Received from: George Henne At: 10:56 am (GMT) on Fri, Apr 4, 2003 >So we're back to the original question. What is a practical way delete >old messages?
Okay, here's my take on this: If you only want to delete *some* of your mail trash messages (ie. those over a certain date) you need to move the *others* out of the mail trash to somewhere else. Emptying the mail trash empties ALL of it. . . . . . . . . . . Option 1: Manual method 1. Ensure that the Mail Trash window has the "Date sent" column showing -- if it doesn't, ensure that Mail Trash folder is selected and press Cmd-J to call up view options for that window. 2. Sort by date sent. 3. Create a temporary folder called, say, Temp Trash. 4. From the mail trash folder (sorted by date for convenience) you can select all the messages that you DON'T want to delete. Drag them to the Temp Trash folder. 5. Empty Mail Trash. 6. Drag the contents of the Temp Trash back to Mail Trash, - or - select Temp Trash, Select All (Cmd-A) the messages in it, and press Cmd- Backspace to move everything back to the Mail Trash 7. Compact your database to free up the space the deleted messages took up. . . . . . . . . . . Option 2: Filter method (much better I think) 1. Create a folder called Temp Trash. 2. Create a new filter at the bottom of the filter list called STOP POINT. Set it up thus: ** Apply to incoming and outgoing mail. ** Any condition that will never occur, eg. "Reply to is kjjodvhkdjhnsdlfvhns" ** No action, but DO check the "Stop applying filters to this message" box (the purpose of this filter is to prevent filters BELOW it in the list from automatically acting on incoming/outgoing mail. Those filters can still be accessed manually from the Mail > Perform filter menu item. 3. Create a new filter BELOW the "stop point" one set up thus: ** Name: Move out of trash ** Apply to Incoming and Outgoing mail. ** Condition: Always ** Move messages to Folder Temp Trash 4. Create a new filter below this one, set up thus: ** Name: Move older stuff to trash ** Apply to Incoming and Outgoing mail. ** Condition: Date is older than (x) days ** Action: Move to Mail trash 5. Select all the messages in the Mail trash 6. Select menu item Mail > Perform Filter > Move out of trash. Allow the filter to work on all the messages; they will all be moved out of the trash). 7. Select all of the messages in Temp Trash. 8. Select menu item Mail > Perform Filter > Move older stuff to trash. Allow the filter to work on all the messages; those older than the specified age will be moved back to the trash). 9. Empty Mail Trash. 10. Move the contents of Temp Trash back to the Mail Trash (Select a message in Temp Trash, Cmd-A, Cmd-Backspace). 11. Compact your database. . . . . . . . . . . The advantage of this method is that once you've done the basic setup work, you can then apply it to other folders very easily. Simply select all the messages in the chosen folder (eg. your Out Tray) and manually run the "Move Older Stuff To Trash" filter; everything older than the specified date will be moved to the Mail Trash ready for deletion. I'm sure that an applescript solution would be even more elegant but I'm not much up on that side of things. Hope this helps; Rick ----------- G4/500 MHz (DP) :: OS 10.2.4 :: PM 4.1.2 :: 3 pane mode :: 768 MB RAM <www.sharkattack.co.uk>
