Can't Delete Mail from Apple Mail

On or about 11/6/07 5:16 AM, thus spake "James Bodkin"
<jrbodkincomcast.net>:

> For the past 2 weeks I have been unable to delete mail (both read and
> unread) from my inbox in Apple's Mail.app. Instead of disappearing
> from the list as normally happens when a file is deleted, the file
> name is grayed out, but still there and accessible when double
> clicked. Also, if I drag the file to a folder, it doesn't move. The
> problem developed in Tiger and I was hopeful the moving to Leopard
> would solve it. It didn't.

This sort of thing can usually be fixed by rebuilding the mailbox.

m.

On Nov 6, 2007, at 5:16 AM, James Bodkin wrote:

> I have read so many great solutions from fellow TidBITS Talkers, that
> possibly you know of a solution for this problem.
>
> For the past 2 weeks I have been unable to delete mail (both read and
> unread) from my inbox in Apple's Mail.app. Instead of disappearing
> from the list as normally happens when a file is deleted, the file
> name is grayed out, but still there and accessible when double
> clicked. Also, if I drag the file to a folder, it doesn't move. The
> problem developed in Tiger and I was hopeful the moving to Leopard
> would solve it. It didn't.

I still haven't updated to Leopard but had the problem show up
recently in Tiger for some of my accounts. My mailboxes are POP. I
found the solutions was to go to the Mailbox Behaviors tab of the
preferences for the mailbox and check the 'Move deleted messages to
Trash mailbox' option. Hopefully there is an analogous solution in
Leopard.

Alan Forkosh Oakland, CA
aforkoshmac.com

> For the past 2 weeks I have been unable to delete mail (both read and
> unread) from my inbox in Apple's Mail.app. Instead of disappearing
> from the list as normally happens when a file is deleted, the file
> name is grayed out, but still there and accessible when double
> clicked. Also, if I drag the file to a folder, it doesn't move. The
> problem developed in Tiger and I was hopeful the moving to Leopard
> would solve it. It didn't.

Are you using IMAP by any chance? With IMAP, deleted mail usually
just gets marked for deletion, and is permanently deleted at a later
time. But this behavior is configurable. What are your settings for
"Trash" in the Accounts section of the Preferences panel under
"Mailbox Behaviors"?

Alfred

On Nov 6, 2007, at 5:16 AM, James Bodkin wrote:

> I have read so many great solutions from fellow TidBITS Talkers, that
> possibly you know of a solution for this problem.
>
> For the past 2 weeks I have been unable to delete mail (both read and
> unread) from my inbox in Apple's Mail.app. Instead of disappearing
> from the list as normally happens when a file is deleted, the file
> name is grayed out, but still there and accessible when double
> clicked. Also, if I drag the file to a folder, it doesn't move. The
> problem developed in Tiger and I was hopeful the moving to Leopard
> would solve it. It didn't.
>
> I have tried the normal repair disk permissions, but with no success.
> The local Apple Store Genius was not able to help.
>
> Has anyone had this happen? What is the secret solution?


I had it happen with a POP account. Never with a .Mac account or
other IMAP accounts. I didn't find a quick solution (I was just
kicking the tires on the POP account, which I normally read from--
Vista and in which I get no mail of importance. I've since tossed the
POP account, as planned, out of Mail.

I suppose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Messages didn't help?

   --John

Le 6 nov. 07 à 14:16, James Bodkin a écrit :

> For the past 2 weeks I have been unable to delete mail (both read and
> unread) from my inbox in Apple's Mail.app. Instead of disappearing
> from the list as normally happens when a file is deleted, the file
> name is grayed out, but still there and accessible when double
> clicked. Also, if I drag the file to a folder, it doesn't move. The
> problem developed in Tiger and I was hopeful the moving to Leopard
> would solve it. It didn't.
>
> I have tried the normal repair disk permissions, but with no success.
> The local Apple Store Genius was not able to help.
>
> Has anyone had this happen? What is the secret solution?
>
> All ideas would be appreciated.

Rebuild the mailboxes, it cleaned up the quirks I've seen in Mail
more often than not.

You can access it thru the mailbox menu (bottom item) or with OnyX
you can force a general rebuild of all mailboxes, which is long.


Denis H]
Signature is dead, get over it.

Here's a quick suggestion: under View, there's a choice: "Show/hide deleted messages" [Cmd-L]. I had the same problem you're mentioning, until (days later, like you), I realized I might have inadvertently hit Cmd-L! Hope this helps… Olivier :-)

I had a similar problem that just got solved by messing around with these suggestions.

I already had the "Move deleted messages to a separate folder" option under the "Mailbox Behaviors" checked. When I selected the messages and hit the delete key, they disappeared but then reappeared when I relaunched Mail or did a rebuild. Straight rebuilds did nothing.

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.

I had the same exact problem, ended up rebuilding, manipulating the mbox files, etc. In the midst of it all I realized I couldn't read the body of any of these messages. Turns out you had the right answer Olivier! Thank you!

I had exactly the same problem, thought I was not deleting messages because they remained in my inbox only slightly greyed out. Thanks so much for the advice, I'm sure I inadvertently hit command-L by mistake and turned off "hide deleted messages.

I have a rather different problem with Mail.

I don't seem to be getting text in blue for 1st level quotes any more though the side line indicating the quote IS in blue. Checking Mail Preferences indicates that the 1st Level Quote [text & side line] is set to display in the colour blue. I am using Leopard 10.5.2 on an Intel iMac.

A regular correspondent in the States - running 10.5.2 on a new MacBook experiences exactly the same.

Has anyone else experienced this? Anyone know what we are doing wrong?

Henry, Horsham UK