'Mail Delivery System'

[SusanB-M1]

I had a message like the one below back in May. I contacted Supanet (ISP) because I'd been told that they store the 'Deleted Items'. I regularly delete the 'Deleted Items' (Outlook Express). I have forwarded the automatic e-mail to Supanet yesterday.
Is this the right thing to do? I would appreciate advice on this. Thank you.

This message is automatically created by mail delivery software (Exim).

The size of your mailbox has exceeded a warning threshold that is
set by the system administrator.

[grmcdorman]

SusanB, that message is typically not related to your Outlook folders. I suspect you've been misinformed on where "Deleted Items" are stored.

A quick little tutorial on how e-mail (usually) works would probably help. In most cases - and it looks like you're in that group, since you're using Outlook Express - e-mail sent to goes through what can be referred to as "post offices".

When someone sends you a message, their e-mail program contacts a computer at their ISP and hands over the message. That message is then relayed - often through a series of machines - to a computer at your ISP. The last computer at your ISP then keeps the message until you sign on and check your mail with Outlook Express.

When you check your mail with Outlook Express, Outlook fetches all messages from the ISP's computer to yours - and empties the mailbox on the ISP's computer. (Essentially, you've gone to the mailbox, taken out the mail, and brought it into the house.) So all the mail in your inbox, and in your deleted items, is on your computer.

So, the question is, why are you getting this message if all the mail is on your computer and not affecting the ISP's computer?

The most likely answer is that some one - or some people - are sending you large messages. In particular, pictures can get very large. Check for that; if that's happening, tell your correspondent to stop doing that. (Digital camera images are very large, with individual images for 3MP cameras easily exceeding 500K each. Pictures should be resized for e-mail transmission - 800x600 or 640x480 JPEG images are usually good choices. Alternatively, find a free photo-sharing site or free online storage site you and your correspondant(s) can share.)

NOTE: This is for a typical ISP mail account setup. You can check that that's what you have by going to the Outlook menu 'Tools', selecting 'E-Mail Accounts...', and looking at that list. My description above presumes that the account is a POP ("Post Office Protocol") or POP3 account. If it's an IMAP account, then the last step doesn't apply.

There is also a POP setting - 'do not delete mail' or something like that - that tells Outlook not to empty the ISP's computer's mailbox when it fetches the POP mail. It's unlikely that you have that on, though, since mail would never be emptied from your mailbox on the ISP's computer - and you'd get that message a lot more.

The last step doesn't apply to web mail (e.g. Hotmail, Google Mail) either.

[SusanB-M1]

grmcdorman

Thank you for your help. People very rarely send me photos but I have had a few e-mails with long attachments recently. If I save the attachments to my documents and then delete the e-mails, would that be a good idea? I could copy and paste the text of said e-mails on to a blank e-mail and put it in Drafts.

The total number of e-mails under the various names is about 220.

[SusanB-M1]

I did Alt+F and 'Save attachments'. Then went to Documents and couldn't see it anywhere! However, I have managed to discover that I have saved them to 'My Pictures' 'Them' being several chapters of a book. If I now delete the e-mails complete with attachments and then delete the deleted items folder, will that solve the problem do you think?

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I did Alt+F and 'Save attachments'. Then went to Documents and couldn't see it anywhere! However, I have managed to discover that I have saved them to 'My Pictures' 'Them' being several chapters of a book. If I now delete the e-mails complete with attachments and then delete the deleted items folder, will that solve the problem do you think?

Do I think it will solve your problem? No

Reread what grmcdorman has said. There are two places mail is stored - your ISP and your computer. The message you quoted above is from your ISP about mail you have stored there. It is quite possible you have not deleted your mail there ever (if you don't get much and given the amount of space ISPs tend to allow these days).

Follow the instructions grmcdorman has after the word "NOTE" in his message.

Good luck.

[grmcdorman]

It could also be the e-mails with long attachments. How big are these attachments? (that is the size shown when you're looking at 'My Pictures').

If these are Microsoft Word documents, they can be very big (especially if they have pictures inside them).

If you are working on a document with someone at a remote location, you might want to consider Google Documents (http://documents.google.com). It works well for collaboration of this sort, apparently, although I haven't looked into it myself. Alternatively, look up one of the free storage sites, which would give a place for your correspondent to drop the document(s).

ETA: The problem your ISP is reporting is the holding area - the "mailbox" - at their computer is getting full between the times you use Outlook to fetch your mail. (This is presuming, of course, that your Outlook account is set to use POP/POP3 and delete the messages.) That is:

At, say, 9PM you sign on, and run Outlook. This fetches all the mail from the ISP; the mailbox at the ISP is now empty. You then close Outlook.
At 10PM someone sends you a document which is 900K. Since you're not running Outlook, this message stays on the ISP's computer.
At 11AM the next day another document is sent which is 800K. Your ISP's computer now has 1,700K of messages stored. Let's say this is over the warning threshold, so a warning message gets added to your mailbox (still on the ISP's computer, remember). (I don't know what the actual threshold is, of course.)
At 3PM you sign on, run Outlook, and get the two big messages plus the warning message. Your ISP's computer now has no mail stored on it (it's all on your computer), so it's clean again.One other thing you can check: a lot of ISPs provide access to your mail via the Internet (that is, through a URL like http://mail.exampleisp.com). This is the mailbox on the ISP's computer, not yours. If your ISP does provide this, you can open Internet Exploit... er, Explorer (or whatever web browser you use) and look at your mailbox as it exists on the ISP's computer. If it's empty, then it's just the big messages you're getting; if not, then you need to change the way you work with mail. (Specifically, use folders - which are local to your computer - and copy messages you want to save to those folders.)

[GodMark2]

It's also possible that Outlook is not configured to actually remove the mail from the POP server when it reads them. Most mail clients allow for this possibility. I use it to read my personal mail at the office, so I can than go home and still have the 'original' message ready to be downloaded and stored on my home machine. The one at home does the removal, the office machine just reads the messages.

If no machine is actually removing the mail from the POP server, then every letter would still have a copy left there. Outlook just ignores mail that's already been downloaded, so you wouldn't know the difference until your ISP sends you a letter just like the one you received.

[grmcdorman]

It's also possible that Outlook is not configured to actually remove the mail from the POP server when it reads them. Most mail clients allow for this possibility. I use it to read my personal mail at the office, so I can than go home and still have the 'original' message ready to be downloaded and stored on my home machine. The one at home does the removal, the office machine just reads the messages.

If no machine is actually removing the mail from the POP server, then every letter would still have a copy left there. Outlook just ignores mail that's already been downloaded, so you wouldn't know the difference until your ISP sends you a letter just like the one you received.Indeed; I did mention that earlier. I'm presuming, though, that this is unlikely, as it'd be unusual for a novice. However, as both I and Gord In Toronto (hmm, 416 or 905?) suggested, SusanB can check her e-mail account settings for this.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I

<<Snip>>

Gord In Toronto (hmm, 416 or 905?)

<<Snip>>



How about 647? :crowded:

[SusanB-M1]

Gord in Toronto, grmcdorman, GodMark2

Many thanks for all your help, much appreciated. I have read it through twice this morning and I think light is beginning to dawn on my dimness! I will study it again later.

[webfusion]

The size of your mailbox has exceeded a warning threshold that is
set by the system administrator.


It would be useful to find out from the Sys Admin what that threshold is.

By the way, Yahoo!Mail is now offering Unlimited Storage. (webmail)
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html

Also, while you're talking to your ISP, ask how much server space they provide you for personal webpages; and if you're so inclined, now you can go ahead and create your own websites.

[grmcdorman]

How about 647? :crowded:Ah, a newbie :D I'm 905 myself (Mississauga near Pearson, actually). Which means I'm one of those people. :boxedin:

(To the uninitiated: The greater Toronto area has two principal area codes - 416 in the city proper and immediately adjoining areas; surrounding that is the 905 region. Calls between 905 and 416 codes are local, although some 905 to 905 calls are long distance. There's some - tension - between the two areas; not uncommon for cities and surrounding communities. Mississauga is one of the more prominent communities in this tension. Also, the 647 code was recently added due to high demand for numbers in the 416 area.)

BTW, if there are S/W developers in the area looking for work, my firm is hiring. Drop me a PM if you're interested.

[SusanB-M1]

Well, fingers crossed, I think the problem has been solved. I went to the 'Accounts' as suggested and looked at all the headings in turn and whether things are ticked or not. I went to Accounts>Properties>Advanced and took the tick out from the one which said 'Leave a copy of messages on server'. As I have no business dealings or documents being written in conjunction with anyone else, if I delete something my mistake, then that's my own fault!

This afternoon my computer teacher was here, so I told him what I'd done and he checked with the Supanet website to see if they were obeying the instruction (and they were), so that is all sorted.

With his help, I am in fact starting to produce a website of my own, but it is very boring at the moment, having a heading, a picture of the New Forest and of course the tap shoes!

Again, my thanks for all the above help.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Great SusanB-M1.

I'm glad you got things fixed. :D

As far as website building is concerned, my advice (and remenber what you are paying for it) is to start very simply and try to understand what you are doing. It's too easy to find some tools and things on the Internet and make something, that, when it goes wrong is almost impossible to fix. Get a book on HTML.

[grmcdorman]

Excellent.

Interesting that you did have the 'leave copy of messages on the server' checked. Most ISPs would instruct you not to set that; the only case I can see where you might want to leave it on is if you also want to be able to look at all your mail through the Web interface (e.g. when you're away from home). However, that would also mean you'd have to go in occasionally and clean it up.

I'd add to Gord's comment about web site building: Historically, the Microsoft web page builder - Front Page - produced horrible code. It also, still, tends to encourage you to use things that are Microsoft-only. Since many people (myself included) do not use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the web, this can cause problems for us.

[SusanB-M1]

Great SusanB-M1.

I'm glad you got things fixed. :D

As far as website building is concerned, my advice (and remenber what you are paying for it) is to start very simply and try to understand what you are doing. It's too easy to find some tools and things on the Internet and make something, that, when it goes wrong is almost impossible to fix. Get a book on HTML.
Thank you for the advice. Actually, on Tuesday I am going to be at 'Sight Village' in Birmingham, an exhibition of equipment for blind and partially sighted and I have booked a half-hour with one of the Tech Support team from Dolphin, so I'll ask for a couple of words of advice about html; and I'll borrow a book from the Library ....I have a 17" CCTV page magnifier for when I need to read.

Excellent.

Interesting that you did have the 'leave copy of messages on the server' checked. Most ISPs would instruct you not to set that; the only case I can see where you might want to leave it on is if you also want to be able to look at all your mail through the Web interface (e.g. when you're away from home). However, that would also mean you'd have to go in occasionally and clean it up.

I'd add to Gord's comment about web site building: Historically, the Microsoft web page builder - Front Page - produced horrible code. It also, still, tends to encourage you to use things that are Microsoft-only. Since many people (myself included) do not use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the web, this can cause problems for us.
When I first had a computer (Windows 98) and when I changed to XP last year, it was all set up by Dolphin and having that instruction ticked was probably because they had found it most useful for people working with LunarPlus or Supernova.

Having read various comments here and there on alternatives to Outlook Express and Internet Explorer (I like the 'exploiter' version!) I have wondered whether to change, but I think I'll stick to what I have got used to, unless something dire occurs!

[grmcdorman]

It can be difficult to switch, especially if there's extra hurdles in the way (which, I gather, may be the case for you, based on your comment above).

None the less, Firefox in particular is, in many ways, nicer than Internet Explorer. There are also fewer outstanding issues with Firefox, I believe - and fewer critical exploits overall.

At the end, though, the decision is up to you. (Note, by the way, that it's possible to temporarily install Firefox on your system to try; it doesn't interfer with IE. Trying out Thunderbird, though, is a bit tricker, due to the fetching of mail.)