Checking Your Email Usage and Quotas

Monitoring your email storage usage is important to prevent reaching quota limits, which can cause incoming emails to bounce. This guide explains how to check your email usage and manage quotas in your dotCanada.com cPanel account.

Email Quota Overview for dotCanada.com Plans

Hosting Plan Email Accounts Storage Per Account Attachment Size
Basic Unlimited 2GB per email account 50MB
Premium Unlimited Unlimited* 50MB
Business Unlimited Unlimited* 50MB

* While storage is technically unlimited, reasonable usage policies apply.

Checking Email Usage in cPanel

Method 1: Email Accounts Overview

  1. Log in to your cPanel account at https://{hostname}.mysecureservers.com:2087
  2. In the search box at the top, type "Email Accounts" or navigate to the EMAIL section
  3. Click on Email Accounts
  4. You'll see a list of all your email accounts with:
    • Email address
    • Usage information (e.g., "250MB / 2GB")
    • Usage percentage shown as a visual bar

Method 2: Disk Usage Tool

  1. In cPanel, search for "Disk Usage" or navigate to the FILES section
  2. Click on Disk Usage
  3. Look for the Mail directory
  4. Click on Mail to see usage for individual email accounts
  5. Each email account will have its own folder showing detailed disk usage

Method 3: Checking Individual Mailbox Usage through Webmail

  1. Log in to your webmail at https://yourdomain.com/webmail or through cPanel
  2. Usage information is typically displayed:
    • In Roundcube: Check the bottom of the screen for usage info
    • In Horde: Look under "Mail" > "Mailbox Management"
    • In SquirrelMail: Check the left sidebar for quota information

Understanding What Counts Toward Your Quota

These items count toward your email quota:

  • Messages in all folders (Inbox, Sent, Drafts, custom folders, etc.)
  • Attachments stored with email messages
  • Trash/Deleted Items (messages here still consume space until permanently deleted)
  • Spam/Junk folder contents

Managing Your Email Quota

If you're approaching your email quota limit, try these strategies:

  1. Empty Trash and Spam folders: These often contain large amounts of forgotten email
  2. Delete large attachments: Search for emails with attachments and save important files to your computer before deleting
  3. Delete old newsletters and notifications: These are often high in volume but low in long-term value
  4. Sort by size: In most email clients, you can sort messages by size to quickly identify large emails
  5. Search for emails older than a year: Consider archiving or deleting older messages you no longer need

  1. Export to local storage: Most email clients allow you to export messages to your computer
  2. Use email client archiving: Programs like Outlook and Thunderbird have archive features
  3. Create backups: Use cPanel's "Backup" tool to save email accounts before deleting messages
  4. Consider third-party archiving: Services like Google Takeout or email backup applications can help manage archives

  1. Adjust individual account quotas:
    • In cPanel, go to Email Accounts
    • Click Manage next to the email account
    • Under "Mailbox Quota", set a new limit (within your hosting plan's capabilities)
    • Click Save
  2. Upgrade your hosting plan: If you consistently need more space, consider upgrading to our Premium or Business plan with higher email storage limits

  1. Set up regular maintenance: Schedule monthly cleanups of old emails and attachments
  2. Configure auto-delete for spam/trash: Set your email client to automatically purge these folders after a certain period
  3. Use email filters: Create filters to automatically organize and manage incoming mail
  4. Implement an email retention policy: Decide how long to keep different types of emails
  5. Monitor usage regularly: Check your quota monthly to avoid surprise overages

What Happens When You Reach Your Quota

When an email account reaches its quota limit:

  • New incoming emails will bounce back to the sender
  • The sender typically receives a message like "Mailbox for user@yourdomain.com is full"
  • You may still be able to send emails, but cannot receive new ones
  • Existing emails remain accessible

Setting Up Quota Notifications

To receive alerts before reaching your quota:

  1. In cPanel, go to Email Accounts
  2. Click Manage next to the email account
  3. Look for "Notifications" or "Alerts" settings
  4. Set a percentage threshold (e.g., 80%) for receiving notifications
  5. Enter an alternative email address to receive these notifications
  6. Click Save
Important: Make sure to use an alternative email address for quota notifications. If your primary email is full, you won't receive the notification there.

Email Client-Specific Usage Checking

  1. Go to the File tab
  2. Click Info
  3. Look for "Mailbox Cleanup" or "Tools"
  4. Select Mailbox Cleanup
  5. Click View Mailbox Size
  6. You'll see a breakdown of folder sizes

  1. Right-click on your email account in the folder pane
  2. Select Properties
  3. Click on Disk Space
  4. You'll see total size and folder breakdown

  1. Go to Mail > Preferences
  2. Click the Accounts tab
  3. Select your account
  4. Click on Account Information
  5. Look for "IMAP Path Prefix" settings (may show quota information)
  6. For detailed size info, use Finder to check ~/Library/Mail/

If you need assistance managing your email quotas or have questions about increasing your storage limits, please contact our support team.

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