Hi there,
Does anyone know if it’s possible to set up a rule in Mail.app (or if there is another way) that will automatically remove and delete a message from the inbox after say 24hrs?
Thanks in advance.
I don’t use Mail.app (I use Mailmate on the Mac), but if I recall correctly, it used to run rules only on new messages. If that is still the case you might be able to script something to work with the app - e.g. via a Smart Folder and use Keyboard Maestro to script pressing the right buttons in the early hours. Your mileage may vary on the reliability and being able to run this at an appropriate time.
However, your mail provider may support you with other options that are independent of your e-mail client and will run “in the cloud”.
Many years ago my job at the time had Gmail hosted mail. I wrote a Google script to automatically process read e-mails to file them in numerous folders or delete them - Gmail and local e-mail client rules were not powerful enough to do what I wanted, so I scripted a solution (and maintained configuration settings via a Google Sheet).
So that is definitely an option if you are Gmail and are okay with looking into the scripting side of things.
- Google App Script - Gmail Quick start
- Google App Script - Trash Gmail Message
- Google App Script - Time Trigger
I expect PowerAutomate would allow you to do similarly with Microsoft Exchange/Outlook.
Other mail providers may allow you to achieve similar things through their own rules, scripting platforms, or via integration with web services like Make or Zapier.
I hope that gives you some ideas.
