Lawrence provides all students and employees an e-mail account for use in connection with their study or work at the college. In managing e-mail services, Technology Services aims to provide a system which is dependable, easy to use, virus-free with minimal spam, and has ample storage for incoming and saved messages. At the same time, e-mail is a shared resource which will be of the greatest availability and use to everyone if we all practice five basic e-mail management principles:

Delete messages you no longer need

This seems obvious, but it is often overlooked. Are unneeded copies of messages you sent still stored in your Sent folder? Are you saving messages as a form of "to-do" list, and those tasks are now accomplished? ...Please be sure to delete all messages and which are no longer needed.

Filter and delete junk mail

The Lawrence e-mail system scans every piece of incoming mail and assigns it a spam score. Mail with a high spam score is automatically routed to the Junk E-Mail folder. Users should review the contents of the Junk E-Mail folder periodically in case something important was incorrectly classified as spam. (It rarely happens, but Murphy's Law still applies.) Ensure that your account has plenty of room for the e-mail you want to receive; Empty the Junk E-Mail folder regularly:

Save large attachments elsewhere

Even though it is very easy to share pictures, audio files, documents, etc. via e-mail, messages with attachments can take up ample space. A typical text-format e-mail message takes only about 4KB; attach a Word document and the message becomes closer to 35KB; attach a PDF file and the message is suddenly 350KB; attach just 3 high-resolution picture files and the message can grow over 6MB! Audio and video clips can take up even more space. One good way to save space in your e-mail account is to save large attachments to your My Documents folder, for example, and delete the e-mail messages associated with them.

Tip: Instead of sharing photos via e-mail, try using a free on-line picture-sharing service like PhotoBucket, Shutterfly, or Snapfish, for example. Such services allow easy picture sharing, allow control over who can see and download your pictures, and provide ample online storage for free or at a very low cost.

Empty deleted mail

When you delete an e-mail message, by default it is moved to your Deleted Items folder. Here it will sit until the trash is emptied - just like at home! These messages take up quota just as unread or saved messages do. Empty the Deleted Items folder each time you access your e-mail:

Monitor your quota

Every Lawrence e-mail user has at least 100MB of storage for their e-mail account. When the amount of storage you are using reaches 85% of your account quota, you will receive an email message alerting you to your quota status. (click here to see sample email). You can also take a proactive approach to monitoring your quota before you receive a warning message. Check your available e-mail space through Webmail:

  1. From a computer, open a web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox)
  2. Log in to Webmail at http://webmail.lawrence.edu
  3. In the left, vertical task pane of Webmail, click on Mail to open and view your Mail folders (Mail is the default view, so it may already be displayed for you). Your name should be at the top of the list. Move your mouse in order to hover or rest the pointing hand cursor just over your name for a few seconds (without clicking the mouse). Your used quota will appear in a new, small window next to your name.

What should you do if you are approaching your quota limit? Recover space by following the first four basic e-mail management principles detailed above. If your space recovery efforts do not free up enough of your quota, contact the Helpdesk for further assistance. Requests will be considered and additional quota granted as appropriate.