Delete [userid userid ...] [+Outbound] [+Saved]
[+Unread] [+Deleted]
[After=yy-mm-dd[,hh:mm]]
[Before=yy-mm-dd[,hh:mm]]
d
*del +outbound
5d +o user1 user2
*d +d
*d before=94-1-1
Delete gets rid of messages. Memos must be unmemoed with the MODify command before they can be deleted.
In Novice mode, the Delete command always requires you to specify a drawer. In normal operation mode, you can omit a drawer specification. In this case, Delete removes messages from your Saved drawer. You may specify +Saved if you wish, but it is not necessary.
If you delete an Unread message before reading it, MAIL8 alters the sender's original Outbound message to indicate that the message was denied. The text of the message is not deleted from the sender's Outbound drawer. Thus if you accidentally delete an Unread message, the sender can resend the message with ReMail +DENied.
When you delete a Saved message, the message is moved to the Deleted drawer. The message stays in the Deleted drawer for a default time of one day. During this time, you can retrieve the message to your Saved drawer by using the UnDELete command. Once time runs out on a Deleted message, MAIL8 may re-use the message's space for other purposes (e.g. to hold new messages). Thus it is often not possible to UnDELete a message after the time limit runs out.
You can change how long a message is retained in the Deleted drawer by using the Undelete_HouRs, Undelete_DAYs, or Undelete_WeeKs options. See "expl mail option undelete" for more details.
The command
Delete +Deleted
explicitly deletes a message from the Deleted drawer. This is useful if you delete a long Saved message and don't want it taking up space in your Deleted drawer. If you delete a Deleted message, you cannot use UnDELete to get it back.
If you specify a single reference or a message range, Delete removes the given message(s). For example,
1 Delete
deletes Saved message 1.
3,10d +o
deletes Outbound messages 3 through 10. If you do not specify a message number, Delete removes the current message in the appropriate drawer. If you are at end-of-drawer, MAIL8 gives you an error message.
When Delete has deleted the specified messages, the current message in the drawer is the one immediately following the last message deleted. If the last message in the drawer is deleted, the drawer is left at end-of-drawer.
Deleting something does not renumber the messages that remain. For example, if you delete message 1, the remaining messages are still numbered 2, 3, 4, etc. If you want your messages renumbered, use the Number command (see "expl mail number").
Deleting an Outbound message retracts the message. Not only does MAIL8 delete the text of the message from your Outbound drawer, MAIL8 also deletes the notifications in the Unread drawers of all intended recipients who have not yet read the message. These people will not be able to find out that the message was sent.
A message cannot be retracted from people who have already read the message -- once the message goes into someone else's Saved drawer, you can't touch it.
An advisory message is a special type of Outbound message. You can use Delete +Outbound to delete an advisory message. For more on advisory messages, see "expl mail advisory".
You can delete intended recipients from an Outbound message. For example, suppose you send a message with
To user1 user2 user3
If this is message 3 in your Outbound drawer,
3d +o user2
removes user2 from the recipient list. MAIL8 retracts the message from user2 (if possible), but does not retract it from the other intended recipients. You can retract a message from a specified user or group of users, even if the message has been given the Memo characteristic. This is useful if you mistype one of the names in the recipient list -- you can immediately delete that name and the message disappears when other recipients have read it.
If you delete all the recipients of an Outbound message, the message still stays in your Outbound drawer. In this case, the only way to get rid of the message is to delete it explicitly with
Delete +Outbound
You may retract a message from more than one of the intended recipients. You may also use alias names in retractions, as in
d +o user1 user2 alias ...
If you want to delete a user from an Outbound message and the message was redirected to another mailbox, your Delete command should specify the original recipient, not the final one. For example, suppose you have
mail to mzbradley jdvinge
...
Message to mzbradley redirected to ukleguin
Then the command
delete +outbound mzbradley
retracts the message from ukleguin who received the message through redirection. The command
delete +outbound ukleguin
won't work; MAIL8 only deals with the original recipients of the message, not the redirected ones.
Deleting messages does not shrink the size of your mailbox file. For example, suppose your mailbox has grown to 20 llinks. Deleting all the messages in the mailbox frees up room for new messages, but the mailbox file stays at its allocated size of 20 llinks. To reduce the size of the mailbox file, use the SHRINK command (explained in "expl shrink).
The larger the contents of your mailbox file, the slower MAIL8 works. It is therefore a good idea to delete messages when you no longer need them. Note, however, that when you delete a Saved message, the message goes into your Deleted drawer, so the message still takes up space in your mailbox file. Even if the retention time on a Deleted message has expired, the message may remain in your Deleted drawer; MAIL8 only cleans expired messages out of your Deleted drawer when you execute a Number command or a Delete command (on any drawer).
For all these reasons, you can often speed up MAIL8's performance by deleting messages you no longer need or by clearing out messages from your Deleted drawer. You can clear out specific messages by using Delete +Deleted. You can clear out all expired messages with Number +All.
Copyright © 1997, Thinkage Ltd.