How to Delete E-mail Messages

Disposing of old messages will make it easier to locate the e-mail you do want. It also frees up space on your hard disk. These instructions should work for most e-mail programs.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computers

1. Select the e-mail message by clicking on it.

2. Press the Delete key or Delete on the toolbar, or drag the message to the Trash or Deleted Items folder.

Tips & Warnings

• In most e-mail programs, the messages aren't permanently deleted; they've been transferred to the Trash or Deleted Items. You can transfer the deleted messages back to an active mailbox if you change your mind.
• If you're sure you want to delete the messages permanently, right-click the Trash or Deleted Items and select Empty. Some programs let you set options for emptying the Trash or Deleted Items automatically. If you set this, be aware of what you specified.
• You can select more than one message at a time by holding the Control key when you click to select a message.
• To select several messages in a row, hold down the Shift key and click on the first message. Then go to the last message you want to select. Still holding down the Shift key, click on the last message. The block of messages will be selected.

[BBWAll]

on 9/22/2008 So far, so good, but what if you know you should not open the e-mail in the first place bec. it's a virus? Do the same steps apply? Isn't it too late then to avoid the virus???

on 1/18/2006 Sometimes the e-mail inbox gets much too full and takes a long time to clear by deleting all individually. Here are some methods to clear them using an inverted and very effective approach for you to use if you like.

1. Create a folder called Sift.
Create another folder called Keep.

2. In the standard In-box, select the e-mails you want to keep only, while the remaining will be deleted or archived. Archiving might be better if you have a large amount space on the server in case you missed something important.

3. Transfer all the e-mails you want to keep into the Sift box. Archive all the remaining by moving into a folder you create called BulkArchive, or else just delete them if you know you made no mistake in selecting which to keep. After some time, please make sure to delete these BulkArchive folders after the use of them has clearly expired, so as to maintain space on the server or disk.

4. In the Sift folder, move or copy those you would like to keep into the Keep folder. Feel free to sort these from here or archive them as needed.

5. Periodically clear out the Sift folder as well, archiving or deleting as you like.

6. Get a Gmail account.

on 11/22/2005 Don't empty the items from the Deleted Items folder until you're sure they are trash.

on 11/22/2005 When you delete an e-mail it goes into the deleted items folder, and if deleted from there it is compressed and stored elsewhere deep in your computer. I wasn't aware of this, and I really don't want any of the deleted spam type e-mails anywhere in my computer. Just think of the years of junk e-mails we have unknowingly saved by mistake. I have yet to figure out how to find the buried file where the old e-mails are, so that I can clear it. I investigated and found out that if you hold the Shift key down while pressing the Delete key, you can get rid of it permanently. Just click "yes" in the little pop-up and then the enter key and the e-mail doesn't even go into the deleted items folder, or the recycle bin. I wish I had known about this a long time ago.

on 11/22/2005 In Outlook, you go to the toolbar and click on Edit, then click on Empty "Deleted Items" Folder. You have to answer yes when it asks you if you're serious about this. Then, these e-mail messages are permanently deleted.