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Delete all deferred mail from the Postfix queue

destructive rootMaildebian, ubuntu
root@server
postsuper -d ALL deferred

Removes all messages that Postfix has deferred after failed delivery attempts. Typically used after a spam wave from a hacked account whose messages are now piling up in the queue. Legitimate mail that has not been delivered yet is lost as well.

Note: Fix the cause first (change the password, remove the script), otherwise the queue fills up again immediately.

Also searched as

  • clear mail queue full of spam
  • postfix delete deferred queue
  • remove all stuck emails

Related one-liners

All in Mail

Delete a single message from the Postfix queue

#postsuper -d 4F2A31C0E12
destructiveMail

Delete all mail from one sender in the Postfix queue

#postqueue -p | awk -v s="info@example.com" '/^[0-9A-Za-z]/ && $7 == s {print $1}' | tr -d '*!' | postsuper -d -
destructiveMail

Find a hacked mail account by its SMTP logins

#grep -o "sasl_username=[^ ,]*" /var/log/maillog | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20
harmlessMail

Find the top senders in the Postfix queue

$postqueue -p | awk '/^[0-9A-Za-z]/ {print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20
harmlessMail

Flush the Postfix queue and retry delivery now

$postqueue -f
cautionMail

Show the Postfix mail queue

$postqueue -p
harmlessMail

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