Computing
and Information Services

Together we can maintain a happy and healthy e-mail system! The tips below will help you get started organizing your email account. You'll find instructions whether you use the VMail web client, Mac Mail or Thunderbird (PC / Mac) as a desktop mail client. Remember to clean house regularly; once a day, once a week, or even once a month would do.

Please note, changes made in your desktop client will only be reflected in the web client if you are using IMAP to retrieve your email. If you are using POP you are only making changes locally.

We recommend and support the use of IMAP on campus. If you'd like to switch from POP to IMAP send an email to helpdesk@vassar.edu and someone will be happy to assist you in making the transition.

Don't know which? Follow the directions below to add a folder or mailbox to your client and check to see if the changes are reflected when you log in to webmail. If they are then IMAPing. If they are not, you're probably POPing.

How To Keep a Healthy Email Account

Webmail (VMail)

In the corner of your webmail window, under your user name, you will see the amount of space your account is using on the mail server’s hard disk. Show me how to do this.

Mac Mail

In Mac Mail, right-click or ctrl-click on the mailbox you want to check and choose Get Account Info to see how much space your account is using. Show me how to do this.

Thunderbird (PC / Mac)

Thunderbird doesn't support this. Please check your storage in Webmail.

Webmail (VMail)

Create folders in webmail to organize your messages. If you are using IMAP to access your mail, the folders you create in webmail will be replicated in your client. Show me how to do this.

Mac Mail

Choose Mailbox > New Mailbox from the file menu. For "Location" be sure to choose the account you want to create the new mailbox within. Show me how to do this.

Thunderbird (PC / Mac)

Choose File > New> Folder... from the file menu. Be sure to choose the right account from the "create as a subfolder of:" drop down. Show me how to do this.

Webmail (VMail)

Webmail's Advanced search allows you to easily locate last year's mail and delete it. Show me how to do this.

Mac Mail

Mac Mail allows you to sort messages by date by simply clicking the DATE RECEIVED header (if you are in your Inbox) or the SENT header (for your Sent messages). You can then decide which messages to throw in the trash. Show me how to do this.

Thunderbird (PC / Mac)

Thunderbird allows you to search for messages that are before a specified date. You can then simply delete the messages you no longer need. Show me how to do this.

Webmail (VMail)

Using Webmail's robust Advanced search you can search for sent messages over a certain size and easily delete them. Show me how to do this.

Mac Mail

Go to your sent mail folder, click the SENT header to sort by date and select messages to be moved to the trash. Show me how to do this.

Thunderbird (PC / Mac)

Thunderbird allows you to search for messages in your sent folder that exceed a certain size. You can then simply delete the messages you no longer need. Show me how to do this.

Webmail (VMail)

If you'd like your webmail archived, call the help desk and a user services consultant can arrange to do this for you.

Thunderbird (PC / Mac)

Thunderbird does not support archives. Please follow the instructions for archiving in webmail.

Webmail (VMail)

When you get a message with a large attachment, simply click the DOWNLOAD link to download the attachment, then delete the email from your account. Show me how to do this.

Mac Mail

You can sort messages by clicking the paper clip to see the ones that have attachments. You can then click the SAVE button to download the attachments and the message can now be discarded. Show me how to do this.

Thunderbird (PC / Mac)

Thunderbird allows you to detach an attachment from the email so that you may save the attachment locally and retain the email in your account without the bulky attachment. Show me how to do this.

Regardless of whether you use the web or a local client, be sure to purge your trash on a regular basis. Remember if you've followed some of the other hints and deleted mail, they are still taking up space until you take out the trash.

Finally, rather than sending large attachments by email, upload your file to VSpace and copy the URL to an email.  It is particularly detrimental when you send a large attachment to multiple recipients. For example, if you send a 3MB file to all students, this one message consumes 2400 x 3MB > 7GB of disk space.

For more information on sharing files with VSpace, click here.