Relieving Space Problems on bama

Most of the time, when you run out of room on your bama account, the problem lies in your e-mail. The following information should help you alleviate space problems on your account.

First, check your quota online. Come back often to check the progress you have made.

Second, check to see what e-mail problems may have caused you to run out of space. The most obvious problem would be that you left all your mail in your INBOX. If that is the case, see the instructions below to make sure that you know how to delete mail messages. Also, some of your e-mail messages may include attachments. These can be very large, so you should not leave them on your account very long. There are separate sections below for specific problems associated with BamaMail, PINE, IMAP mail programs, and POP mail programs.

Finally, you should consider if you may have run out of room by other means. If you log onto bama to run programs of any kind, you may want to look in your file listings; if you see any files named "core" you should delete them. These are known as "core dumps" and are the result of errors in programs. They tend to be very large. You should view the Unix Tipsheet "Space Saving Ideas" to further decrease your disk usage.

BamaMail

There are two common problems with BamaMail. The first one involves mail you send out. Mail sent from BamaMail is placed inside its own folder called Outbox. This can be very useful; for example, if you type someone's e-mail address wrong when sending mail, you can open the letter from the Outbox and just change the parts that are wrong without retyping the whole thing. However, most of the time this sent mail just takes up space.

The contents of ALL of your e-mail folders, including your sent items (OUTBOX), count towards your quota. If you have created a website on the Bama server, its contents also count toward your quota.

The second problem is that deleted messages are moved to your
"DELETED" folder to give you an opportunity to recover e-mail you may have deleted by mistake. However, items in your "DELETED" folder also count against your quota. Therefore, you might want to change how deleted mail is handled so that deleted messages are permanently deleted rather than being moved to your trash folder.

To change how deleted mail is handled on your account:

While viewing your e-mail, click the "Options" toolbar icon.
Click the "Deleting and Moving Messages" link under Mail Management.
Deselect the option indicating "When deleting messages, move them to your Trash folder instead of marking them as deleted."
Click the "Save Options" button.
Select messages to delete and click the "Purge Deleted" link to permanently delete messages.

After this, deleted messages will be permanently deleted each time you purge deleted items in your e-mail account. They will not be moved to your DELETED folder, and they cannot be recovered after they are permanently deleted. To see the messages that will be permanently deleted when you sign out, click the "Show Deleted" link (which appears if you click the "Hide Deleted" link). To force those messages to be permanently deleted immediately, click the "Purge Deleted" link.

To delete a message (from any folder):

Click on the selection box next to the message to be deleted.
Click the link at the top labeled Delete.
The message is deleted, and, depending on the options you have set, will either be permanently deleted upon exiting your e-mail or will be moved to the trash folder.

To free up storage space by cleaning up the "DELETED" folder:

Sign in to BamaMail at http://mybama.ua.edu.
Click the "e-mail" icon at the top right of the screen.
Click the "Empty Trash folder" toolbar icon (this only appears if you have set the option "When deleting messages, move them to your Trash folder instead of marking them as deleted").

This should immediately result in a decrease in the storage used by your account. To prevent this problem in the future, you can repeat these steps periodically. Also, since Outbox items count towards your quota, you might want to delete these items.

To view and delete items in the "Outbox" folder:

Beside the Open Folder icon, find the drop-down box.
Click the down arrow on the box to get a list of folders.
Choose Outbox from the list.
Put a check mark by a message to select it and then click Delete.
To select all sent items at once, click on the Select drop-down box and click on All. Then click Delete.

View a demonstration.

Once you have reached your storage limit, you are no longer able to transfer files into your "DELETED" folder. The solution to this problem is to delete the old messages from your "DELETED" folder. Once you remove messages from the "DELETED" folder, they are no longer recoverable. You can set the option to have your DELETED folder emptied on a regular schedule.

To set up a schedule for removing old messages from the DELETED folder:

While viewing your e-mail, click the "Options" toolbar icon.
Click the "Maintenance Operations" link under Mail Management.
Select the option to "Purge old messages in the Trash folder" and select how many days you want messages to remain in the DELETED folder.
Click the "Save Options" button.

PINE

Most PINE users do not run into space problems from e-mail because of the way PINE handles outgoing and deleted mail. However, some pointers do apply:

When PINE asks you at the beginning of each month if you want to rotate your sent-mail folders, let it. If you haven't been letting it do this, check your folder list for folders named sent-mail- month-year . They can probably be deleted.
Save mail only when necessary. If you keep mail folders for saved messages, go through them regularly to clean up what you don't need.
Make sure that you quit PINE and log off of bama before you close your telnet window. If you close PINE without quitting it, mail is never deleted.

IMAP Mail Programs

While each program handles mail slightly differently, there are two common problems when using IMAP mail programs.

First, find out where your program is putting your sent mail. It may be located on bama. If so, you need to keep this cleaned up. Your preferences, setup, or properties should tell you where this is located. Look for folders called "sent-mail", "outbox", or "outgoing".

Second, find out what is happening when you delete mail . On some programs, deleted mail is actually put into a "trash can". This trash may be on bama. This can be handy if you keep deleting mail by accident, but it can keep you from clearing up space. You should be able to find the command to empty the trash fairly easily.

Most of the information you need can be found in the help files to your IMAP program. If you have any questions, please contact the HelpDesk at 348-HELP.

POP Mail Programs

Since almost all of the activity in POPing mail takes place on your personal computer, you usually do not run out of space on bama. However, there is an option in the setup to most POP mail programs to leave a copy of all mail on the host machine. This can be a problem if you never use another program to go clean up that mail!

If you find that you have left copies of mail on bama, you should use BamaMail, PINE, or an IMAP client to go clean them off. As a matter of fact, the HelpDesk recommends you use one of those three methods for accessing your e-mail on bama instead of POP. Instructions are available.

BamaMail Pine IMAP POP		Search:

	E-mail Internet Access Software Assistance Computer Labs Software Licensing Web Publishing Calendaring Computer Security Unix Training

	Relieving Space Problems on bama Most of the time, when you run out of room on your bama account, the problem lies in your e-mail. The following information should help you alleviate space problems on your account. First, check your quota online. Come back often to check the progress you have made. Second, check to see what e-mail problems may have caused you to run out of space. The most obvious problem would be that you left all your mail in your INBOX. If that is the case, see the instructions below to make sure that you know how to delete mail messages. Also, some of your e-mail messages may include attachments. These can be very large, so you should not leave them on your account very long. There are separate sections below for specific problems associated with BamaMail, PINE, IMAP mail programs, and POP mail programs. Finally, you should consider if you may have run out of room by other means. If you log onto bama to run programs of any kind, you may want to look in your file listings; if you see any files named "core" you should delete them. These are known as "core dumps" and are the result of errors in programs. They tend to be very large. You should view the Unix Tipsheet "Space Saving Ideas" to further decrease your disk usage. BamaMail There are two common problems with BamaMail. The first one involves mail you send out. Mail sent from BamaMail is placed inside its own folder called Outbox. This can be very useful; for example, if you type someone's e-mail address wrong when sending mail, you can open the letter from the Outbox and just change the parts that are wrong without retyping the whole thing. However, most of the time this sent mail just takes up space. The contents of ALL of your e-mail folders, including your sent items (OUTBOX), count towards your quota. If you have created a website on the Bama server, its contents also count toward your quota. The second problem is that deleted messages are moved to your "DELETED" folder to give you an opportunity to recover e-mail you may have deleted by mistake. However, items in your "DELETED" folder also count against your quota. Therefore, you might want to change how deleted mail is handled so that deleted messages are permanently deleted rather than being moved to your trash folder. To change how deleted mail is handled on your account: While viewing your e-mail, click the "Options" toolbar icon. Click the "Deleting and Moving Messages" link under Mail Management. Deselect the option indicating "When deleting messages, move them to your Trash folder instead of marking them as deleted." Click the "Save Options" button. Select messages to delete and click the "Purge Deleted" link to permanently delete messages. After this, deleted messages will be permanently deleted each time you purge deleted items in your e-mail account. They will not be moved to your DELETED folder, and they cannot be recovered after they are permanently deleted. To see the messages that will be permanently deleted when you sign out, click the "Show Deleted" link (which appears if you click the "Hide Deleted" link). To force those messages to be permanently deleted immediately, click the "Purge Deleted" link. To delete a message (from any folder): Click on the selection box next to the message to be deleted. Click the link at the top labeled Delete. The message is deleted, and, depending on the options you have set, will either be permanently deleted upon exiting your e-mail or will be moved to the trash folder. To free up storage space by cleaning up the "DELETED" folder: Sign in to BamaMail at http://mybama.ua.edu. Click the "e-mail" icon at the top right of the screen. Click the "Empty Trash folder" toolbar icon (this only appears if you have set the option "When deleting messages, move them to your Trash folder instead of marking them as deleted"). This should immediately result in a decrease in the storage used by your account. To prevent this problem in the future, you can repeat these steps periodically. Also, since Outbox items count towards your quota, you might want to delete these items. To view and delete items in the "Outbox" folder: Beside the Open Folder icon, find the drop-down box. Click the down arrow on the box to get a list of folders. Choose Outbox from the list. Put a check mark by a message to select it and then click Delete. To select all sent items at once, click on the Select drop-down box and click on All. Then click Delete. View a demonstration. Once you have reached your storage limit, you are no longer able to transfer files into your "DELETED" folder. The solution to this problem is to delete the old messages from your "DELETED" folder. Once you remove messages from the "DELETED" folder, they are no longer recoverable. You can set the option to have your DELETED folder emptied on a regular schedule. To set up a schedule for removing old messages from the DELETED folder: While viewing your e-mail, click the "Options" toolbar icon. Click the "Maintenance Operations" link under Mail Management. Select the option to "Purge old messages in the Trash folder" and select how many days you want messages to remain in the DELETED folder. Click the "Save Options" button. Back to top. PINE Most PINE users do not run into space problems from e-mail because of the way PINE handles outgoing and deleted mail. However, some pointers do apply: When PINE asks you at the beginning of each month if you want to rotate your sent-mail folders, let it. If you haven't been letting it do this, check your folder list for folders named sent-mail- month-year . They can probably be deleted. Save mail only when necessary. If you keep mail folders for saved messages, go through them regularly to clean up what you don't need. Make sure that you quit PINE and log off of bama before you close your telnet window. If you close PINE without quitting it, mail is never deleted. Back to top. IMAP Mail Programs While each program handles mail slightly differently, there are two common problems when using IMAP mail programs. First, find out where your program is putting your sent mail. It may be located on bama. If so, you need to keep this cleaned up. Your preferences, setup, or properties should tell you where this is located. Look for folders called "sent-mail", "outbox", or "outgoing". Second, find out what is happening when you delete mail . On some programs, deleted mail is actually put into a "trash can". This trash may be on bama. This can be handy if you keep deleting mail by accident, but it can keep you from clearing up space. You should be able to find the command to empty the trash fairly easily. Most of the information you need can be found in the help files to your IMAP program. If you have any questions, please contact the HelpDesk at 348-HELP. Back to top. POP Mail Programs Since almost all of the activity in POPing mail takes place on your personal computer, you usually do not run out of space on bama. However, there is an option in the setup to most POP mail programs to leave a copy of all mail on the host machine. This can be a problem if you never use another program to go clean up that mail! If you find that you have left copies of mail on bama, you should use BamaMail, PINE, or an IMAP client to go clean them off. As a matter of fact, the HelpDesk recommends you use one of those three methods for accessing your e-mail on bama instead of POP. Instructions are available. Back to top.
Copyright © 1998-2004 The University of Alabama \| Disclaimer \| Contact: Help.Desk@ua.edu