Why Delete E-mail Messages From Your E-mail Server?

Bower Web Solutions's servers are enterprise level servers that are backed up with multiple methods and at multiple locations. In order to provide the highest level of service at a reasonable cost for our clients, we limit the space allocated.

One common problem due to the limited size of website is mailboxes or websites filling up if e-mails are not deleted from the servers.

If you have received a notice that your website or e-mail is near or over its quota you need to empty out the mailbox and make changes to your e-mail configurations to prevent this from recurring.

Bower Web Solutions servers should be used with an e-mail client on your personal computer (such as Outlook or Mac Mail). Check your e-mail settings to make sure you are deleting messages from the server.

If your entire website is over quota, the account administrator can determine what is causing the problem(s) by reviewing the website administration interface.
Screenshots from Outlook 2007 are shown. Other versions of Outlook are similar.

How to Delete E-mail Messages From the Server

If one or more accounts are at or near their quota or a particular account is over it's quota, you will probably need to:

1. Check your e-mail settings to make sure you are deleting messages from the server.
   In Outlook under the accounts or account setting tab (usually found from the tools menu), choose the advanced tab.
   
   
2. Choose the account that is over quota (by double clicking to open a new screen).
   
   
3. Choose more settings and then the advanced tab, or, on older versions, the advanced tab is accessible right away.
   
   
4. At the bottom of the advanced tab, you will see a message to delete the messages from server.
   

Depending on your mail box size and volume and the back-up schedule of your computer and whether you are checking e-mail from multiple computers, you may want to leave the messages on the server for up to several days. If this e-mail is being checked from multiple computers (such as home and work or from a mobile device like a blackberry) more information on how to configure this is on our tutorial checking e-mails from multiple devices.

Bower Web Solutions recommends that you either uncheck the "leave copy of messages on the server box" or, if you do check it, be sure to remove it after a period no longer then the period between your back-ups. (If you are unsure of the period between your back-ups contact your system administrator.)

We also recommend that you leave the box checked that says remove from server when deleted from deleted items which allows you to easily delete large files--such as e-mails with big attachments--after you have saved the attachments elsewhere.

You may need to restart Outlook to get it to delete messages off the server.

If you are deleting messages from the server and are still over your quota:

If the above does not solve the problem or you cannot conveniently fix Outlook immediately, you will need to visit login Webmail. Bower Web Solutions offers all of its e-mail clients online access to their e-mail through any browser.

In Webmail, if you do not see a sufficient amount number of e-mails, you may need to Purge the trash. Just as the garbage in your garage still takes up space in your garage, mail in your trash takes up space in your account. To purge the trash in webmail, click on the the purge link in webmail (lower arrow in the Webmail Screenshot). If you have moved messages to the trash but do not see a '(Purge)' you need to click the 'check mail' link (upper arrow in the Webmail Screenshot), which refreshes the trash purge button, before you can purge it.

Blackberry/mobile device users who use the function "Delete message from mailbox & handheld." to delete mail from the trash as this setting merely moves messages to the trash and do not delete it completely. Blackberry users should purge their trash on a regular basis if they use this feature frequently.

If you have followed the instructions above and you are still having quota issues:
If you have done all of the above and still are having problems with full accounts, speak with your system administrator about increasing the size of your e-mail account on the server.

If your website itself is near or above it's quota and you have followed the instructions on this page for all e-mail accounts, please contact Bower Web Solutions about increasing the size of your web hosting account.