Netscape 7.0 Sent box?

I am still planning on converting to TB, however, in the mean time my Sent box is approaching 2000 sent emails. Should I delete some to avoid the problem I had when my Inbox crashed from having too many messages (2900) in it? I don't want to lose anything in the other folders.

 

RJ,

You absolutely need to archive those 2,000 messages. If you have plenty of HD space, then create a backup, or Archive folder, and move the messages out in small increments, and not all at once. I would do this in Windows Explorer, and of course, with Netscape closed.

If HD space is at a minimum, then burn the messages to CD. You might take a look here on archiving messages to CD: Archive and Access Messages on CD

 

Not just in netscape, but in OE and thunderbird and all other email clients I strongly recommend not letting your inbox get bloated. It can slow program launch and lead to corruption.
I like to create some new folders either in the account or in local folders such as "work ", "friends ", "rebates ", "newsletters" etc.
Then after you read things in your inbox, you move them to an appropriate folder.
This way they are easier to locate at a later date, and no one folder gets bloated.
It also makes saving extracted copies to CDR easier since things are already organized.

 

What maximum size do you recommend not to exceed?

 

RJ,

I'm ultra conservative, and I never accumulate more than about 75 messages in my Inbox. I copy to CD when I have that many, or simply clean out the ones I don't need or want to keep.

Others will give you their opinions too...

 

I freak out when I exceed 50 e-mails in any one account.
I go a few step further than any anyone, by having specialized accounts (usernames, as well as domains), for different purposes.
Some e-mails can be stored on the hard drive, if not needed, anymore, but deemed important, but anything which has a pile of e-mail tells me that, either it should be archived, if thought important, or deleted, if just kept there. And, it is next to impossible to find anything in a very large folder.
The more stuff you have, the more difficult it is to compact the mail, and having controlled my Spam (they can't keep up with my 12 e-mail addresses, and if they do, I will do away with the accounts), one or two could go unnoticed in a large (50 or more e-mails) folder.

 

I move things from inbox to the sorted folders when I read them if I have time. Other than that, I do it as a part of weekly routine maintenance on my computer; just like I check the oil, air pressure, radiator and windshield washer fluid in my truck on a weekly basis.
But other than my Gmail account, I rarely leave more than a few messages in the inbox.

 

RJ3301 ...

I totally agree with archiving email and keeping your inbox slimmed down, but I think that Ramona, Westside, and Pete are being overly conservative. I really don't think there is a maximum to the number of messages your email client can safely store.

I use Thunderbird and, just to give you a different perspective, my single email account's Inbox has 35 folders and subfolders and, at last count (it almost embarrasses me to admit this ), I have 6778 received email messages stored in my Inbox. My Sent folder contains 29 folders and sub-folders, and I have 4370 sent messages stored.

That's 11,148 messages (plus one draft) stored in my Tbird profile's Mail folder, and the program has never even burped. Let me hasten to add, though, that I don't advocate this, and that I do archive my messages.

 

Jim,
I don't think that I am particularly conservative, but I just want to see my mail in a glance. If I could have several thousands of e-mails in a single folder, and find the messages with ease, I would do it. Searches are as good as what you enter, but, I would also back it up.
Some people may need to have, at hand, thousands of e-mails for business purposes.
But, it is obvious that I did not make clear the fact that when I am mentioning Inbox or Sent folders, I mean the active folders, not other folders or subfolders.

 

Jim,

Thanks for clarify that you don't advocate the sizes of your Mail folders, as you would be giving some very bad advice.

The Inbox in any email client is the busiest part of the program, and therefore more prone to corruption. By keeping it relatively empty, and by compacting regularly, you can avoid a lot of problems.

RJ,
See this on compacting:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

See this on preventive browser maintenance:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/prevmaint.html

 

Ramona ...

It wasn't intended as advice, and I didn't expect it to be taken that way ... 'twas was purely anecdotal.

 

Jim,

Understood.

When asked if there was a size limitation beyond which emails could get corrupted, one of the Moderators on MozillaZine stated:

This is a frequently asked question on the Forums and Newsgroups, and the most common response.