Deleting amassed "Recent Searches"

I have discussed this in the past with Brian F, but I am now getting on in years and I forget things!
I have a "Recent Searches List" that is now 108 items long! Too long!!!
I want to delete all of the entries. If I find and go to the system file that contains all of these searches, and delete all of the entries, what else do I have to delete to get rid of the attached, or referenced, lists of results"

David T-C.

There are a number of options depending on how you want to manage recent search results going forward.

First, you have the option of saving them between sessions or not. If you choose not to, recent search results will be removed on Pegasus Mail shutdown. That option is named
"Default setting for Search Result folders is 'Delete on exit'"
and is located in Tools > Options > Incoming mail > Folder behaviours.
Note: Enabling this setting will apply only to searches done going forward. Existing search results must be deleted manually.

If you choose not to enable this option, removing unneeded search results is done by deleting the unneeded results folder(s) from the folder list.

If you want to completely remove all existing search results you can delete the "Recent search results" folder from the folder list (deletion will include all existing sub-folders). The "Recent search results" folder will be recreated the next time you do a search.

Tanks very much Brian. I was not aware of that flag in Options. However, I cannot delete the whole (108 etries) Recent Searches Folder, I get the follolw ing message;

"You have asked to delete a tray file which still contains folders. Please delete or move all folders from the tray before attempting to delete it."

David T-C.

Confirmed! I thought I had tested this before posting but I can't delete it this morning if there is a child folder. My bad, and my apology for misstatement. Unfortunately there is no way too mass-select those 108 folders and then delete them in one go which I know you have already determined by your question about going into the system files.

Search results folders are link folders. They are stored in your mailbox directory with filenames of LNK?????.PNL. Deletion of those files while Pegasus Mail is closed should accomplish what you want. Backup first.
Be aware that search results are not the only kind of link folder that can exist so be prudent, perhaps confirming the file count before actually deleting, or better yet, moving to a temporary location pending deletion once Pegasus Mail has been started and confirmed to be fine.

Hello Brian,

    What file dependencies are there attached to he fie that contains all of the "searches".  I am assuming that each search doen't  produce its own file.  If this is the cas, what postfix do they have.
        Yet again I apologies for my ignorance, but PMAIL is so good that I never have to delve into its guts! Even after 25 years of using it!

David T-C.

Pegasus Mail does indeed create a file for every search. They are the LNK?????.PNL files that I previously mentioned. My suggestion is that you bite-the-bullet and dedicate the time needed to delete each search results folder from with Pegasus Mail but if you are dead set against that that and want to delete them at the file level then you would need to go into your mailbox directory with a file explorer and delete those files that way. You could sort by name to lump them together, mass-select them using Windows key commands, and then remove them but keep in mind that there can be link folders that are not search results. I'll repeat what I said earlier, if you choose this route, do it with Pegasus Mail closed, and backup first.

Yet again, many thanks Brian. I guess taht \i am just going tohave to bite the bullet, bitter as it is!
David T-C.