Cannot permanently delete junk mail

Question

Cannot permanently delete junk mail

I have had this post for a month or so with no replies. Trying here with a different subject. I have a problem with about 50 messages that keep reappearing in the junk mailbox after I delete them and empty the trash. Within seconds, they reappear as junk. Some as new as yesterday, some dated back in January 2014. I have deleted the Junk mailbox and then hit rebuild. As soon as i finish the click, the messages reappear. I've done it 5 times, and then hit rebuild three times - still get the messages back. I've checked with my gmail account and the messages do not appear as spam or junk on my gmail account. Can anyone help me get rid of these old messages - permanently?

MacBook (13-inch Late 2009), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Nov 20, 2014 11:01 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,045 points

Nov 21, 2014 10:51 AM in response to Jeff Stephens

Try re-indexing the mailboxes. This can take awhile if you have a lot of mail.

Reindex messages Mavericks/Yosemite

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Answer 2

Nov 22, 2014 8:04 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked. I dragged the envelope index files to the trash and tried to empty it; however, I got the error message that said it couldn't be emptied because the files were in use. I went ahead and opened Mail and it went through the reindex process - and the old junk mail was still there. Deleted it, deleted the trash, and the junk was back. Went through the process again - same issue with not being able to empty the trash, reindex and the junk is still there. One funny aspect is that it is obviously not all the junk mail I have gotten over the past year, but it is from a large variety of different addressees.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2014 8:30 AM in response to Jeff Stephens

Additional information. Just restarted my Mac. The system allowed me to empty the envelope index files already in the trash (Mail never opened.) I then went to the Library file and dragged the 'new' envelope index files into the trash and tried to empty it - same error message saying they were in use. Mail still has not been opened. Would this have an effect on the reindexing and cause the old junk mail to keep reappearing?

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Answer 4

traivenw

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2014 10:49 AM in response to Jeff Stephens

I had this exact problem for months! Just figured out how to fix mine!

If you go through the process of deleting it all again then go to to "Mail" -> "Preferences" -> "Accounts" and then delete the account(s) you have junk in then exit out of Mail and go through same process "Mail" -> "Preferences" -> "Accounts" to add accounts back then they will re-load without the junk.

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Answer 5

Dec 13, 2014 10:02 AM in response to traivenw

Just tried it out (I was tied up for the last few days) and it seems to work just fine. Only problem is the loss of the old emails. Fortunately, the account was not the main one and no great loss of the emails. Would probably have a problem with losing the main emails. Hopefully, don't get a junk problem on that account.

Thanks for the tip!

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