Resolving a Full Mailbox

[#1]

I received a note from PN saying thay my mailbox was getting full.  The mailbox concerned uses imap for multiple devices. My assumption was that if an email was deleted on one of the devices it would delete from PN's server too. Apparently not.  Is there a setting I need to activate for this to happen?

To correct the issue I went into webmail and deleted old emails. This worked for a while then after highlighting and deleting the message confirmed delete but nothing moved to the delete box.  Those that had been moved over I cleared too but it does seem a laborious process.

[#2]

That's odd because your assumption is correct, deleting via a client using IMAP should delete it from the server as well.

[#3]

The deleted items folder needs to be emptied from time to time to free up the space. After deleting it is also necessary to compress the folders to recover the unused space.

Your extra devices will all be referencing the same Inbox. However their ideas of which is the Trash/Deleted Items folder sometimes differ (even to using one in local storage). Does webmail show any duplicated or similarly named folders?

[#4]

Only the basic PN mailboxes in webmail. No duplicates and Deleted emptied manually. "Compact" simply says no files in Deleted box. Do I need to compact the Inbox with mail in it?

I don't mind having to delete manually but there is also (AFAIAA) no indication of the total content of the mailbox in Mb to give me a prompt. .

[#5]

Running "compact" on a folder removes wasted space where messages have been deleted.These will show as a pale grey colour in the webmail folder contents list. Emptying a folder will be done by truncating it - moving the last email pointer to the beginning which automatically compacts the folder.

It is mainly the Inbox which needs compacting to recover space taken by emails you've deleted. This will move up remaining messages in the folder so could take a while on a large folder.

You can check folder sizes by clicking Manage folders in the lower left cog menu. Then click a folder name to display its properties. The number of messages will be shown; click the Click to get folder size link to get that property. Working this out might take a while.

What proportion of Inbox messages are you retaining? I wondered if it would be quicker to create a new folder and copy retained messages to it; then completely empty your Inbox. After that you could copy retained messages back to Inbox and delete the holding folder.

[#6]

Useful info, thanks! I will keep my eye on the individual boxes but don't feel the need to overcomplicate it. Today five messages have found their own way into the delete box which surprises me as messages are deleted daily on the devices.

[#7]

What are the limits on Plusnet email storage?

[#8]

If you've got more than 600MB across all account folders you might get hints to reduce storage. If more than 1GB you'll get a warning to reduce it in a particular timeframe. If you take no notice of this one day you'll find all your messages have vanished.