Unable to delete email on Webmail

[#1]

I have received messages from PN informing me that I am nearing capacity on my email inbox. I logged on to Webmail and, after a long wait, my Inbox loaded. Although I use IMAP, the folder contained over 5000 emails. Upon selecting a page of mail, I tried several times to delete it. I received various error messages - 'courier IMAP server shut down by signal' - 'failed to send UID copy' - 'failed to select command'. Nothing I do seems to work. Is this a server issue & does it account for the inordinate amount of time it takes for mail to download to Outlook?

[#2]

@Edges 

Rather than Write: ‘Although I use IMAP’, don’t you mean: ‘Because I use IMAP’?

Have you tried deleting fewer at a time, remembering to empty the deleted items folder as you go?

Keeping IMAP tidy as you go, as is POP3 and a backed up computer, is good. You can set POP3 to keep messages on the Plusnet server for a while before automatically deleting them.

[#3]

Hi @Edges, thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry to hear you've been having issues when trying to delete emails recently. I can confirm the error messages you're sending are something we're currently aware of and looking to try resolve. In the meantime there are a few things which may help.
most email clients even when set up in IMAP usually have server options where you can delete/remove mail on the server side after a certain period which may help managing your inbox size easier moving forwards. I'd perhaps test this first and make sure your client is saving emails locally however before using it on a larger scale however.

Alternatively, as @Baldrick1 has pointed out, you re-set your email client up in the POP3 format then this will pull emails from the server once they're on your device. There's options with this set-up which also allow you to set a time period before they're pulled.

How to set your email client up in a POP3 format can be seen here:
https://community.plus.net/t5/Email/How-to-get-your-e-mails-through-a-e-mail-client/td-p/1598809

[#4]

Thank you Baldrick1 & BD. Yes, it is because I use IMAP re access on several devices, although when my account was activated PN only offered IMAP setting but there was a lot of hassle re transferring broadband/phone when I moved house, so overload of messages from PN re needing a new account. I have tried deleting a small number of emails, using laptop, but find it can only handle 5 before error messages appear. However, I have logged in on my phone & find that I can delete pages at a time so have today cleared a several thousand, with only a few error messages. My laptop has slowed down considerably & I think that is where the main fault lies, in delays in sending data causing PN server time outs, so a new SSD is on it's way to me. Thanks to Baldrick1 and BD I now have the tools to set up for message deletion with a time period delay.  

[#5]

Thanks for getting back to us @Edges

I'm glad to see you've managed to clear down your mailbox.

Let us know if you have further issues or there's anything else you'd need help with.