About your storage space on the Exchange server

On this page:

• Default storage size
• Checking your storage space
• Requesting an increase
• When you exceed your storage capacity
• Managing your storage space

Default storage size

At Indiana University, Exchange mailboxes have 500 MB of default storage.

Checking your storage space

To check your Exchange storage space, see How do I check my storage space on the Exchange server?

Requesting an increase

See What is the default storage space for various UITS accounts, and how do I request an increase?

When you exceed your storage capacity

The Exchange system handles storage excesses automatically. As you purge contents from your mailbox, your storage size automatically adjusts and resets.

If you exceed your space for more than 30 days, your mailbox is disabled.

Managing your storage space

Empty your Deleted Items folder

Any mail you've deleted from your Inbox (or any other folder) will count against your storage until you empty the Deleted Items folder. To do so:

• In Outlook 2010, from the Folder tab, select Empty Folder.
• In Outlook 2007 and 2003, from the Tools menu, select Empty "Deleted Items" Folder.

To delete individual messages in the Deleted Items folder, select the appropriate messages, right-click them, and then select Delete.

Alternatively, you can set Outlook to automatically empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting:

• In Outlook 2010, from the File tab, select Options, and then click Advanced. Then, under Outlook start and exit, select Empty the Deleted Items folder when exiting Outlook.
• In Outlook 2007 and 2003, from the Tools menu, select Options... . On the Other tab, select Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting.

Delete or archive large messages and attachments

To reduce your mailbox size, delete or archive large messages and attachments. To search for messages and attachments over a specified size:

1. In Outlook 2010, from the File tab, select Cleanup Tools, and then Mailbox Cleanup... . In Outlook 2007 and 2003, from the Tools menu, choose Mailbox Cleanup... .
2. Click Find items larger than. You can leave the default value of 250 kilobytes or increase it to narrow your search to larger messages. (1024 kilobytes equals 1 megabyte.)
3. Click Find... .
4. In the Advanced Find window, click View, then Arrange By, and then Size.

From your list of messages in the Advanced Find window, you can delete or archive (i.e., save to a folder on your computer) large messages and attachments.

To delete messages, right-click each message, and choose Delete. This moves the messages to your Deleted Items folder, which you must empty to reduce your overall storage.

To save an attachment to a folder on your computer:

1. Double-click the message that contains the attachment.
2. Right-click the attachment, and then click Save As... .
3. Browse to the folder where would like to save the attachment, and then click Save.

Once the attachment is saved on your computer, you can remove it from the message in your mailbox, so you can keep the message without having the attachment count against your storage:

1. Right-click the attachment(s), and click Remove.
2. From the message's File menu, select Save.

Alternatively, if you have personal folder files within Outlook, you can drag messages from the Advanced Find window and drop them in a personal folder file. Personal file folders are saved on your computer, and do not count against your mailbox size.

Archive old items

To reduce your mailbox size, archive older messages in Outlook personal folder files, or set up AutoArchive to automatically archive messages once they reach a certain age (see In Microsoft Outlook, what is AutoArchive, and how do I use it?).

To archive items manually in Outlook:

• In Outlook 2010, from the File tab, select Cleanup Tools, and then Archive... . Select the folder you wish to archive, and then click OK.
• In Outlook 2007 and 2003, select the folder you wish to archive, and then from the File menu, select Archive... .

This will archive all messages in the folder you select, according to settings you specify.

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