Rules

Hi Liz,

I don't think there is a way to do this with Rules, as Rules is more about controlling which folder your mail is delivered to.

I have found and edited some VBA code which seems to work for me.

You have specified in your post that you are using Outlook 2003, and I have tested this code in Outlook 2003. If you are using a different version of Outlook, it may not work.

I haven't figured out how to do this every 8 hours yet, so for now you will just have to press a toolbar button at the end of each day.

Idiot's step by step guide:

1) In outlook, go to Tools -> Macro -> Visual Basic Editor
2) Copy and paste this VBA code into the window that appears:

Public Sub EmptyDeletedJunkEmailFolder()



    Dim outApp As Outlook.Application

    Dim junkFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim diFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim junkItem, diItem, deleteItem As Object

    Dim entryID As String

    

    Set outApp = CreateObject("outlook.application")

    Set junkFolder = outApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(olFolderJunk)

    Set diFolder = outApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(olFolderDeletedItems)

    

    For Each junkItem In junkFolder.Items

        entryID = junkItem.entryID  ' Store item entry id

        junkItem.Delete             ' Delete from junk mail folder

               

        ' To permanently delete item find and delete from deleted items

        Set deleteItem = outApp.Session.GetItemFromID(entryID)

        deleteItem.Delete

    Next

    

    For Each diItem In diFolder.Items

        entryID = diItem.entryID  ' Store item entry id

        diItem.Delete             ' Delete from deleted item folder



    Next

    

    Set junkItem = Nothing

    Set diItem = Nothing

    Set deleteItem = Nothing

    Set junkFolder = Nothing

    Set diFolder = Nothing

    Set outApp = Nothing

    

End Sub

3) Go to File -> Save or Control+S on keyboard (note: it may say 'Save VBAProject.otm') You can now close the VBA editor window to return to Outlook.

4) You now have a macro that you can run. You can do this a number of ways, the most common way is to go to Tools -> Macro -> Macros, selecting the sub-routine we just created (EmptyDeletedJunkEmailFolder) and pressing the 'Run' button.

5) As your macro deletes all the appropriate items, you should see the hour-glass mouse cursor and you may not be able to use Outlook until it finishes.

6) To make it easier for you to run the macro (perhaps at the end of each day, or start of each day), you can add a button to one of your toolbars which runs the Macro.

To do this, go to Tools -> Customize -> Commands tab, then scroll down the Categories list until you find and select 'Macros'.

Then, from the commands list on the right, click and drag your new macro to a toolbar of your choice.

The button may have a really long name, but you can rename this by right clicking the toolbar item and the third option is 'name' - you can delete the text there and rename it. Perhaps 'Clear deleted/junk' could be a good name?

To return to outlook, click the 'Close' button on the customize window. Then try out your new button.

I found that when I ran the macro, it only affected my main PST file (ie. where mail is normally delivered). It didn't have any effect on my additional PST files. If you're running exchange server, i'm not sure if it will work - get back to me if that's the case.

Let me know how you get on with this Liz. I'd like to help if you experience any trouble.

Regards, Rich