This topic

Deleting emails in Bulk

Cherubeyes — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 13:49:18 GMT

Can anyone suggest a way to delete emails in bulk, I literally have 1000s of them.

Thank you

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

gg30340 — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 14:04:05 GMT

There is no "Delete All" option with BTMail webmail.

You can try the following:-

Click on the box to the left of the first email you want to delete and assuming you want to delete all the emails that are below that you can either press on your keyboard "shift" key and "PgDn" key repeatedly and it will mark all the other emails with a tick or use the "shift" key and the down arrow. This will also mark all the boxes with a tick or tick the first box you want to delete and holding the shift key move to the last email you want to delete and tick its box and release the shift key. All the emails in between should now be ticked.

If you don't all the emails that have been marked with a tick deleted you need to go down the list and untick the ones you want to keep.

Once you have done that you then click on the "Delete" button in the menu bar which should delete them on mass however if it does not work, once they have all been ticked, you should try to drag and drop them into the trash folder.

The same applies if you want to move emails to another folder, use drag and drop.

The best option is not to use your Inbox as a storage folder. Sort them as you go along and place them into folders. If you then later want to delete them all you can then delete the entire folder in one go.

Another option is to use an email client/app which will usually have the option to "Delete All".

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

STRAWBS — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 18:47:38 GMT

i have tried doing this action and it is not working for some strange reason . HELP

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

gg30340 — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:10:40 GMT

The thread you have posted on was in relation to the "old" BTMail interface not the "new" BTMail interface.

If you want to delete multiple emails try the following.

If you hold down the shift key then tick the box to the left of the first email you want to delete in the list of emails then scroll down using the scroll bar on the right hand side while still holding down the shift key and tick the last email you want to delete then release the shift key. It will select all the emails in between.

If there are emails in between the first and last that you do not want to delete just untick those emails.

You can then click delete or drag and drop them into the Trash folder.

If it is not working try decreasing the number of emails that you have selected.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

Nextsteps — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 16:34:53 GMT

I think I have just been moved to the new interface and the method given above doesn't work for emails received before the start of this year. Is there anyway of doing them in bulk?

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

licquorice — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 16:53:43 GMT

The date mails were received is irrelevant, the method is dependent on which version of webmail you are using. However, the best option is the final paragraph of message 2 in the thread, use a mail client, if only temporarily, to delete them.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

gg30340 — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 18:34:53 GMT

@Nextsteps wrote:

I think I have just been moved to the new interface and the method given above doesn't work for emails received before the start of this year. Is there anyway of doing them in bulk?

If you are trying to delete a large number of emails try deleting in batches of a couple of hundred or less instead of all of them at the one time.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

Aetius — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 22:15:11 GMT

I agree with the above - I tried to clear out a large back-log of old emails - the new system wont let you Delete more than a few hundred at a time. However ... I discovered that if I moved them into a Folder my highlighting them I could delete the entire folder. However, you will still be limited to how many emails you can highlight and move (I have no idea how many but it looks to be more than if you just try and highlight them individually and delete them in bulk). Lord knows why the designers thought it was a good idea to place such a limit - it's not as if (even if you did Delete them all by accident) they wont go into you Delete folder in case you need to reclaim them. Muppetsville!

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

cannotdoit — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 11:13:02 GMT

Do BT make deleting emails in bulk as difficult as possible. I used to click on the first email I wanted to delete - hold down the shift key scroll down all the emails I wanted to delete and press the delete button - done easy. But BT in their wisdom have stopped you doing that you have to delete each email separately. As I have hundreds of emails to delete I do not have a few months to do this.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

licquorice — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 11:29:43 GMT

You can still do that if you were to use a mail client such as Thunderbird or EmClient rather than the awful webmail interface.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

gg30340 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 16:14:14 GMT

@cannotdoit wrote:

Do BT make deleting emails in bulk as difficult as possible. I used to click on the first email I wanted to delete - hold down the shift key scroll down all the emails I wanted to delete and press the delete button - done easy. But BT in their wisdom have stopped you doing that you have to delete each email separately. As I have hundreds of emails to delete I do not have a few months to do this.

Did you read message 4 & 7?

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

mm2 — Mon, 27 May 2024 16:34:05 GMT

Same problem here and yes I have read messages 4 & 7! I have to painstakingly select each email I want to delete, if the cursor slips a fraction it then opens the next email and loses all the selections I have so painstakingly made ... another delight of the 'new' email, on top of the ongoing problems with text entry bouncing back to the beginning ... I guess it just can't cater for fast keyboard users like me and is designed for s-l-o-w touchscreens ... Infuriating!!!

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

licquorice — Mon, 27 May 2024 17:05:39 GMT

See messages 6 and 10

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

mm2 — Mon, 27 May 2024 17:39:48 GMT

Thank you, I did note the mail client option but as I've never used one, would prefer to stick to webmail. It is really retrograde for BT to make its webmail product unusable without a client interface. I won't use the phone app because I've had my BT mail hacked, first time ever in 20-odd years, and believe it was via the phone app so I stick to webmail on a computer with security software like Fort Knox.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

licquorice — Mon, 27 May 2024 20:20:36 GMT

I have absolutely no idea why you would consider webmail on a PC any more secure than a mail client on a PC.

Perhaps if you were to try a client such as Thunderbird, you might find you prefer it to the awful offering of a webmail interface.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

mm2 — Mon, 27 May 2024 20:41:49 GMT

I didn't say that, I said I won't use the phone app. I don't use a mail client because it has never been necessary and shouldn't be. I have 2 email accounts, one for business and one personal and keep the contacts/content separate. As you say, the BT webmail product is now 'awful' and the solution is for BT to mend it, not to need a third party interface to make it work. Both my current gripes used to work perfectly well before BT 'improved' its webmail so it should be possible to revert to a product that works.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

licquorice — Mon, 27 May 2024 20:54:31 GMT

Until 1996 when Hotmail was introduced, you wouldn't have had a choice, a mail client was the only way to access email. Not sure when BT introduced webmail, but it was quite a while after Hotmail.

Anyone brought up with mail clients such as the ubiquitous Outlook Express shipped with every PC, would never consider such a bodge as webmail.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

mm2 — Tue, 28 May 2024 07:26:21 GMT

My other mail account is indeed Hotmail. Has been since 2000. I recall the original BT offering was via Yahoo. Anyway, I pay BT for a functional email service. If I pay for an umbrella I expect it to keep the rain out, I don't expect to have to cover it with clingfilm to make it work.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

licquorice — Tue, 28 May 2024 07:34:28 GMT

Indeed, you pay for a SERVICE (actually you don't but that is different argument) , the means of accessing that service is independent. I fail to see the reluctance to even try a superior method that is free even if you then decide you don't like it.

Re: Deleting emails in Bulk

mm2 — Tue, 28 May 2024 08:38:26 GMT

Semantic nitpicking. The software, as a product which supplies a service, should be capable of operating independently. Superiority is subjective although I concede an auxiliary front-end may improve poor functionality, it should not be needed as a fix. If I did, as you suggest, try such an approach and don't like it, I've wasted more time and got nowhere. The point of looking on this forum is to see if anyone else is experiencing the same issues (yes) and whether anyone else has found an acceptable solution within BT's capability (no). So I have my answer! Thank you for your thoughts.