Good Email Housekeeping Helps Performance, Avoids Future Storage Charges

If you use the Lab's standard IMAP4 email system, it's a good idea to keep the number of messages in your Inbox and in folders stored on the central server as low as possible. Fewer messages means your system will run faster. Additionally, in January the Lab will start charging storage fees to employees who have more than 100 megabytes of email stored on the main server.

Standard messages only take up about 1 kilobyte of space, so employees can store nearly 100,000 and still stay within the limit. The problem is with email attachments -- which are easier to send and receive with the IMAP4 email system. Large attachments can easily be 1 megabyte or more. The Netscape Communicator application allows you to sort messages by size, so it's pretty easy to see which ones are taking up lots of disk space.

Here are a couple of ways to reduce the amount of mail you have stored on the servers: Empty your email Trash folder regularly. File older messages in folders under local mail, which stores them on your local computer rather than the central server. Use your Inbox as a work area, not a long-term storage facility and file off older messages. Set up your filters to automatically sort and file messages as they come in.

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