DELETING "DELETED" MESSAGES PERMANENTLY

Hi there hamburger. The way I do it is I click "edit" in my drop down menu at the top of your toolbar, then click on "select all", then "delete".

There are several ways of selectively highlighting a list of items. First, you could do what Montana suggests and use the "select all" or (control-A) method.

Second, you could click on the starting point in the list while holding down the shift key and then click on ending point in the list while continuing to hold down the shift key. This will highlight all the items between and including the starting and end points.

The third way is to hold down the control key and click on each individual item in the list to accumulate a listing of individually highlighted items.

A combination of these provides a handy shortcut. You can use the "select all" to highlight all items in the list then, while holding down the control key click on individual names in the list you wish to deselect.

Once you have your items selected, delete them.

Also, you can probably change the preferences of your mail handling program so it does not prompt you for confirmation each time you delete something. Let us know which IP/mail handling program you are using and we can probably help with that if you need it.

I can't remember which Windows/OE combo you are using, but I know that in the 2 I use - there is an "empty deleted items folder" option. In Windows 98 it is in the drop-down box from Edit. In Windows 2000 it is in the drop-down box from Tools. It will ask if you're sure you want to delete these X items - yes, and off it goes. There is also a way to have the deleted folder cleaned out each time you sign out.

these are the directions from Windows 98 : If you don't want messages to be saved in the Deleted Items folder when you quit Outlook Express, on the Tools menu, click Options. On the Maintenance tab, select the Empty messages from the 'Deleted Items' folder on exit check box.
To manually empty all deleted items, select the Deleted Items folder. On the Edit menu, click Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder.

I'm pretty sure you have Windows ME - go to the help tab in OE - type in delete - it should bring up the options you're looking for.

A GREAT BIG "THANKS" TO ALL OF YOU ! i'm sure my trigger finger will also thank you every time i'm doing a delete ! good to be a participant on able2know; i'm sure i wouldn't have resolved this nuisance on my own for some time ! hbg

did you hear the story of the old dog ... ? never mind ! here is what i did : selected the various MAIL BOXES; selected DELETED ITEMS; right clicked on DELETED ITEMS (which brings up a short menu); clicked on EMPTY DELETED ITEMS FOLDER; cleaned out the whole shebang with one stroke ! thanks again ! hbg. (windows me)

Hooray!