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After bug, Google notifies users that all is a-OK with Gmail

A glitch that caused some e-mails to be marked as spam and others to be deleted is fixed -- but the Web giant says users should make sure their messages are in the right place.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
The notice that Google sent out to some Gmail users. Screenshot by Lindsey Turrentine/CNET

Google assured Gmail users on Tuesday that the slight bug that affected their inboxes last week is definitively fixed. The Web giant sent out notices to users that could have experienced issues.

"You may have been impacted by a recent issue in Gmail that inadvertently caused some actions (e.g. delete, report spam) taken while viewing a message to be applied to a different message," Google wrote. "The issue occurred between January 15 and January 22 and is now fixed."

Apparently, this bug could have deleted or marked as spam some users' e-mails. The company reports that the glitch didn't affect all users and most likely targeted Gmail on iOS apps, mobile browsers, and offline versions of the e-mail service. It's unclear how many people were hit by the bug. Google has asked users to double-check their spam and trash folders to make sure there are no important messages hiding out.

"We encourage you to check your Trash and Spam folders before February 14, 2014 for any items you did not intend to delete or mark as spam and move them back to your inbox," Google wrote. "We apologize for any inconvenience."

It appears this bug is separate from the bizarre Gmail glitch that plagued some users last week. During that incident, not only were e-mail addresses being automatically filled in for unintended recipients but one poor man was flooded with thousands of unsolicited e-mails because of the glitch. It's unclear if the bug is related to last Friday's massive Gmail outage.