Mail message not deleting from Mac Mail program

Question

Mail message not deleting from Mac Mail program

I have 2 identical mail messages in my inbox which I can't delete.

When I delete them, they go to the trash. All seems fine... but if I go to a folder in the mail sidebar, when I return to the inbox, these two messages are there again. Each time I delete them, they go to the trash, and accumulate there. I can delete them from the trash - but as soon as I go back to the inbox, there they are again!

The messages were deleted from my server, and the problem occurs even if I am off-line, so it's definitely in the mail program. The messages themselves are a failed mail auto response which appears legitimate. Aside from these 2 message, everything else in the mail program appears to function normally.

This problem has persisted for 3 days running. I'd appreciate any suggestions!

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 2 GHz Power PC G5 512 MB DDR SDRAM

Posted on Oct 21, 2008 3:32 AM

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Answer 1

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Oct 21, 2008 5:54 AM in response to Jeremy Woolhouse

Have you secure deleted the Trash? Try using [force empty tras|http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17841] and see if that works.

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Answer 2

Oct 21, 2008 5:54 PM in response to MGW

Thanks Miriam,

I used "secure empty trash" in the finder to no avail. I presume because the problem is in the mail program there is something I must do there to address this issue - unless I've missed a "secure empty trash" within the mail program? I ran the "force empty trash" program, but that only seems to apply to finder.

I've got further problems now:

A host of previously deleted mail messages have reappeared in the inbox. The delete button turns to "undelete" when any of these are selected. If I try to move any of them into the trash, I get the message "Error - the destination mailbox does not exist." So I can't get rid of them! Again, these messages are not on my server. Other messages are able to be deleted.

Any help appreciated!
Jeremy

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Answer 3

MGW

Level 7

27,041 points

Oct 21, 2008 6:10 PM in response to Jeremy Woolhouse

Jeremy, if your messages are stored on the server and/or you have backed up Mail, I would try to reinstall it, use [Pacifist|http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743] to extract it from your install package.

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Answer 4

lschaaf

Level 1

4 points

Oct 24, 2008 5:17 PM in response to Jeremy Woolhouse

I have the same problem. The messages were actually gone a few weeks ago, and now they are back and can't be deleted!

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Answer 5

lschaaf

Level 1

4 points

Oct 24, 2008 5:24 PM in response to lschaaf

I just found this on another website and it worked!!!

"What worked was to uncheck the "Move deleted messages to a separate folder" option and then to re-check it and do a rebuild. Something in that sequence did the trip."

Good Luck!!!

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Answer 6

Oct 29, 2008 12:34 AM in response to lschaaf

Thanks to all who responded!

I deleted the problem accounts (using the "accounts" tab in the preferences pane in the mail program) - then restarted my computer, and created the account again. All problems cleared.

For others who might use this method, note that deleting the account clears the inbox, junk and drafts, but not mail stored in folders. I backed everything up beforehand though ... just in case!

Jeremy

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