email I deleted last show up at the end of the list (regardless of the date in which it was sent to me.)

Answer

This answer has been tested on the following versions of Apple Mail and Email system:

• Apple Mail 2.1.3 on OS X 10.4.11 using MIT's IMAP service
• Apple Mail 4.2 on OS X 10.6.2 using MIT's Exchange service

1. Open Apple Mail and select the Trash folder
2. Right click on the "From" titlebar
   1. Make sure "Number" is checked
      
3. Right click on the "From" titlebar again
   1. Select Sort By > "Number"
      

Now when messages are added to the Trash folder, they should be assigned an incrementing number based on the order in which they're moved to that folder. Messages deleted last should show up at the bottom of the list.