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Purging emails - general advice please

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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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How can I make the deletion of unwanted emails easy?

I place those that I want to keep long term in various topic-named folders from time to time. Some of these I move offline as they get older. As new emails arrive I colour tag some for my action in the Input folder, some on topics without a named folder. Most other emails I do not want to retain. I have not found out how to move just the tagged emails form Input to another folder called say Action Required.

I would appreciate others telling me how they purge and retain emails.

How can I make the deletion of unwanted emails easy? I place those that I want to keep long term in various topic-named folders from time to time. Some of these I move offline as they get older. As new emails arrive I colour tag some for my action in the Input folder, some on topics without a named folder. Most other emails I do not want to retain. I have not found out how to move just the tagged emails form Input to another folder called say Action Required. I would appreciate others telling me how they purge and retain emails.

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I have set up 'Message Filters'. They apply specific criteria to incoming mail and if mail matches criteria the incoming mail is auto moved to a specified folder. This method means I do not have to move emails. eg: Create a New Filter called 'Family' Select 'Manuall Run' Select 'Getting new Mail' Select 'Filter before Junk Classification' Select 'Match ANY of the following' FROM > contains > email address of family member Add more names click on the + sign and add another line

Alternative....Please note - I have a specific address book that only contains contacts that are family members. Select 'Match all of the following' From > 'is in my address book' > select 'Family' address book

Perform these actions 'Move message to' > 'Family' folder.

However, you can also use Message Filters to perform manual filters on any selected folder. So if you have a load of emails in the Inbox and they have 'Tags' applied, you could Run the Message Filter you created on the Inbox folder - it searches for emails that match criteria eg: If Tag = TO DO then move to 'Action Required' folder.

then to run it In Message Filters Select the folder you want to run filter on Select the filter you want to run click on 'Run Now'

Message Filters are located here: Tools > Message Filters

Help Article : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/organize-your-messages-using-filters

Please remember - any email you move or delete may still leave a trace of original email in original folder. You need to compact folders on a regular basis to remove all those old out of date traces of emails which may no longer exist or do not exist in that folder. Compacting keeps files as small as possible, clean and tidy, less prone to corruption.

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If you just want to see emails that have tags, you have options.

Enable Quick Filter Select a folder if you just need to search on a specific folder. click on the 'Tags' icon to switch on the blue strip This then filters all the emails - if it's got a tag then it's displayed. You can also filter further on the Tags.

OR there is this new method which performs a search on a selected tag but returns matches from all folders in all accounts.

  • In Folder Pane Header toolbar
  • At the top click on the 3 horizontal dot menu
  • Hover over 'Folder Modes' and select 'Tags' from the menu.

'Tags' will appear at the bottom of the Folder Pane. You can move it up if desired. Select a tag name eg: Important Any email, in any folder, in any account, - if it has the 'Imoprtant' tag then it gets displayed in the Message List area.

To Remove the 'Tags' - uncheck the option as selected above. OR if you want to keep it displaying but want to get rid of the search results. Click on a folder eg: Inbox

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