How to Manage Your Exim Queue

Last modified: January 5, 2023

Overview

This document describes how to manage your Exim queue. These commands can help facilitate how Exim sends and receives mail.

Note:

You must have root-level permissions to perform these commands. If you do not, contact your hosting provider for help with your Exim queue.

To determine the total count of mail in the queue, use the exim -bpc command.
To remove a single message from the queue, use the exim -Mrm <MessageID> command:
To remove messages from a specific email account in the mail queue, use the following command:
```
exiqgrep -f [email protected] -i | xargs exim -Mrm
```
To delete the entire queue, use the following command:
```
exiqgrep -i | xargs exim -Mrm
```
Warning:

This will remove all email from the mail queue, which may include emails you want to send or receive. You cannot recover deleted emails.
Note:
If you receive a message that an email is locked, the system is in the process of sending the message. For example, one message could be removed and another one could not:
```
Message 1JoX25-1168Q4-ME has been removed
Message ZB3747-P1rn5-23 is locked
```