Destructive Actions

Destructive actions change your mailbox or future-mail behavior. Herald routes these through confirmations, progress reporting, read-only checks, and a serialized worker so you can see what is happening.

Overview

Delete, archive, unsubscribe, and hide-future-mail are available from Timeline and Cleanup depending on context. Bulk delete/archive is strongest in Cleanup; single-message actions are available from previews and selected rows.

Screen Anatomy

Area	What it shows
Confirmation status bar	Action description plus `y` confirm and `n`/`Esc` cancel.
Delete/archive progress	Current sender or message and completed/total request count.
Preview action line	`u unsubscribe` when available and `h hide future mail`.
Selection columns	Cleanup summary/detail selection markers that define bulk targets.
Read-only status	Diagnostic mode that blocks mutations.
Dry-run flag	`[DRY RUN]` when runtime mode avoids live mutation for supported cleanup paths.

Controls

Key	Context	Preconditions	Result
`D`	Timeline/Cleanup	Target exists, not read-only, not already deleting.	Opens delete confirmation or queues current preview email.
`e`	Timeline/Cleanup	Target exists, not read-only, not already deleting.	Opens archive confirmation or queues current preview email.
`y` / `Y`	Confirmation	Delete/archive/unsubscribe confirmation active.	Confirms the pending action.
`n` / `N`	Confirmation	Confirmation active.	Cancels the pending action.
`esc`	Confirmation	Confirmation active.	Cancels the pending action.
`u`	Timeline/Cleanup preview	Body includes `List-Unsubscribe` and not read-only.	Opens unsubscribe confirmation.
`h` / `H`	Timeline/Cleanup	Current sender exists.	Creates hide-future-mail behavior for the sender.
`space`	Cleanup	Summary or details focused.	Selects bulk delete/archive targets.

Workflows

Delete Selected Cleanup Rows

Open Cleanup with 3.
Use space to select sender/domain rows or individual messages.
Press D.
Read the confirmation text.
Press y only if the target is correct.

Archive Selected Cleanup Rows

Select rows or messages in Cleanup.
Press e.
Confirm with y.
Watch progress in the status bar.

Unsubscribe From a Sender

Open a Timeline or Cleanup preview.
Confirm the action line includes unsubscribe.
Press u.
Read the confirmation.
Press y to run the unsubscribe method.

Hide Future Mail

Focus a sender row or open a preview.
Press h.
Herald saves backend behavior to hide matching future mail.

States

State	What happens
Confirmation active	Normal status is replaced until `y`, `n`, or `esc`.
Worker queue	Delete/archive requests are processed serially.
Retry	Connection errors can be retried with backoff.
Reconnecting	Status reports reconnecting during deletion work.
Archive	Message is moved through backend archive behavior and cache state updates.
Delete	Message is copied/moved toward Trash when possible, marked deleted, expunged, and removed from cache.
Unsubscribe unavailable	`u` does nothing unless the body has `List-Unsubscribe`.
Read-only diagnostic	Mutations are blocked, especially in `All Mail only`.
Dry-run	Status marks dry-run mode for supported cleanup paths.

Data And Privacy

Delete/archive operations mutate the configured IMAP mailbox and SQLite cache. Delete attempts Trash-folder semantics before expunging. Archive moves mail according to backend behavior. Unsubscribe may open a URL, copy a URL or mailto target, or perform a one-click unsubscribe method depending on header data. Hide-future-mail writes a local/backend rule for matching future mail.

Troubleshooting

If D or e appears inactive, check for read-only folder mode, active deletion progress, or missing selection.

If deletion progress stalls, open logs with l after the UI is usable and check provider connectivity.

If unsubscribe opens a browser or copies a URL instead of silently completing, that behavior comes from the message’s unsubscribe header method.

If mail reappears after delete/archive, refresh with r and verify provider Trash/Archive semantics.