Mail preferences ...

Question

Mail preferences ...

Hi,

The «Deleted messages» mailboxes are very confusing. They don't seem to work the «Apple easy and intuitive way».

I am trying to understand what is the difference between 2 configurations in Mail's account preferences. What is the difference between unchecking both options (see the picture below) or only checking the first one «Place deleted message in the thrash» ?

In Mail the Trash mailbox includes two folders: «On my Mac» and «Videotron». Both seem the save the deleted files on my Mac anyway. If only the first one is checked, the deleted messages are stored in the «Videotron» folder, and if both are unchecked, the are saved to the «On my Mac» folder

Also if you have a look to the Mail's browser (the 2nd picture below) it gets even more complicated. You will find 4 different Trash folder. I have been trying to make sense about all these Trash and Deleted folders ... I was not really able to clear this up.

Can somebody help me with those 2 problems ?

Best regards.

Joyful owner of an iMac Intel ... Fast as light !!! !!!!, iMac Intel - 3,06 GHZ - 21" - 12.0 Go

Posted on Apr 12, 2013 10:27 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Apr 13, 2013 12:50 AM in response to Robert Lesperance

Robert, your screenshots do not show. Would you please post them again?

What is the difference between unchecking both options (see the picture below) or only checking the first one «Place deleted message in the thrash» ?

Are you asking about these options?

With the first checkmark set, you get a second chance to retrieve deleted mails, because the will not be deleted, but kept in the trash. You can change your mind and get them back.

If you disable the second check mark, they will be deleted from the mail server immediately, otherwise only later, so you can retrieve them from the server, for example, if you have more than one mac, on e for business purposes and one for private use. You may want to keep different sets of mail on your different devices, even if they are connecting to the same mal servers.

The for different trash folders probably are the trash folders corresponding to mails arriving from different mail accounts. Do you have different mail accounts from different providers? Do you see the names of your accounts beside the trash bins? This allows you to access your trshed items by account, also to free the trashed items sorted by account. This can be useful, if you have configured your accounts differently with respect how they are handling trashed items.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

Apr 13, 2013 4:49 AM in response to léonie

Hi Léonie,

Sorry that you don't see the files. I see them on my side. So here is a link to see them: click here. Let's begin with my first problem: the 2 account Corbeille (Trash) preferences:

When the second option («Store deleted messages on the server») is selected either alone or with the first option («Move deleted messsages to the Trash»), the deleted messages that were stored in the Corbeille (Trash)>Vidéotron folder get pruned by the server one in a while. In the case of my Vidéotron ISP, the pruning occurs every week, so my deleted messages would dissapear after 7 days. That's very fast.

When the first option is selected alone, the are still saved in the Corbeille (Trash)>Vidéotron folder but are never pruned but only saved on my computer. This is the only way I found to use the Delete message button when cleaning my mailboxes without loosing them every week.

I am trying to define a mailboxes s cleaning trategy in order to:

still use the Delete message button when cleaning my mailboxes (that is much faster than to move them to a specific folder by accessing it in the arborescence menu)
keep my deleted messages longer than 7 days (1 would prefer 3 or 6 months) in the

Corbeille (Trash)>Vidéotron folder (let's call them «keep for a while deleted messages») and have them available on my devices as well

By selecting the first option only, my first objective is realized but not the second. When cleaning my messages, most are deleted immediately forever by pressing both the Option + Delete message buttons. But there are all those messages that at first don't seem important but that eventually (3 or 4 weeks later) need to be consulted. What do I do with those ?

Actually, as I undersatnd all this, my only way would be to archive them and manually clean them once in a while, but since I also archive some messages for later purposes, I don't want them to be mixed up by the «keep for a while deleted» messages.

So finally I would say that I am trying to find the simplest way to get this working:

delete unimportant messages or that are available anyway on the web by pressing Option + Delete message buttons - Done √
delete but save for a while some messages and have them available on all my devices by pressing the Delete messages button - Still looking ?
archive important messages - Done √

Hoping all this is clear enough. My english is not perfect so excuse my misleading errors, if any.

Best regards.

Robert

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Apr 13, 2013 5:42 AM in response to Robert Lesperance

So finally I would say that I am trying to find the simplest way to get this working:

delete unimportant messages or that are available anyway on the web by pressing Option + Delete message buttons - Done √

delete but save for a while some messages and have them available on all my devices by pressing the Delete messages button - Still looking ?

archive important messages - Done √

Hoping all this is clear enough. My english is not perfect so excuse my misleading errors, if any.

I think the following settings should allow you to do what you want:

With "Move deleted messages to the Trash" you can control what will happen on your Mac.

Option + Delete message buttons will delete immediately, and the Delete message button will send the message to the trash, until you empty the trash manually. You will need to empty the trash bin occasionally.

The second option will archive the deleted items additionally on the server. I'd set this to the longest time possible, for my iCloud account that would be one month. Enabling this option will only change the behavior of the mail server. There deleted items will permanently be removed to free space on the server. It does not erase any mail already on your Mac, whether it is in the Trash or not.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 4

Apr 13, 2013 7:00 AM in response to léonie

As I said, in my experience, whenever I check the second option, messages are deleted from de server and also from my computer. Since I have an IMAP acount, it seems reasonable to experiment that. That was what got me to uncheck the second option and leave me with my deleted messages only on my computer, not accessible from my other devices.

My ISP prunes deleted emails after only 7 days. Modifying the delay in the preferences does not affect the server's delay. If you are right with the second option that it does not affect what is deleted from my computer, I would be left with only 7 days of deleted messages on the server, not for a month or 2 as I want. But that could do it, since the need to access deleted emails concerns mostly new deleted messages and because all deleted messages would still be on my computer. But I doubt that I is possible. I will try it again to be sure with unimportant messages.

For an extended pruning delay, the only way out of my problem would be to change my ISP ... Gosh !!!

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,645 points

Apr 13, 2013 7:47 AM in response to Robert Lesperance

If you are right with the second option that it does not affect what is deleted from my computer, I would be left with only 7 days of deleted messages on the server, not for a month or 2 as I want. But that could do it, since the need to access deleted emails concerns mostly new deleted messages and because all deleted messages would still be on my computer. But I doubt that I is possible.

Yes, you have to check it with your mail server. I can only tell you what I observed in my accounts.

The manual is rather ambiguous:

Delete a message

Move the pointer over the message header in the preview, and then click the Delete icon that appears. Or select a message in the list, and then click the Delete icon in the Mail toolbar.

Deleted messages remain in the Trash mailbox on your Mac or on the mail server until they are permanently erased. Messages that are deleted from mailboxes you created on your Mac are moved to the On My Mac mailbox, located in the Trash mailbox.

HideSet where to store deleted messages

Choose Mail > Preferences, click Accounts, and then select an account. Click Mailbox Behaviors and in the Trash section, select where you want to store deleted messages until they are permanently erased.

If you deselect all options for an account, deleted messages remain in their original location and are shown dimmed or are hidden. To show or hide deleted messages, choose View > Show Deleted Messages or View > Hide Deleted Messages.

ShowPermanently erase messages

You can retrieve deleted messages if you haven’t emptied your Trash mailbox or rebuilt your mailbox since deleting the messages, or if Mail hasn’t permanently erased the deleted messages. Just drag the deleted messages to another mailbox.

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Answer 6

Apr 13, 2013 11:24 AM in response to léonie

Hidding a message could be a work around for my problem. But how does hidden messages appear on my iPhone ? I was not able to see a hidden message on my iPhone.

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Answer 7

Apr 14, 2013 8:02 AM in response to Robert Lesperance

Hi Léonie,

Hidding messages is not a solution, since hidden messages don't appear on my edevices.

So I am back to square 1 with my first problem. The only way to keep a few months of deleted messages with an IMAP account is to:

avoid stroring on the server and to consult them only from my computer, not my devices, by selecting only the first option in Mail's account preferences («Move deleted messages to the Trash») because ISP servers usually stores deleted messages for a maximum of 30 days and that this preference is not user configurable; or
archive them all ???;

I am done with this part of the thread. So there is no real solution for me and my preferences were at their best. For the second part of this thread, I have begun a new one (see here).

Thanks for helping.

Robert Lespérance

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