Trash folder won't empty

[christinag129]

Despite my best efforts, I cannot get some of the mail in my trash
folder to delete. Here's what happens:

-I open the trash folder.
-I highlight all the messages I want deleted.
-I click on the "delete" icon.
- All my messages are deleted except the last six messages in the
folder.

I have also tried selecting "purge deleted items" and "delete message"
from the Edit drop-down list, with various combinations of
highlighting and not highlighting. I have tried deleting the messages
individually (again with various combinations of highlighting/not
highlighting). I have tried moving them to other folders just to see
what would happen and get an error message: "mailbox is empty."

The messages I want to delete don't seem to have anything in common--a
mix of junk mail, mail with attachments, mail with no attachments,
etc. They are all dated with about a week of each other.

Let me know if you can figure this one out...

Kitty

 

[rbendalin]

I had the exact same problem and could not solve it. I finally just
deleted the account, and rebuilt it.

 

[Diane Ross]

Despite my best efforts, I cannot get some of the mail in my trash
folder to delete. Here's what happens:

-I open the trash folder.
-I highlight all the messages I want deleted.
-I click on the "delete" icon.
- All my messages are deleted except the last six messages in the
folder.

Set up a Schedule so you don't have to do this manually.

I have also tried selecting "purge deleted items" and "delete message"
from the Edit drop-down list, with various combinations of
highlighting and not highlighting. I have tried deleting the messages
individually (again with various combinations of highlighting/not
highlighting). I have tried moving them to other folders just to see
what would happen and get an error message: "mailbox is empty."

The messages I want to delete don't seem to have anything in common--a
mix of junk mail, mail with attachments, mail with no attachments,
etc. They are all dated with about a week of each other.

This sounds like database corruption. If it's an IMAP account, you could try
deleting the account and creating it again to see if Entourage will be able
to remove the IMAP data. Safer and easier than rebuilding. If that doesn't
work, try rebuilding your database.

How to rebuild database:

As with any procedure like rebuild, it¹s a good idea to make a backup prior
to running. Your data should not be erased, but if something fails during
this process data could be lost. To be doubly sure, duplicate your Identity
folder prior to the rebuild.

Make sure you have enough hard disk space available for twice the size of
your database. As part of the rebuilding process, Entourage creates a second
database file. (Note: your HD also needs breathing room to function)

1. On the Entourage menu, click Turn Off Office Reminders.
2. Quit Messenger and all Microsoft Office applications, including
Entourage.

Hold down the Option key and re-launch the application. In a few seconds,
you¹ll be greeted with the database utility. You can verify and, if
necessary, rebuild the Entourage database by using the Microsoft Database
Utility.

During the rebuild process, the old files are renamed in case for some
reason the rebuild was not successful. After you¹ve rebuilt your database
and checked the application¹s performance, you can delete the old version
from your hard drive. Do NOT throw away these files unless you are satisfied
with the rebuild:

Old files are named:

Main [Backed up date and time will be shown] e.g. Main [Backed up 1.21.2007
13.35]

For help with older version of Entourage see:
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/rebuild.html>