Welcome to the Technology Help Desk's 

E-Mail Quota Issues FAQs

The following are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about e-mail quota issues.

Please remember that you can contact the Technology Help Desk by stopping by our offices (Search Hall, 2nd Floor), sending us an e-mail (HelpDesk@PhilaU.edu), or by calling us directly (215-951-4648.)  We look forward to assisting you.

HOW

How do I delete mail from my mailbox?

How do I delete my deleted items folder in Outlook Web Access?

How do I delete my deleted items folder in the Outlook client on my desktop?

How do I view the size of my e-mail messages in Outlook Web Access?

How do I access my deleted items folders?

How do I find out how much of my quota I am currently using?

WHAT

What is my e-mail account quota limit?

What Is the size limit when sending or receiving e-mail attachments?

WHY

Why am I unable to send or receive e-mail messages?

Why did I receive a quota warning message?

Why am I still unable to send and/or receive e-mail even though I have deleted my e-mail messages?

Why am I still getting over quota message when I have almost no mail in my Inbox?

Q. How do I delete mail from my mailbox?

A. Follow the directions below. If you need assistance at any point during the setup process, or have any additional questions, please call the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648.)

If you are using Outlook to read your mail, simply highlight a message (or several messages, by holding down the <Shift> or <Ctrl> key as you select them), then:

1. Click the "X" delete button on the button bar; or
2. Choose Delete from the Edit menu; or
3. Press <CTRL>-D

All the messages you delete will be stored in your Deleted Items folder in your mailbox, so they're not gone yet.  Choose Empty "Deleted Items" Folder from your Tools menu to delete the messages for good.  In most cases, Outlook will automatically empty the "Deleted Items" folder when you exit Outlook (to check those settings, select Tools menu, Options, then the General tab).

Q. How do I delete my deleted items folder in Outlook Web Access?

A. Follow the directions below. If you need assistance at any point during the setup process, or have any additional questions, please call the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648.)

1. Click the FOLDERS tab, located on the top left side of the page. Then click “Deleted Items”
2. Then click on the DELETED ITEMS icon

Q. How do I delete my deleted items folder in the Outlook client on my desktop?

A. Follow the directions below. If you need assistance at any point during the setup process, or have any additional questions, please call the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648.)

1. Click the FOLDERS tab, located on the top left side of the page. Then click “Deleted Items”
2. Then click on the DELETED ITEMS icon

Q. How do I view the size of my e-mail messages in Outlook Web Access?

A. The size of each message, is located in far right-hand column of your main message view - right next to the DATE column.

Q. How do I access my deleted items folders?

A. Follow the directions below. If you need assistance at any point during the setup process, or have any additional questions, please call the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648.)

1. Click the FOLDERS tab, located on the top left side of the page. Then click “Deleted Items”
2. Then click on the DELETED ITEMS icon

Q. How do I find out how much of my quota I am currently using?

A. Follow the directions below. If you need assistance at any point during the setup process, or have any additional questions, please call the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648.)

1. Click the FOLDERS tab, located on the top left side of the page. Then click “Deleted Items”
2. Then click on the DELETED ITEMS icon

Q. What Is my e-mail account quota limit?

A. Current e-mail limits are set at the following for faculty and staff:

• 40MB - A warning message is sent

• 50MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

Current e-mail limits are set at the following for students:

• 20MB - A warning message is sent

• 22MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

• 25MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

Please feel free to contact the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648), for any additional assistance.

Q. What Is the size limit when sending or receiving e-mail attachments?  

A. The size of your file attachment is limited to the size of your mailbox limit.  

Current e-mail limits are set at the following for faculty and staff:

• 40MB - A warning message is sent

• 50MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

Current e-mail limits are set at the following for students:

• 20MB - A warning message is sent

• 22MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

• 25MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

Please feel free to contact the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648), for any additional assistance.

Q. Why am I unable to send or receive e-mail messages? 

A. If your mailbox reaches the limits below, you will not be able to send any mail until you delete items from your mailbox.  

Current e-mail limits or faculty and staff:

• 40MB - A warning message is sent

• 50MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

Current e-mail limits for students:

• 20MB - A warning message is sent

• 22MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

• 25MB - Prohibits you from sending e-mail

Q. Why did I receive a quota warning message? 

A. If your mailbox reaches the limits below, you will be sent a notification to alert you that are nearing your quota limit. When you receive this message, please delete messages within your Inbox or Deleted Items folder.

Current e-mail limits or faculty and staff:

• 40MB - A warning message is sent

Current e-mail limits for students:

• 20MB - A warning message is sent

Please feel free to contact the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648), for any additional assistance.

Q. Why am I still unable to send and/or receive e-mail even though I have deleted my e-mail messages?

A. If you are unable to send and/or receive after deleting e-mail messages, it may be due to the following:

1. You have deleted messages, but still need to deleted the items from your deleted items folder
2. You still have large attachments in your Inbox that should be saved to your home directory, personal folders, floppy, or desktop.
3. You may need to clean out some of your messages housed in your Sent Items folder.

Q. Why am I still getting over quota message when I have almost no mail in my Inbox?

A. Some messages can be enormous! Messages with attachments (such as dancing baby videos or Word documents) can be 2Mb or more by themselves. Those irritating mass mailings are often .5Mb in size, so just four of them would fill your mailbox. Delete large messages. If you must save these messages, do so onto your personal computer's hard drive or into your home directory (remember your home directory has a 50Mb quota).

• Did you know that every message you send using Outlook is probably stored in your Sent Items folder? Switch into your Sent Items folder using your Outlook icon bar or the Go menu. You may have quite a number of messages to delete.

• Other folders in your mailbox may be filling up without your knowledge. One usual suspect is the Journal folder. Outlook is often installed with this journaling feature turned on, which stores copies of every file you use in your mailbox on the server. This is guaranteed to fill up your mailbox in no time!

Follow the directions below. If you need assistance at any point during the setup process, or have any additional questions, please call the Technology Help Desk at 215-951-4OIT (x4648.)

1. From within Outlook, move to your Journal folder using your Outlook icon bar or the Go menu.  Highlight each gray bar in the Journal window (corresponding to Word, Excel, etc.).  Then choose Delete from the Edit menu.  Your Journal window should now state: "There are no items to show in this view."
2. NOW it is important to stop Outlook from storing more info in the Journal.  From the Tools menu, select Options.  Click on the Journal tab.  Make sure that every check box is UNchecked, then click OK.