Deleting and Safety.

Mail Shepherd 3.0 (build 454) · Updated October 21, 2026

• Mail Shepherd deletes only messages you select, with Delete Selected or Delete Permanently, after you confirm. It never empties Trash, and a Sweep or Auto-Sweep never deletes anything.
• Just before deleting, it reads Mail’s blocked list and your contacts again, and checks that each message Mail selects is one you selected, still matches the row you saw (sender, subject and date), and still belongs on that page. Any that don’t are left alone, with the reason in the Action Log.
• Messages deleted from Trash are gone for good. Delete Selected moves messages in Junk to Trash. Delete Permanently, on a message’s details, moves a message in Junk to Trash, then deletes it from Trash.
• Selected messages in the same mailbox are deleted together, up to 50 at a time, or one at a time when Mail can’t select them exactly.
• Each message is written to the Action Log before Mail’s Delete, and checked afterwards.
• Empty Trash regularly to keep Mail and Mail Shepherd fast.

Hands off Mail while it deletes

Delete uses Mail’s own Edit → Delete in Mail’s window, which needs Accessibility, so Mail Shepherd asks first. Don’t click, type or switch apps until it’s finished; then it puts Mail back on its Inbox, with nothing selected, and comes back to the front. A Sweep and Block Sender don’t use Mail’s window. ⌘. stops a delete after the current step.

Was this page helpful? Tell us.