Messages delete confirmation defaults to Cancel

Is there any way to change the default confirmation button? Or a way to bypass the confirmation dialogue altogether?

I don't know.

Option-click the x.

Also, for most dialogs, Cmd-<first letter of button>. In this case, Cmd-D to press the Delete button.

Prior to the update, when you deleted a message, the dialogue box defaulted to <DELETE>, and now it defaults to <CANCEL>. This means you can no longer just hit the <RETURN> key, you first have to select <CANCEL> with your mouse. It is not the biggest problem in the world, just simply a change that makes life less simple.

It used to be to delete a message I clicked the X to delete and then the pop up ask to confirm asks "cancel" or "delete," the default highlighted in blue used to be "delete" so a simple click on my return key on the keyboard would delete the message. Now I have to drag mouse over and position it over the "delete" because the default (highlighted in blue) is now "cancel" instead of delete. This is an extra step that was not necessary before. I would like the default moved back to "delete" - the way it was before this upgrade. Or if settings gave an option about which way the default is set.

I have the same issue following my upgrade. It is very frustrating. There must be a way to resolve it, but if there is, I can't find it.

I still don't see a way to bypass the additional step they've created. So there is no way to switch the default to delete instead of cancel? Why fix what isn't broken?

Which "additional step" are you referring to?

As I already explained, you can bypass the dialog by holding down the Option key when clicking the X in the message list.