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How do you delete bulk mail folder in Mail program?

In my Mail program on my MacBook Air there is a Bulk Mail Folder usually full of annoying junk mail. How do I eliminate this folder so I don't get Bulk mail anymore?

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 14, 2013 11:08 PM

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30 replies

Oct 24, 2017 7:28 AM in response to Charlie7

I have this problem, too, but everything I read is about how to delete the Bulk mail folder if you have POP settings. I have IMAP settings, which is what my server company uses (AT&T). I never had a Bulk mail folder before—it just popped up a few weeks ago without me doing anything and now I get stuff in my Junk mail folder AND in the Bulk mail folder, including things that should go into my inbox! Very, very frustrated!!!!

Feb 17, 2013 1:26 AM in response to MrHoffman

But can you actually delele the bulk mail folder so that it is gone? Or is it going to fill up with annoying junk mail again? Also what does ⌘A⌘⌫ mean? Does it mean hold down both keys at the same time along with A and ⌫ keys? I wish someone could actually show me how to do this over the phone. Apple wants a bunch of money for solving problems over the phone. My iMac and MacBook Air are out of warranty and I'm spending too much money on music notation programs.

Feb 17, 2013 5:57 AM in response to Charlie7

What you want with the Junk folder is possible, but not exactly the way you envision it working.


Hold down the ⌘ (command) key, then press and release the A key, and release the ⌘ key. This selects all.


Hold down the ⌘ key, then press and release the ⌫ key, and release the ⌘ key. This deletes the selected entries.


The above sequence deletes the entire contents of the selected folder. Which could be your junk folder. Or whatever other folder you've selected.


The now-deleted contents of the selected folder are now (usually) moved to trash folder, and will be deleted per whatever rules you have set up for the trash. (The rules for emptying out the trash are on the same Preferences panel as the rules for the junk mail processing. You can set Mail.app to empty the trash on exit from Mail.app, or daily, weekly or monthly basis, or never.)


Then follow the preferences sequence from my previous reply to set up rules which delete the arriving messages — which can be spam and can also be real messages that got mis-classified as spam — automatically.


—— some general suggestions for your consideration...


For an introduction to using some of these key sequences and other details of the OS X operating system, see Apple's (free) Mac Basics web site.


If there's music notation software for iPad that meets your particular requirements, then that device might work better here. iPad devices feature less-complicated interfaces than does OS X.

Feb 17, 2013 9:47 AM in response to MrHoffman

Mr. Hoffman. I already knew everything you just told me. It's easy to "select all" and "delete", but I want to get rid of the Bulk Mail folder entirely so that I CAN'T get any bulk mail, which is loaded with crap. Do you know if you can delete the entire bulk mail folder. My fairly new iMac (about a year old) doesn't have a Bulk Mail folder in it's Mail program but the MacBook Air DOES HAVE a Bulk mail folder. Why is that? Both the iMac and the MacBook Air are running the latest version of the operating system which is OS X version 10.8.2. Why does the MacBook Air even have a Bulk Mail folder in the Mail program? I may have to call Apple support but it's gonna cost me money. Mail should be simpler than this and it isn't. I went to the Apple Store in Salem, NH, and asked a genius about it and he gave me directions on how to do it, but it didn't work because I only had my MacBook Air with me. I suppose I'm gonna have to drag my iMac and the MacBook Air all the way from Hanover, NH down to Salem, which is a one hour and forty minutes—pain in the neck. I knew this was complicated. Thanks very much for you effort on trying to fix this. Charlie.

Feb 17, 2013 5:14 PM in response to Charlie7

If there's a folder that's actually labeled "bulk" around, then it's something that was locally created, either directly on your Mac, or on your mail server. A "bulk" folder is not a default feature of OS X and Mail.app.


The "bulk" folder might be associated some local tools or local rules, or it might be part of some filters that are running on the mail server.


One tool that's sometimes found on the mail server that can create a "bulk" folder is apparently a tool some ISPs offer know as SpamGuard. Yahoo can also apparently implement a "bulk" folder, and there are probably some other ISPs with similar implementations.


But these "bulk" folders are not particularly associated with Mail.app — Mail.app has found a folder on the mail server and is displaying it — and are usually controlled via an ISP-provided web interface.

Feb 18, 2013 5:30 AM in response to MrHoffman

I think you're right about the Bulk mail folder being related to Yahoo. I think they did it. Don't really know. Yahoo likes bulk mail. It's awful. Next time I drive down to the Apple Store in Salem, NH. (hour & forty minutes) I'm going to take both my MacBook Air & my iMac. They can fix it. In the meantime, I'll just not use my MacBook Air for Mail because it's a pain in the neck. Thanks for your time and effort. Charlie

Feb 19, 2013 6:33 PM in response to Charlie7

Hi Charlie7, Have you tried SystemsPlus in Lebanon? (I live in WRJ) It's a lot closer than Salem! BTW, I have the same issue with my wife's new Mac mini. It has the annoying Bulk mail folder that overflows with crap from her Yahoo mail acc't., but my Mac Pro's mail 4.6 does not have a bulk folder and I also have a Yahoo acc't. I've searched Yahoo's mail account settings, but I haven't found anything pertaining to Bulk mail. I'm very interest in learning about your solution.

Feb 19, 2013 7:11 PM in response to Macmonter

Charlie, I found this with Google search: http://email.about.com/cs/yahoomailtips/qt/et041903.htm


The info about "Download my Bulk Mail folder as well as my inbox" does not appear in my Yahoo Mail acc't POP settings. I don't have access to my wife's Yahoo acc't now to see if the info listed at the above site applies. I hope this IS the answer to the problem!

Feb 20, 2013 2:09 AM in response to Macmonter

Cool. Now that's what I'm talkin' about! About.com sorta tip-toes around, but they are saying what you and I have both been saying: Yahoo is promoting bulk mail. And bulk mail = crap. That's so neat that we live so close together. You're in WRJ and I'm in Hanover. That's about 15 minutes. I've been into Systems plus but the difference between Systems plus and an Apple Store is like night and day. My wife and I used to live in Grand Rapids (GR), Michigan, and I went to an Apple Store there about once a week. Took lessons and stuff. Apple stores are dedicated to making you happy. Systems plus is mostly after your money. But it's better than nothing. We ought to get together. You should call me. We could learn a lot from each other. Sounds like we have the same mail problem. I write a lot of email to the other two members of a musical group I'm in (a trio). We transfer Sibelius music files back and forth. My teacher (who is one of the three) also teaches over the internet ocassionally. All three of us are Mac users. Can I call you? Or could you call me? My last name is Pinneo and my phone number is listed under my wife, Pam. (She set up the phone with the phone company when we moved here 3 years ago.)

Feb 20, 2013 6:57 PM in response to Charlie7

Hi Charley7, The following is an answer given to another on the forum asking how to delete Bulk Mail folder:


"Select the bulk mail folder and then go to menu bar mailbox > use mailbox for > junk mail. Hope these are the right menu names because I use a german OSX."


I haven't tried it since it appears that it merely moves the offensive crap to another folder within mail. It appears the problem is the Yahoo IMAP server that's needed to sync email actions between other computers and/or mobile devices. My old Mac running SL uses the Yahoo POP server which doesn't display the Bulk Mail folder, but my wife's new Mac mini running ML uses the IMAP server. For now I'm side-stepping the problem by hiding the Bulk Mail folder and every few days deleting the Bulk Mail contents which then requires deleting the contents from the trash folder. It appears that the real solution is switching the mail account from the IMAP server to the POP. I'm not trying it since I have a few experiences of having to have SystemsPlus make a house call to undo something bad I did!


I know SystemsPlus does not compare to an Apple Store in providing service to Mac folks, but they're a reputable business that I've patronized for nearly 13 years. I bought 4 computers, 2 printers and a lot accessories from the same salesman, Bob, over those years. I also used their service department multiple times and always have been satisfied with the results. I don't think the local Best Buy would provide the same experience!

Feb 21, 2013 2:43 AM in response to Macmonter

Hi, Macmonter.Thank you very much for working on this complicated problem. I'll just wait a couple weeks and on a nice sunny day my wife and I will drive back down to Salem, NH, to the Apple Store with both machines: iMac & MacBook Air. She goes to the Pottery Barn while I go to the Apple Store. A genius at the Apple Store will fix it for nothing. Plus I get to look at all the latest Macs, iPods, iPads, and other fancy stuff. Plus I'll probably understand the Mail program better. Let them do it. It's too hard for me. I'm glad you have narrowed it down to the IMAP and POP server. And Yahoo. Yahoo is the culprit. The problem is in Mail Preferences. I'm afraid of changing the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) because there are 10 outgoing mail servers in my Yahoo! POP account. And what is the result of changing any of those mail servers? And what does SMTP mean? Why is there only one Incoming Mail Server which is pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com? I think if I got rid of the pop mail server, I would be rid of Yahoo and their junk mail which they ephamistically call Bulk Mail. It's really junk mail. I'll let you know what I find out. Thanks again. Charlie.

Sep 16, 2013 11:57 PM in response to Macmonter

Hi Macmonter,


i have seen the complete post here and realised that your answer should have been selected as most useful, unfortunately Charlie7 didn't tried it and hence it was ignored. I still appreciate your experiemnt.


I am pretty new to this community thing, but i did a lot of experiments with Mail application and hence i m writing this post specifically which might be helpful to others. I use Yahoo Mail (only) for all online services like Facebook, G+, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. all possible. It's my central ID now and i cant change it any more. Going online and checking yahoo mail is sometimes very resource taking hence i decided to use mail client like Mail.app. Let me tell you that i personally tried all other mail apps including thunderbird but noticed one very imp thing that when u use Mail.app then your mails 7 their attachments are automatically indexed by Mac OS which is very important feature and when you search something then it searches within your mail also, this is really awesome. This will not happen if u use thunderbird or any other mail client. Also you get to use free Cloud with auto sync. Now this also tells you that I am stuck with 2 (idiotic) giants : Yahoo & Mac OSX Mail.


The thing is, Yahoo now uses IMAP (prior it was POP). IMAP has many advantages over POP for sure. Basically when you use multiple devices, filters and folders and want all those things in Sync. Google for more comparison, but let me tell you IMAP is really good. Now the problem is, Yahoo has powerful spam engine but it calls it 'Bulk Mail'. Apple also has powerful Spam Engine but they call it 'Junk'. So some how you have make apple understand that they are the same words, which is suggested by Mr. Macmonter which is really a great & very useful thing. If you mark 'Bulk Mail' folder as 'Use As Junk' then you are done. All messages from Bulk folder will be routed to Junk and you will see common Junk Folder.


I know there are people who dont want to see that Junk at all! And for that this is smart trick :

  • Configure your Yahoo as IMAP (which is default). Clear all messages from online Bulk Mail folder using browser login. Then Sync so all your online folders are downloaded if any and all your mails. Basically this is for people who has created online filters and folders (i have 12 folders)
  • Once your account is in Sync, disconnect. Export all your folders one by one slowly. It takes times if you have many mails and attachments. Once this is done successfully, DELETE this account!
  • Now create Yahoo POP account. Apple dont allow you to do this now, but there is trick. You will have to give wrong user-pass and shift to manual settings and there you can give correct server config which should be POP settings of Yahoo. And take this account online.
  • In online Yahoo Mail, set 'Do not download spam' under POP and Forwarders. So this will only start downloading Inbox messages. Remember POP dont see any other folders, hence we removed all filters and downloaded all folders. IT will download all mails coming to Inbox filtering Spam. So you never see spam. If you want to see some then you can go online periodically and check manually.
  • Now import your recently exported folders in this account and create filters and rules in Mail.app for routing of incoming messages for particular messages.
  • This gives you all old messages, pure inbox from yahoo, 2 way spam filter yahoo & Mac, and local routing of messages with index, smart folders and cloud! Only thing you dont get here is Sync with multiple devices if you have iMac, Air & iPhone. But there i suggest you to keep one of them as center for downloads and others should keep just 15days old copy. This will also save your resources!


Enjoy..

May 31, 2014 12:34 PM in response to Charlie7

Hi guys!


Im new to Apple and have an IMAC 27".

I saw this folder and my Antivirus was telling me that a lot of the trojans

and viri were coming from new mail. I deleted the folder and no more viri!


I have an sbcglobal based email and when I use outlook, I don't see the bulk

mail because it prohibits it from being downloaded.


I am making the jump to Apple cause I dont want to propogate the farce

known as Microsoft and keep applying money to upgrade to higher priced crappy OS.


Greg

How do you delete bulk mail folder in Mail program?

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