Forum Discussion

GrannyBBB's avatar
GrannyBBB
New Contributor

Deleting Emails

I have deleted about 3000 old emails by using my MacBook Pro email app ... I read that if I delete on one of my computers, I delete on all.

So, when I opened up my email on cox.net, I am still at 99% of the account ~~ why didn't they delete on the server when I deleted them & then dumped the trash??

I don't want to have to get into my cox.net webmail & delete them from there, as I can't alphabetize them & delete by name ... it would take me forever!

I may just have to close this down if I can't get emails ... I never had this problem till this year!  I've had this email account for 21 years & feel you all are not giving enough space in an email account.  Sometimes there are reasons to keep old emails ~ like family stuff, important business, etc. 

I'm  very tired of having to deal w/this every night!! And then you're showing I only deleted 1%??? That's crazy!

6 Replies

Sort By
Most LikedOldestNewest
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • AllenP's avatar
    AllenP
    Valued Contributor

    Is your MACBook email client setup for POP3 or IMAP?  If POP3 there is a setting to leave deleted messages on the server, is this set?  If IMAP, when you deleted the messages they are moved to a trash folder, did you empty the trash?  Cox will do it for you at some undefined interval but you can empty the trash folder freeing up the used space.

  • GrannyBBB's avatar
    GrannyBBB
    New Contributor

    It is IMAP .. I did dump the trash folder too.  Does it take awhile to take effect?

  • AllenP's avatar
    AllenP
    Valued Contributor

    Once you exit your mail client then open it again, everything should sync and the deletes take effect.

    My guess is you have a bunch of emails with large attachments, like photos.  If you deleted text emails and kept the ones with photos attached, I can see why you only removed 1%.  If that's the case, I suggest downloading the photos, use something like iPhoto to catalog them then delete the original email.  That will make it easier to find them save your email space.  Don't forget, 100 emails with 15-20MB of photos attached will use up the bulk of you 2GB email storage.  3000 text only emails will use about as much storage as 2 (two) emails with 15MB attachments in each.

    Please let me know if this helps.

  • DerrickW's avatar
    DerrickW
    Valued Contributor
    Hi Granny BBB,

    It sounds like there may be a setting within your email application to leave a copy of the messages on the server, that would keep those emails in Webmail even if you deleted them from the computer. Using IMAP as the mail server would allow your email to be uniform, no matter where you decide to check it.
  • AllenP's avatar
    AllenP
    Valued Contributor

    Derrick, did you read any of this thread?  GrannyBBB did say she was using IMAP and emptied the trash folder.  IMAP keeps the server in sync with the client and vice versa.  AFAIK, the is no leave a copy on the server in IMAP, that would contradict the whole idea of IMAP ... keeping the server/clients in sync.

  • No_More_Cable_B's avatar
    No_More_Cable_B
    New Contributor

    Watch anything in the world you want for free proven in the link below.

    -No more cable bills-

    [copy&paste the link to view the video overview]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROUdmO-uY8