You will want to delete a number of the messages that you receive, read, and respond to (or ignore). You can easily delete messages in Outlook. Messages that you want to save can actually be organized into folders that you create so that they don't clutter your Inbox. This is discussed in Lesson 8, "Saving Drafts and Organizing Messages." The easiest way to delete a selected message, such as a message selected in the Inbox, is to click the Delete button on the Outlook toolbar. If the message is open , just click the Delete button on the message window toolbar instead. If you want to delete several messages in the Inbox, just select the messages using the mouse. To select several contiguous messages, click the first message, and then hold down the Shift key when you click the last message in the series. To select noncontiguous messages, hold down the Ctrl key and click each message. When you have all the messages selected that you want to delete, click the Delete button (or you can select the Edit menu and then select Delete ). Undeleting ItemsIf you change your mind and want to get back items you've deleted, you can usually retrieve them from the Deleted Items folder. By default, when you delete an item, it doesn't disappear from your computer; it is moved to the Deleted Items folder. Items stay in the Deleted Items folder until you delete them from that folderat which point they are unrecoverable. Typically, when you exit Outlook, the Deleted Items folder is emptied automatically.
To retrieve a deleted item from the Deleted Items folder, follow these steps:
Emptying the Deleted Items FolderIf you're sure you no longer need them, you can completely discard the item or items in\ the Deleted Items folder. To "completely delete" items in the Deleted Items folder, follow these steps:
If you typically are pretty confident about the status of messages that you delete (you know you won't want to undelete them), you can empty all the messages out of the Deleted Items folder (rather than emptying it piecemeal, message by message). Right-click on the Deleted Items folder icon in the All Mail Folders group on the Navigation bar. On the shortcut menu that appears, select Empty "Deleted Items" Folder . You will be asked to confirm the emptying of the folder; click Yes . The Deleted Items folder will be emptied. All messages or other items in the folder can no longer be retrieved.
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