How to Permanently Delete Messages

  • Thread starter Thread starter ralber
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ralber

Is there a trick or perhaps a macro I can use to permanently delet
Outlook messages from a folder other than the Deleted folder?

I get hundreds of spam messages each day which my SpamBayes progra
sticks in a folder named "Spam". I occasionally review those message
to check for false negatives. When I want to delete those message
permanently I'm forced to go through the elaborate process of movin
all of the messages to my deleted folder (which I use as a holding spo
for other messages I eventually archive) and then permanently delet
them.

There must be a better way..
 
"ralber" said in news:[email protected]:
Is there a trick or perhaps a macro I can use to permanently delete
Outlook messages from a folder other than the Deleted folder?

I get hundreds of spam messages each day which my SpamBayes program
sticks in a folder named "Spam". I occasionally review those messages
to check for false negatives. When I want to delete those messages
permanently I'm forced to go through the elaborate process of moving
all of the messages to my deleted folder (which I use as a holding
spot for other messages I eventually archive) and then permanently
delete them.

There must be a better way...
Click to expand...

Soft delete = Del key or Delete menu = Puts item in Deleted Items folder (or
permanently deletes if deleting from the Deleted Items folder).

Hard delete = Shift+Del = Item gets deleted but no copy goes to the Deleted
Items folder.

Don't come back asking how to undo a hard delete. If you use it then you
chose to bypass the safety net of the Deleted Items folder.

Note that deleted items (i.e., hard deleted or deleted out of the Deleted
Items folder) do not actually get deleted. They only get *marked* as
deleted in your .pst file. They still consume space in your .pst file.
Delete-marked items get purged from your .pst file when you compact it.
 
Hello,

To permanently delete meesage from Outlook, you can also holding the Shift
+ Delete key from the key board. This will permanently delete the message
without placing the message to the Deleted Items folder. Those key
combination can also be used when you select multiple items to delete.

Best Regards,

Jan Suralertrungsri, MCSE
Microsoft Enterprise Messaging Support
Client Server Infrastructure

--

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
--------------------
From: ralber <[email protected]>
Subject: How to Permanently Delete Messages
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 12:44:33 -0600
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
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Click to expand...
Is there a trick or perhaps a macro I can use to permanently delete
Outlook messages from a folder other than the Deleted folder?
I get hundreds of spam messages each day which my SpamBayes program
Click to expand...
sticks in a folder named "Spam". I occasionally review those messages
to check for false negatives. When I want to delete those messages
permanently I'm forced to go through the elaborate process of moving
all of the messages to my deleted folder (which I use as a holding spot
for other messages I eventually archive) and then permanently delete
them.
 
ralber said:
Is there a trick or perhaps a macro I can use to permanently delete
Outlook messages from a folder other than the Deleted folder?

I get hundreds of spam messages each day which my SpamBayes program
sticks in a folder named "Spam". I occasionally review those messages
to check for false negatives. When I want to delete those messages
permanently I'm forced to go through the elaborate process of moving
all of the messages to my deleted folder (which I use as a holding spot
for other messages I eventually archive) and then permanently delete
them.

There must be a better way...
Click to expand...

Um...this may be a dumb question, but WHY do you put email in your deleted
folder if you want to deal with it later? Why not make a folder called
"Needs to be archived" or something, and put it there? Most people don't
use their trash can for papers that they're going to get to eventually.
-karen
 
Another SpamBayes user here - I'm also looking for a way to
AUTOMATICALLY have Outlook delete either everything in the "Deleted
Items" folder or in another designated folder.

I just want some way to automatically delete everything in this folder
several times a day.

Thanks.
 
"karen" said in news:OKl%[email protected]:
Um...this may be a dumb question, but WHY do you put email in your
deleted folder if you want to deal with it later? Why not make a
folder called "Needs to be archived" or something, and put it there?
Click to expand...

Because Outlook is hardcoded to move the item to the Deleted Items folder
when you perform a soft delete on the item. Moving the item to yet a
different holding store takes more effort than hitting the Del key.

And what's the difference between the Deleted Items folder and your "Needs
to be archived" folder since both are nothing more than a temporary store
much like the Recycle Bin?
Most people don't use their trash can for papers that they're going
to get to eventually. -karen
Click to expand...

Not true. Instead of throwing papers in the trash can, we toss them into
recycle boxes in which their contents get picked up once a week to get
tossed into the recycle garbage instead of into the normal garbage. That
means you had a 1 to 6 days to recover something that you had tossed but
discovered later you might need again, like that telephone number you wrote
down but forgot to record, or a file listing you didn't think you would need
until the disk crashed and you needed to list what data files to restore.

The Deleted Items folder is a safety net against accidental deletion and to
provide recovery up to whenever auto-archive is scheduled to purge that
folder or until you purge it. Some folks do disable the Recycle Bin in
Windows, too, but most users leave it enabled so they have some time to yank
back something they deleted and then find out later they still need. Only
those endowed with precognition truly know what they can trash with
impunity.

Almost every time I have informed a coworker about Outlook's hard delete
(Shift+Del) I will later hear them whack their fist against their desk when
they hard deleted something and later found they need it still. Then they
come a'calling to see if there is someway to undo a hard delete. Nope, not
unless you willing to pay royally for it (or risk data integrity using the
freebie methods) and only if Outlook (or you) haven't compacted the .pst
file yet.
 
"lizard_boy" said in
Another SpamBayes user here - I'm also looking for a way to
AUTOMATICALLY have Outlook delete either everything in the "Deleted
Items" folder or in another designated folder.

I just want some way to automatically delete everything in this folder
several times a day.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Several times a day? Why so often? If your rules delete spam then why
aren't they hard deleting it? Probably because you can never guarantee
against false positives. Is your mailbox on Exchange so small (and its
admin won't enlarge it for you upon request) or your free space on your
drive(s) so critical that you cannot keep at least one day's worth of soft
deletes?

Right-click on the Deleted Items folder and enable auto-archive. Set it for
a day if you want (which is the minimum). I set mine for 1 month. Then
make sure AutoArchive is enabled under options. Also make sure that the
schedule for AutoArchive is at an interval equal to or *shorter* than your
shortest interval configured for auto-archive property of a folder. If you
set global AutoArchive to run once a month and set the auto-archive property
on a folder for one day, the archive function doesn't run except every 30
days so you'll still end up with a month's worth of soft deletes in the
folder. In your case, you would need to set the folder's auto-archive
property to 1 day and also set the global AutoArchive to run every 1 days.
The shortest folder auto-archive I have is 3 days for the Junk folder (to
let me capture false positives) so that's also what I configure when the
global AutoArchive will run since it is what triggers the auto-archive
action on each folder configured for it.
 
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