Automatically permanently delete selected messages when deleted

  • Thread starter Thread starter Laserray
  • Start date Start date
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Laserray

I want to permanently delete any message with "Bad Message" in the subject
after I have read and deleted the message. I don't want to have to remember,
for those messages, to hold down the shift key when I hit delete and then
click on "yes" in the pop-up. I want Outlook to know the correct delete
action based on the subject.
It appears the rules facility is too limited for this type of function.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

BTW, installing third-party software is not possible since I am in a
controlled company environment.
 
Rules run only when you receive the message or if you run them manually.
Write and run them with those constraints in mind.
 
Precisely the problem --

Bob I said:
Rules run only when you receive the message or if you run them manually.
Write and run them with those constraints in mind.


.
Click to expand...
 
I want to permanently delete any message with "Bad Message" in the subject
after I have read and deleted the message. I don't want to have to remember,
for those messages, to hold down the shift key when I hit delete and then
click on "yes" in the pop-up. I want Outlook to know the correct delete
action based on the subject.
It appears the rules facility is too limited for this type of function.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

BTW, installing third-party software is not possible since I am in a
controlled company environment.
Click to expand...

Then you are out of luck. Nothing in Outlook can process a message after it
has been viewed unless you customize its coding either with third-party
software or code you write yourself, and even then I'm not sure what you
describe would be straight-forward or even achievable.
 
you could set up a rule to put all those messages in a "Bad Message" folder
when they come in, then at the end of the day just remember to shift-delete
everything in it
 
Laserray said:
Precisely the problem --
Click to expand...

Hence why Outlook has a macro feature and API for add-ons to extend its
functionality. Since you are not allowed to extend Outlook's functionality
with add-ons or macros, your SOL. You'll have to define the rule but leave
it disabled and then later manually run it when YOU choose that the actions
of the rule are appropriate. For ease, you could add the Run Rules button
to the toolbar to eliminate some of the menu navigation.

*Automatic* execution of rules requires some trigger. What "trigger" were
you proposing that would intelligently understand that you had read a
message (rather than happen to select it as you were changing the highlight
on e-mails as you moved through them)? YOU know when you want them deleted
but Outlook won't. You couldn't even define the code that would encompass
every conceivable pattern of your behavior regarding as to just when you
choose to delete the item. So the behavior coded into Outlook is that the
trigger to exercise the rules against an item is when a new message is
received by Outlook. That is predictable and clear.

You could also configure Outlook to empty its Deleted Items folder upon exit
from Outlook. Of course, that will permanently delete everything in that
folder, not just the "Bad Message" items.
 
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