Mail.app not really deleting mail...

[jeremydb]

I was testing a new piece of software that interfaces with Mail.app. Imagine my surprise when it started showing me long-deleted email. A quick search through my mbox files in BBEdit confirmed that Mail.app IS NOT REALLY DELETING MAIL.

Don't believe me? Try this AppleScript (it will make your deleted mail into Junk and then turn it visible -- change to your liking):

tell application "Mail"
set junk mail status of (messages of message viewer 1 whose deleted status is true) to true
set deleted status of (messages of message viewer 1 whose junk mail status is true) to false
end tell

What to do? I'd like my dead to stay dead...

Thanks -
jb

[jeremydb]

Figured it out, sort of...

a. In Preferences, set Mail.app to NOT move deleted mail to the "Deleted Messages" folder
b. Now, the status bar reports the # of deleted messages you've got.
c. Choose Erase Deleted Messages... and you're good. AppleScript confirms.

So, it would appear that the 'Delete after a week' thing isn't necessarily working all the time...

jb