I’ve a recurring problem with my Gmail account…SPACE! I admit I proudly push the limits of my allotted memory and now I realize that there are boundaries that even Google can’t overcome…their original slogan “you’ll never need to delete another message” is simply unrealistic.
It first occurred two months ago and today I was forced to confront my email’s limitations yet again and DELETE items–the horror! I don’t know why it was almost emotional for me to delete emails but it was.
I began using Gmail in 2004 when I received it as a birthday present from a techie friend and I’ve been Email-addled ever since (suggestions for the Email-addicted).
I use Gmail for personal notes, work correspondence and everything in between. Not only does it work better than Outlook (still a dominate workplace program) but it is easily accessed anywhere, its IM feature is great and now its Reader has made it indispensable to me.
I know I’m not unique (for instance) but there must be a better way. Well, you can FULL DELETE your account–which is called declaring email bankruptcy–but that doesn’t seem desirable.
Some Dutch man in China claims to be the first person to encounter the Gmail space dilemma, though in reality he was probably the first to blog about it. (link)
Thankfully, Google Answers tells you that:
“If you go over your storage limit, Gmail will hold your messages for a few days while you clear out some space. If you don’t delete anything within that allotted time, you won’t be able to receive new messages, and messages sent to your account will then be returned to sender.”(source)
Well, I guess I have to deal with the falliability of Google (alas!) but you can be sure that now that Gmail allows 20MB attachments, a lot more people will be encountering this same problem. I still love Gmail but now the program seems more human, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Check out some useful tips about dealing with overburdened Gmail accounts by LifeHacker and Digital Inspiration.
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