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Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
#22852 08/02/12 11:56 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
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Prior to 10.8, junk/spam mail would accumulate in my Mail’s Spam folder. About once a day, I would “select-all” and drag all these messages from the left windowpane to the Delete icon.

But now, in 10.8, when I “select all”, the emails are instantly opened in the right windowpane. And this I don’t want happening.

Ergo, is there a way to “select all” without the messages being opened?

Last edited by dianne; 08/03/12 01:07 PM. Reason: moved from Mac OS X Applications to Networking.

Harv
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #22853 08/02/12 04:10 PM
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zCan't you just right-click on the spam folder and choose "Erase Junk Mail"?


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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #22855 08/02/12 04:19 PM
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in previous versions of mail you could prevent selecting a message from marking it as "viewed" by dragging the preview pane splitter all the way down and eliminating the preview.

(I've ran into semi-paranoid users that were sent inappropriate messages or spam with porn links and were afraid of workplace sanctions if something showed they had read it)


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Virtual1 #22859 08/02/12 05:16 PM
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Thanks guys. I'll give both suggestions a go, then report back of my success (or not).


Harv
27" i7 iMac (10.13.6), iPhone Xs Max (12.1)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #22866 08/03/12 10:43 AM
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Tacit,

The only option I have is to "Erase Deleted Items" and as the items are not yet deleted, so that doesn't work (for me).

V1, I can indeed resize the View menu so that the messages are not seen, and the delete the messages, but if I do that I am unable to verify that the message is not one I wish to keep, e.g., did not end up in the Spam folder in error (false positive).

But I can drag them individually to the Spam folder and once there, they are instantly deleted. So while that works, I do miss the Select All method formerly used.

Grrrrr….


Harv
27" i7 iMac (10.13.6), iPhone Xs Max (12.1)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #22926 08/06/12 07:41 PM
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Originally Posted By: Pendragon
V1, I can indeed resize the View menu so that the messages are not seen, and the delete the messages, but if I do that I am unable to verify that the message is not one I wish to keep, e.g., did not end up in the Spam folder in error (false positive)


So a better summary might be "I can't read it without it getting marked as read".

I don't think you're really going to find a way around that.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #23266 08/28/12 04:41 PM
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I, of course, am having the same problem. If I select all, one always opens. Since most of my "infected files" are from email, I would like to avoid having to open them. Since reading this, I have started dragging the bulk mail messages (one at a time) to the trash file. Nice to know about this technique. But it's still a pain one at a time. Hope a better way comes along soon.

I wonder if it would be possible to write a script to take care of this action. I don't know how to write apple scripts but if I did, I would be trying to do this.

Rita

Originally Posted By: Pendragon
Tacit,

The only option I have is to "Erase Deleted Items" and as the items are not yet deleted, so that doesn't work (for me).

V1, I can indeed resize the View menu so that the messages are not seen, and the delete the messages, but if I do that I am unable to verify that the message is not one I wish to keep, e.g., did not end up in the Spam folder in error (false positive).

But I can drag them individually to the Spam folder and once there, they are instantly deleted. So while that works, I do miss the Select All method formerly used.

Grrrrr….


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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #23306 09/03/12 05:13 AM
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HOW TO DELETE EMAIL WITHOUT VIEWING IT

To delete multiple messages without reading them, follow these steps:
â–ª 1. If the preview pane is on, double-click the separator to turn it off.
â–ª 2. Select the messages you want to delete. Use Shift-click to select multiple contiguous messages, or Command-click to select multiple interspersed messages.
â–ª 3. Click the Delete button, or press the Delete key.
â–ª 4. Go to bottom of email in the center and drag preview pane back up.

How to delete multiple messages without viewing them

I tried it with my bulk (spam) folder, and it works!!!

Look at me, finally able to help someone else!

Rita



Originally Posted By: Pendragon
Tacit,

The only option I have is to "Erase Deleted Items" and as the items are not yet deleted, so that doesn't work (for me).

V1, I can indeed resize the View menu so that the messages are not seen, and the delete the messages, but if I do that I am unable to verify that the message is not one I wish to keep, e.g., did not end up in the Spam folder in error (false positive).

But I can drag them individually to the Spam folder and once there, they are instantly deleted. So while that works, I do miss the Select All method formerly used.

Grrrrr….


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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
plantsower #23308 09/03/12 01:22 PM
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Many thanks, Rita, but I am unable to find the Preview Pane (in Mail v6.0), thus my problem persists. Maybe looking in the wrong place?

While it's not a big deal, I do seek a solution.


Harv
27" i7 iMac (10.13.6), iPhone Xs Max (12.1)

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #23309 09/03/12 01:54 PM
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I'm 10.6.8 with mail 4.5 and tested Rita's method as I often want to get rid of spam without having to open at least one before deleting.

I double-clicked on the bar that is used for resizing the message area and it immediately zipped to the bottom of the window. I was then able to Command-click on several unopened messages without any opening.

I don't have any spam today but look forward to seeing if the Command-X function, which bypasses the Trash and sends mail directly to ether neverneverland, will work in conjunction with Rita's discovery.

Last edited by ryck; 09/03/12 01:54 PM.

ryck

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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #23412 09/18/12 04:37 PM
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Hi: Never got the email from FineTuneMac for this. So I am late in answering. The preview pane is the window you read your emails from. Click the dividing line between your new emails and the body of the emails that you open. Double click that first and then follow instructions on getting rid of the spam mail. I noticed that I can just click on one of the offending emails after I get rid of the preview pane, click command A (to select all) and then hit delete. It goes into the trash.

HTH.

Rita

Originally Posted By: Pendragon
Many thanks, Rita, but I am unable to find the Preview Pane (in Mail v6.0), thus my problem persists. Maybe looking in the wrong place?

While it's not a big deal, I do seek a solution.


MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
Safari Tech Prev 17.0
Safari 16.6
Firefox 116.0.2
iPhone 7 Version 15.8




Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
ryck #23413 09/18/12 04:41 PM
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Did you try it yet? How'd it go? Still working for me. Also, I noticed I do not have to command click when getting rid of the emails. Since the preview pain is gone, there is nothing to preview so nothing opens up! I just get rid of the preview pane, select one of the emails, command A (select all) and hit delete. In fact, I think you can select all without selecting just one first. Much faster than my first post. Trial and error, you know?

Rita


Originally Posted By: ryck
I'm 10.6.8 with mail 4.5 and tested Rita's method as I often want to get rid of spam without having to open at least one before deleting.

I double-clicked on the bar that is used for resizing the message area and it immediately zipped to the bottom of the window. I was then able to Command-click on several unopened messages without any opening.

I don't have any spam today but look forward to seeing if the Command-X function, which bypasses the Trash and sends mail directly to ether neverneverland, will work in conjunction with Rita's discovery.


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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
Pendragon #23683 10/06/12 03:10 PM
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To delete an unopened email message in Mountain Lion's Mail, hold down control and click on the message. It does not open but you get a list of options, one of which is "Delete".

Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
plantsower #23689 10/06/12 04:09 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Did you try it yet? How'd it go?
Originally Posted By: ryck
I'm 10.6.8 with mail 4.5 and tested Rita's method as I often want to get rid of spam without having to open at least one before deleting.

....look forward to seeing if the Command-X function, which bypasses the Trash and sends mail directly to ether neverneverland, will work in conjunction with Rita's discovery.

Sorry for the delay in responding....

Using Command and click to select several emails...then clicking on "x" to bypass the Trash in getting rid of them, works fine. Command and "x" has been my preferred method for getting rid of the emails I know I will never wish to retrieve from Trash.


ryck

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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
RHV #23690 10/06/12 04:10 PM
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Originally Posted By: RHV
....in Mountain Lion's Mail, hold down control and click on the message. It does not open but you get a list of options, one of which is "Delete".

Ditto for Snow Leopard with Mail 4.5


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
RHV #23691 10/06/12 04:37 PM
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Hi: I just tried your method but it opened up on me. And if I have a lot of spam, I don't want to have to do that to each one. Thanks for the info, though. Getting rid of the preview window prevents them from opening when I hit "select all" and then delete. I can get rid of them all at once that way.

Rita

Originally Posted By: RHV
To delete an unopened email message in Mountain Lion's Mail, hold down control and click on the message. It does not open but you get a list of options, one of which is "Delete".


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Re: Mail in 10.8, delete without opening
ryck #23692 10/06/12 04:39 PM
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Yep, we each have our preferences. Nice to know there is a way to do this, though. It should have been in the "help" section of Mail but......:( Rita


Originally Posted By: ryck
Originally Posted By: RHV
....in Mountain Lion's Mail, hold down control and click on the message. It does not open but you get a list of options, one of which is "Delete".

Ditto for Snow Leopard with Mail 4.5


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