This actually scares me. Just this week I lost a message from my inbox, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I searched through every mailbox I have. It wasn't in the Trash, and as I have my trash set to delete messages over 30 days old, and the message was less than a week old, I had no idea where the message went.

Now I wonder if I hit apple-X and cut the message out of my mail database.

Anyone know a way to disable this feature?

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The same thing happened to me a while ago.

The solution I used was to change the keyboard shortcut for cut in mail to something else (i use com-opt-shift-x).

To do this go to system preferences, then the keyboard and mouse pane, click on the keyboard shortcuts button and then press the + sign on the lower left side. Now select Mail from the application popup field, (or select other and direct it to Mail), type "Cut" in the Menu Title field and then enter whatever new shortcut you want in the last field (although you need to avoid using a key combo that is already in use in Mail, or change that one too).

Another one I change is the quit command in Safari (I use com-opt-q) so I don't accidently hit com-q instead of com-w.

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I think this is a great hint. It DOES save time. I've found apple mail very slow indeed. Especially moving from one message to another.

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What about the command+k shortcut to empty the trash - it's as quick as command+x and you have the option of recovering any "accidental" deletions before you empty the trash ...

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...erm, especially if you use command+backspace to delete the message in the first place

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As mentioned above, if you command-x by mistake you can always command-v to recover an accidental deletion (or just undo, although both require that you notice the mistake).

Personally I do usually use command-delete, but most messages I leave in the trash for x days--so don't want to empty it.

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Cmd-Delete puts it in the Trash.

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osxpounder

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Are you using command-delete to trash messages opened in separate windows? In regular 3-pane viewing just tapping the delete key is enough.

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I feel like this is more of a bug than a feature, honestly.

For instance, Windows and OS X both have Copy and Paste for files. OS X doesn't even offer a Cut (or Move, which would be equivalent) via keyboard shortcuts and in Windows nothing happens to the file unless a Paste actually succeeds. The potential for accidental destruction is just too high.

I have the same problem with deleting files from network shares in Windows and OS X. At least in OS X it warns you that the delete is immediate and unrecoverable. I do tech support for desktop users and we get our fair share of "Uhh... I deleted file XYZ from the network share. It isn't in my Recycle bin."

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All you have to do is set your accounts preferences to erase deleted messages after to something other than none. No, it isn't immediate, but pressing delete accidentally is too easy for that anyway. As far as cmd-x, just one more reason to have a clipboard history app.

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(Apple key + delete) Accomplishes the same thing as well if I'm not mistaken. Discovered by accident when reverting to the Finder delete instinct.


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I have seen this crap out when cutting a large number of messages- beware of trying to use this to archive last quarter's email. There is some limit that when hit will simply cause you to lose all emails that were cut.

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On my iBook I have to press fn+command+opt+backspace to delete messages. Presumably this is the same as command+opt+delete. Command+fn+backspace doesn't do anything for me.

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...And it does delete them without putting them in the Trash.

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