[mythtv-users] OT: mail storage (Was: Labels instead of Recording Groups)

[Simon Hobson]

Mike Perkins wrote:

>>Both my personal and work emails are organized using labels (categories in
>>MS Outlook).  I frequently assign multiple labels to a single email and
>>when I click on the "folder" representing that label I see all the
>>associated emails, even if they appear in other "folders" too.  I haven't
>>moved email out of my inbox folder in years, opting to filter it with
>>labels instead.
>>
>[Off-topic note]
>I wouldn't do that if I were you. A long time ago, when I had a real 
>job and my email was handled by Exchange Server, we were 
>specifically told to remove mail from 'Inbox' as soon as we could. 
>This was because 'Inbox' content was held on the local server, as 
>opposed to other folders which were held as part of the user's data. 
>Obviously, if everyone left everything in 'Inbox' then the Exchange 
>server's disks filled up rather quickly - which was what happened.
>
>I don't know if this is still the case, but it is still good 
>practice to move email out of the Inbox and into some kind of 
>organised storage of your own.

Yes, but that's only half the story. I only have peripheral contact 
with such systems (which is still more than I'd like), but all your 
mail is still stored on the server unless explicitly moved to local 
storage - even if you make additional mailboxes/folders etc and move 
messages.

Outlook can store stuff locally (in .pst files) but there is then the 
separate issue that such file may or may not be backed up depending 
on the IT setup. There are also size limits which vary with 
application and version, as well as disk space limits.

And of course, your organisation may have specific instructions which 
should be followed. For example, there may well be specific 
instructions related to when and how much you prune old messages, and 
what you archive where.


Of course this isn't limited just to Exchange - it also applies to 
IMAP servers (I do handle these at work) as well where it is possible 
for users to store vast amounts of email on the server. A favourite 
one is people who fail to empty their wastebasket/trash/whatever it's 
called for years on end. We do occasionally have problems with users 
for whom webmail stops working - they've got so many messages that 
the web server times out while the webmail software is building the 
page.
I've got a number (thankfully small) of users with a GB or more in 
their inbox 8-O

-- 
Simon Hobson

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