Best
Practices for
Email Message Management
With the introduction of email quotas on CSUN email accounts, strategies for email management have become ever more important. This document contains some suggestions on how to manage your email to keep it within quota.
The first thing to consider is whether you are using a form of browser mail, such as our CSUN Webmail feature, or whether you are using a specific client on your desktop, such as Netscape Mail, Outlook or OS X Mail.
Browser Mail Options
The options for email management in browser mail are relatively limited. There are two things a user can do to keep below the designated quota limit: (1) delete unwanted messages from the two default folders created in browser mail, Inbox and Sent mail, and (2) be sure to empty your trash on a regular basis. Individual browser mail programs like HotMail or Yahoo deal with deleted email files in different ways, so don’t assume that putting mail in the trash has actually deleted them from your account.
For deletion options, be sure to check the email preferences in your browser mail of choice. Information on deletion of email in CSUN's web-based email gateway can be found in the training guide entitled Using Webmail Direct.
Email Management
in Email Clients
(e.g. Netscape Mail, Outlook or OS X Mail)
Reading your email through an email client is a resource available to faculty and staff . The options for email management in specific email clients are much more varied. Those options are determined primarily by whether the user has chosen IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) or POP (Post Office Protocol) protocols for the mail access. IMAP allows you to access your email, but instead of storing it on the hard drive of the computer, the messages are stored on the server. POP downloads all your messages from the central email server to your desktop’s hard drive. Although most POP mail clients have an option to "leave mail on server", this is not recommended since it makes file and quota management more difficult and time consuming.
IMAP
If you have chosen IMAP as your protocol, you need to pay attention to the same issues that were described under browser mail option, because it is going to be up to you to delete unwanted messages from the server. However, with a desktop client you have the option of taking that mail from your IMAP inbox and moving it into folders which reside locally, on your desktop computer. Along with the options of deleting mail from your IMAP Inbox and Sent Mail folders, you have the option of moving that mail into specific folders on your hard disk, organizing mail into thematic folders and making it easier to find them later on.
Sent-mail folders normally reside locally, on your desktop computer. So, unlike your server Inbox, the copies of the messages you send are probably not putting you over your quota limit. However, it is still a good idea to delete sent mail you do not need and organize those you wish to save into the appropriate folders.
POP
If you have chosen POP as your email protocol, then all your mail will be downloaded automatically from your server’s inbox and will reside on your desktop computer. This guarantees that you will never go over your mail quota. You may, however, fill up your computer’s hard disk with a lot of unneeded email. So the same principles of email management apply here as in IMAP, unwanted mail should be deleted from your inbox and files should be moved and organized into thematic folders. Your sent mail should be evaluated and only those necessary should be retained. Mail with large attachments should be deleted unless critical to mission, and then deleted when no longer needed.
Attachments
In choosing messages to keep for the future, be aware that it is the attachments associated with email files, and not the files themselves, that take up the most space. Don’t save messages with large attachments unless absolutely necessary, then, delete them as quickly as possible. If you don’t need to send a file in a particular format, don’t use an attachment. If you can cut and paste the contents of a file (such as a MS Word document) into an email message and still achieve your purpose, don’t send it in attachment format. This saves space for you and for those who will receive your message.
Employing these suggestions will go a long way to keeping you well within
your email quota. Additional information and product-specific instructions
are linked from the main email site.
August 14, 2003
Prepared by Chris Sales, User Support Services
ITR's technology training guides are the property of California State University, Northridge. They are intended for non-profit educational use only. Please do not use this material without citing the source.