University Computer Help Desk

Automatic removal of email in Trash

To help you manage unwanted email, Illinois State University will implement a service to automatically remove old email in your Trash folder on the mail server.

Automatic Removal of 30-Day Old Email in Trash

To help you manage unwanted email, Illinois State University is implementing a service to automatically remove email that is 30 days old (or older) in your Trash folder on the campus mail server. This new automatic email removal service will start during the week of March 24, 2008.

What exactly will be removed?

Only email that meets the following criteria will be removed:

  • Email is 30 days old (or older)
  • Email is in your Trash folder on the campus mail server, mail.ilstu.edu
  • Email messages stored in any mailbox folder other than Trash will not be affected, regardless of how old they are.

All email messages that meet the criteria outlined above (i.e. email that is at least 30 days old and is in your Trash folder) will be automatically removed. The automatic email removal service will continue to run each day and remove email that meets the criteria.

Who does this affect?

All students, faculty, staff, and retirees are potentially affected by the automatic email removal service.

  • iCampus — When you delete email in iCampus, it is moved to your Trash folder. After 30 days, that email will be automatically removed.
  • Webmail — Depending on how you have Webmail configured, deleted email may be moved to the Trash. After 30 days, that email will be automatically removed.
  • Thunderbird — Thunderbird can store deleted email in a Trash folder on the mail server. After 30 days, that email will be automatically removed.
  • Apple Mail — Apple Mail can store deleted email in the Trash folder on the mail server. After 30 days, that email will be automatically removed.
  • Outlook — Outlook can store deleted email in the Trash folder on the mail server. After 30 days, that email will be automatically removed, except for Exchange email (see below).
  • Entourage — Entourage can store deleted email in a Trash folder on the mail server. After 30 days, that email will be automatically removed, except for Exchange email (see below).

There is one exception to the automatic email removal service.

  • Outlook, Entourage, and OWA on Exchange — If you use Outlook, Entourage, or Outlook Web Access (OWA) with Exchange, your Exchange Trash folder is not affected by this automatic email removal service. If you are unsure whether or not this automatic email removal service will affect you, contact your department's technical support staff for assistance.

If you are still uncertain about whether or not you will be affected by automatic email removal, contact the University Computer Help Desk for assistance.

Best Practices for Email

By following the suggestions below, you can prepare yourself for the automatic email removal service. We encourage you to follow these best practices as they benefit all email users.

  1. Use your Inbox as a point of delivery rather than storage space. Try to keep your Inbox clean by moving important emails to separate mailboxes and deleting unwanted ones. A clean Inbox leads to faster email and better performance; an Inbox clogged with email can result in slow load times and possibly even email corruption.
     
  2. Create mailbox folders to store and organize your email. If you need a way to organize and store email efficiently, create separate mailbox folders. For example, create a mailbox called "Work" for work-related email. Organizing and storing email this way is better (and safer) than using Trash or Junk folders for storage.
     
  3. Don't store important emails in your Trash or Junk folders. The Trash folder is intended only to store unwanted, deleted emails. Similarly, the Junk folder is intended to store unwanted, spam emails. Do not store important emails you want to keep in either your Trash or Junk folders.
     
  4. Periodically delete all email in your Junk folder. If you use an email client with Junk Mail filtering, like Thunderbird, Outlook, or Mac Mail, you should periodically delete all the email in your Junk folder. Unwanted spam in your Junk folder unnecessarily takes up storage space on the mail server and can be deleted.
     
  5. Periodically delete old email in your Sent folder(s). Over time, email tends to build up in your Sent folder. Also, different email clients use different names for sent mail (i.e. Sent, Sent-Mail, Sent E-Mail, Out, etc.). You should periodically review the emails in your Sent folders and delete old messages you no longer need.

 

Article Information

  • Article ID: 1199
  • Last Review: Jul 15, 2009
  • Type: Article

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