Quota Information

I’ve exceeded my quota. What does that mean?

All users of mail on the ACS server are given a specific amount of storage space. In order to prevent users from taking up more than their share of that space, each individual account is restricted by a quota. If you have too many messages and/or message that are too large (as can happen with large attachments) you will exceed the space allocated to you. Once you do exceed that limit, you will no longer be able to receive mail until you delete some of your messages and/or download and detach any large attachments.

How can I view my quota? How will I know when I’ve purged enough mail?

You can check your usage here. If you are currently deleting messages in order to get below quota, you will be able to track your progress using the information on that page.

Deleting Messages

If you receive a notice from Information Services & Technology indicating that you are approaching your quota, you must delete and purge messages that you no longer need. Most people find that purging from Sent Items (or equivalent), Spam (or equivalent), and Trash will be all they need to do.

In the unlikely event that you are still over quota after purging from those particular folders, you will then need to consider deleting older messages and/or those with large attachments. (Note that some mail programs offer the option of detaching attachments from messages, which you could do instead.)

If there are some messages that you still want to keep somewhere, you can download them to your local machine either by dragging them to Local Folders (in a desktop mail program like Thunderbird) or using “Save to disk” within Horde.

If you happen to have Gmail or a similar account, you could also upload your excess messages to that account, so they would still be available to you from a central location.

Avoiding Quota Problems in the Future

Ideally, you will get in the habit of deleting and purging messages periodically; particularly those that collect in your Sent Items, Trash, and Spam/Junk folders. You should also archive (to Local Folders or to another e-mail account) any messages that you want to have somewhere, but might not need to access frequently; particularly if those messages have large attachments.

There are also more aggressive tricks for staying under quota. For example, you could set your mail program to Empty Trash on Exit (or equivalent). You could also choose not to use a Sent Items folder and, instead, BCC yourself on messages as needed. However, none of these strategies should be necessary if you can remember to delete or archive periodically.

Some mail clients utilize a Trash folder rather than deleting messages immediately, which can be problematic as your use of quota approaches 100%. When cleaning up, make sure you empty your Trash folder, as these messages do count against your quota.

Using Horde to delete and purge messages

Note: If you have a large number of messages to delete at one time, you can go into Options->Mailbox and Folder Display Options to increase the number of messages per page that you are able to view. Depending on the situation, it might also be helpful to change the sorting, so that older messages appear first. Once you are viewing the message(s) you want to delete…

  1. Within the Mail view, select the message(s) you want to delete by clicking a check mark next to them.
  2. Once they are selected, click on Delete.
  3. A line will then appear through the message(s) indicating that they have been marked for deletion. (If you incorrectly marked something, you can still choose to Undelete at this point.)
  4. Once you are happy with the selection of deleted messages, you are then ready to Purge Deleted (in the upper right of the window).

Using Pine to delete and purge messages

  • Note: Using Pine to delete messages is recommended primarily for people who already know how to use Pine. Others will find it much easier to use Horde, as described above. That said, to delete messages with Pine you would…
  • Launch a Telnet or SSH session and the Pine e-mail program.
  • Once you are in Pine, when you see a message you would like to delete, press d. This marks the message as deleted, but will not delete it until you quit Pine or type x to Expunge your mailbox (the Expunge command removes all deleted messages from your mailbox). If you change your mind and don’t want to delete the message, enter the u key command to Undelete it. Be aware that if you do quit Pine and/or expunge your messages, they are gone for good.
  • To quit Pine, type q.
  • Pine will ask if you really want to quit. Type y for yes.
  • Pine may now ask you if messages you’ve read should be saved to your “received” folder. Most likely you will want to say “No.”
  • Pine will now ask if you would like to expunge (purge) the messages you have marked for deletion. Press y since you do wish to delete them.