Thursday, September 28, 2006

Can anyone run out of Gmail space?

I thought with Gmail, the answer to the question above would be 'No'. I was wrong. Apparently Ross Mayfield has reached his (current) 2768 MB storage limit!

How does one reach 2768 MB worth of mails? Well I'm learning how, from this post. Ross must have some HUGE attachments in his mailbox. Sorry, I don't mean to make fun of Ross (I don't know Ross personally). He wrote that he didn't think it could happen either, but it did. Ross is asking for suggestions on how to manage his Gmail account. I would suggest deleting mails, but I think he has considered that and it's not his preferred option.

Over at the Gmail login page, there's a line that says:
Lots of space - Over 2768.716619 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message.

Maybe now the Gmail team has to change that statement to "... you'll never need to delete another message (unless you've reached the limit)".

I don't know about you, but I rather ENJOY deleting mails that I don't need. One less thing to worry about with each delete button I hit.

Sure, I keep lots of mails and file them under folders and labels. But in truth, I hardly re-read the mails. Mostly filing them away is to satisfy this sense of "what if I need it later?" feeling. Nowadays, I'm more comfortable with using the delete button.

My thinking is that I can't possibly read or remember every single thing there is in the world. And I don't need to. What if I accidentally delete the mail? Well, if it's important enough, the sender will contact me again. If the sender doesn't, I'd probably kick myself but it won't be the end of life as I know it.

Gmail is still the best free web-based email I've used. I'm nowhere near the current storage limit. And when I am, I'll do the little "Delete Dance" on my keyboard.


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4 comments:

  1. Hmmm...I suppose he can get a new gmail account, forward all his new mail there. And reply with his old userid so no one will know the difference.

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  2. Anonymous12:12 pm

    Hi Ivan,

    Read your blog on maintaining our GMail accounts. I came across a similar blog recently - see: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/micro-hack-clean-up-gmail-even-more.html

    Personally, like you, I prefer to spring-clean my mailbox once in a while. I use a number of techniques discussed in the hack/blog above.

    There are a few good personal productivity books out there that teach one how to keep mailboxes under control. I highly recommend: (1) Getting Things Done (David Allen); (2) The Personal Efficiency Program (Kerry Gleeson).

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  3. Siva, I think you've got a very simple solution!

    Chon Hsing, thanks for the useful tips guys. I'm also reminded of this book I read not too long ago, titled "Managing your email: Thinking outside the Inbox"

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  4. A large part of my work consists to teaching people the Japanese technique of good housekeeping called 5S. The first S is Seiri which means Clearing - to discard things you do not need. I think we must have the habit of clearing our emails. Like Ivan, I too create folders to keep my emails and later review them before deleting. When I first started my blog, I actually archived all the comments! But now I only keep the juicy ones.

    ReplyDelete

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