Owl Settings
Four buttons for tidying a mailbox in bulk. They used to live on a page called Mail Options, in a popup, one click away from erasing everything with no questions asked. They now live in the Owl Post rail under Settings, and the ones that destroy things ask first.
Where It Is
Open Owl Post from the header, then click Owl Settings in the rail on the left. The four buttons are on the page. Each is a button, not a link, so nothing happens just because something loaded.
The Four Buttons
| Button | What it does | Asks first? |
|---|---|---|
| Mark all owls as read | Marks every unread owl in your inbox read. Deletes nothing. Clears your unread count. | No |
| Delete all read owls | Deletes the owls you have already read. Unread ones are kept. | Yes |
| Delete all system notices | Deletes every owl from the game itself, which is to say the contents of Hogwarts Notices, read or not. Owls from players stay. | Yes |
| Delete all owls | Empties your inbox. Everything. Read, unread, from people, from the game. | Yes |
When it is done the page tells you how many owls it changed.
What They Touch
- Only your inbox. These act on owls that were sent to you. Your Sent copies are left alone, and so is everyone else's mailbox.
- No undo. A deleted owl is gone. There is no trash folder, and the Ministry's records department has confirmed that the trash folder is not a thing it plans to start.
- Deliberate only. Each button is a form that your own browser submits with a one-time token. A link on another website cannot press it for you, which was not true of the page this replaced.
When To Use Which
- The unread count will not go away: Mark all owls as read.
- Notices have taken over the list: Delete all system notices. Save anything with a receipt or a deadline in it first.
- The inbox is full and you only want the new ones: Delete all read owls. It is the safest of the three.
- Fresh start: Delete all owls, and mean it.
If you only want to remove a few conversations, tick them in the Inbox list and use Delete there instead. If you want an owl to stay, remember that every owl vanishes 30 days after it was sent regardless; see Owl Post.
FAQ
Q: I deleted everything by mistake. Can I get it back?
A: No. Deletion is permanent. Staff cannot restore it either.
Q: Can I delete everything from one person?
A: Yes, but not here. Tick their conversation in the Inbox list and press Delete.
Q: Does "Delete all system notices" remove petition replies?
A: If the reply arrived as a system owl, yes. Read the ones you care about before pressing it.
Owl Settings: four buttons, three confirmations, and one that does not need one because it only reads things. A considerable improvement on the original, which had none.