Managing Space on Your FSUID@fsu.edu Email Account
- New Trash Email Procedure
- What counts as "Trash"?
- How do I see messages marked as deleted?
- How do I unmark messages marked as deleted?
- How do I permanently delete messages?
- How do I change the settings for email that I delete?
- What is my quota?
- How do I archive emails to my local computer?
- Tips on Managing Folders
Please note, the documentation on this page assumes that you are logging into FSU Webmail (http://webmail.fsu.edu) to check your FSU email account and manage your account. This does not mean that you must use webmail to check or manage your account. You are welcome to use the client of your choice, and most email clients will allow you to do many of these same functions. However, for this documentation we demonstrate these functions on webmail, because it is standard across all computer platforms and accounts.
In order to improve your email service, starting during the month of June 2009, OTI will begin purging emails that are over 90 days old from your "Trash", "Deleted", "Deleted Items" and/or "Deleted Messages" folders. Also, messages that are marked as deleted in all of your server-side folders will be moved to your "Trash" folder - as such, those will be purged 90 days after they they were moved to the "Trash" folder.
The advantages are:
- More space available on your account for emails you want to keep; less chance of going over your quota due to unwanted Trash emails.
- Backups will run faster and smoother on the server, which in turn means better server performance and less contention for backup resources.
- Cost savings, as we won't have to purchase additional email storage and backup resources as often.
- Email in "Trash", "Deleted", "Deleted Items" or "Deleted Messages" is email that people intend not to keep (otherwise, it wouldn't be in one of those folders).
If there are any emails you want to keep that currently are in your "Trash", "Deleted", "Deleted Items" and/or "Deleted Messages" folders, then please move them to a different folder. If you have marked as deleted messages you want to keep, then we encourage you to undelete them.
The fundamental principle is that emails that are deleted should be removed from the mail system and not consume storage space.
Any emails in the following folders: "Trash", "Deleted", "Deleted Items", and "Deleted Messages". Any emails that are marked as deleted.
How do I see messages marked as deleted?
If you are logged into FSU Webmail, above the frame where your messages are shown and left of the "Quick Search" box is a "View" dropdown box. By default, only undeleted messages are shown, even though the View says "All". If you select "Deleted" from the View dropdown, you will see all of the deleted messages in the folder you are currently viewing. Even though these messages are marked as deleted, they are still on your account, still being backed up and still count towards your quota. You can undelete these emails or expunge them.
How do I undelete messages marked as deleted?
If you are logged into FSU Webmail, select deleted messages that you want to undelete using the checkbox to the left of message, then choose "Undelete" from the Actions dropbox box in the folder header menu.
Step 1:
Step 2:
To undelete entire pages of emails at once, click on the double-check box in the top-left of the folder header. This checks all of the boxes for all of the messages on a particular page so that an action can be performed on all of them at once. Now you can choose "Undelete" from the Actions dropdown box to "Undelete" them all.
How do I permanently delete messages?
If you are logged into FSU Webmail, you can "Empty Trash" to delete messages from your Trash folder and "Expunge" messages that are marked as deleted in other folders.
To "Empty Trash", click on the "Manage Folders" link at the bottom of your folder list. IF webmail is configured to move deleted messages to a Trash folder, then you will see a garnet box labeled "Empty Trash" to the right of your Trash folder. Clicking that box will permanently delete all messages in the Trash folder. If you have configured webmail to use a different folder than "Trash" for your deleted messages, then that folder will have the "Empty Trash" box next to it. If you have webmail configured to mark messages as deleted, rather than moving them to a Trash folder, then the Empty Trash box will not be shown on the Manage Folders page.
To delete messages that are marked as deleted, expunge them. Select deleted messages that you want to expunge using the checkbox to the left of message, then choose "Expunge" from the Actions dropbox box in the folder header menu. If you do not check any messages, "Expunge" will expunge all deleted messages in the folder.
Step 1:
Step 2:
Expunging All:
How do I change the settings for email that I delete?
If you are logged into FSU Webmail, you can check and/or change settings for the email you delete by clicking on "Options" and then "Settings". If you have "Move deleted messages to folder" selected, then deleted messages will be moved to that folder. The folder can be selected from the dropdown box, and "Trash" is used by default. If you have "Mark messages as deleted; Use Expunge to delete messages permanently." selected, then deleted messages will be marked as such and left in place in the folder they were deleted from. If you change your options, don't forget to click "Save" before leaving the page.
Please note: The checkboxes to "Empty message from Trash folder on logout" and "Remove deleted message from Inbox on logout" do not work properly. This can cause deleted message to pile up when you think they have been permanently removed automatically.
If you are logged into FSU Webmail, your quota will be displayed in the top-left of the mail page above your folder listing. If you are utilizing 90% or more of your quota space then you will get daily email warnings asking you to reduce your usage.
We suggest that you archive older or less frequently accessed emails in Local Folders on your personal or office computer, rather than keeping them on the server.
If you are constantly exceeding your quota and require additional storage space, you can email help@fsu.edu to request additional space. We may suggest that you archive older or less frequently accessed emails in Local Folders on your personal or office computer, rather than keeping all of your email on your server. Please attempt to clean up your account of any unneeded emails before requesting space. Note, emails in your Trash folders still count towards your quota usage, these messages must be permanently deleted before they no longer count towards your quota.
How do I archive emails to my local computer?
First, you will need to have an email client set up on your local computer (not FSU Webmail). The client can be Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Eudora or Mac Mail. Instructions for configuring your email client can be found on the FSU Help Desk website.
After your client is configured, you can select individual messages and/or folders from your FSU email account and move them to "Local Folders" or "Personal Folders" within your client. The details of this vary by client.
Note: You should make periodic backups of your local computer. "Local Folders" and "Personal Folders" are not backed up on the server.
If you are logged into FSU Webmail, there is a "Manage Folders" link at the bottom of your folder list on the left side menu. Clicking on this link will take you to a page that will list all of your folders, how many messages are in each folder and how much space each folder is taking up. You can also create new folders, delete old folders, and Empty Trash from here.
