Email account full - How can I get it working again?

Dww

I have been working with old email files in my Windows 10 Outlook 365 program.

By mistake, I have copied a lot (>17000) of old emails into my main email account's Inbox.

The local email account ost file is now smaller (below 5GB) as I've moved the old emails out of it to other email accounts (ost files) in Outlook 365, but I am struggling to access Webmail for the main email account.

Sometimes I'm warned the account is almost full ("fast voll") * and sometimes that it is full ("voll").

When I can access the Inbox (*), I can see over 17000 emails in the Inbox 😞

These are not being synchronised with Outlook 365 and I'm not sure I how I can remove / move / delete them from the Webmail database.

Can Swisscom or someone help me fix my email account?

DomiP

@Dww I am a bit confused indeed.

Are you talking about your Microsoft 365 Inbox or a Bluewin Mail Inbox?

If the first one is your provider it would be easier to contact Microsoft directly.

You could try to access your Bluewin Inbox using the tool https://www.mailstore.com/de/produkte/mailstore-home/ to create a backup of your files first so that you wouldn't lose any mails.

Then via Outlook or Thunderbird you could delete all not needed mails anymore.

Dww

Thanks for your comments 😀

>> I am a bit confused indeed.

Yes, it's a bit unusual...

>>Are you talking about your Microsoft 365 Inbox or a Bluewin Mail Inbox?

It's the Bluewin inbox which is the problem... Outlook/Microsoft 365 is working ok (for other accounts) but it can't see the 17000 old emails in the Bluewin inbox.

>>If the first one is your provider it would be easier to contact Microsoft directly.

It's not.

You could try to access your Bluewin Mail Inbox using the tool https://www.mailstore.com/de/produkte/mailstore-home/ to create a backup of your files first so that you wouldn't lose any mails.

>>In fact, I don't mind "losing" those 17000 emails as I have them stored locally in PST files... I just need to delete them in the Bluewin inbox and get Outlook 365 to synchronize the folders correctly again:

- Outlook 365 can't see the 17000 emails (they're not synchronizing)

- Now I can see them in the Bluewin Mail inbox, but deleting them manually, 100 at a time, is rather painful.

>> Then via Outlook or Thunderbird you could delete all not needed mails anymore.

It's strange I can see them from my phone email, sometimes from Bluewin webmail inbox but not from Outlook 365 (using imap).

Hope this is clearer 😉

DomiP

Thanks for your clarification. Now I get it 😅.

It is very difficult to use the Bluewin Webmail, especially for sorting or deleting a high volume of mails.

I am currently a bit curious about the IMAP-Problem. Another user in the german part of this community also posted a simillar problem with IMAP...

Maybe there is a known issue at the moment ( @ChristianG?).

If you "want" to delete your complete inbox you may also reach out to the Swisscom Support. They are maybe able to do this all for all.

Otherwise I would wait until you can use it correctly using IMAP. There its just CTRL+A then DEL and all Mails are gone.

Dww

>>Thanks for your clarification. Now I get it

Good. I rarely have problems I can't fix myself, but when I do have a tough problem, it can be tricky...

>>It is very difficult to use the Bluewin Webmail, especially for sorting or deleting a high volume of mails.

So true, there's very little you can do but I did find a way of getting to the end of the 17+k emails and selecting 100 at a time with the settings wheel, select "All" which fortunately only chooses 100.

>>I am currently a bit curious about the IMAP-Problem. Another user in the german part of this community also posted a similar problem with IMAP... Maybe there is a known issue at the moment ( @ChristianG?).

I could imagine there is, but it may be related to me going over the 5GB limit and perhaps breaking the index. Or maybe it's due to them being very old (back to 2003)... Certainly not "normal usage".

>>If you "want" to delete your complete inbox you may also reach out to the Swisscom Support. They are maybe able to do this all for all.

How do I get help from them?!

>>Otherwise I would wait until you can use it correctly using IMAP.

Yes.

>>There its just CTRL+A then DEL and all Mails are gone.

Indeed, but I'm not hopeful it will be fixed quickly given I've gone way out of specifications for the "normal usage".

Thanks again,

David

DomiP

Hi David,

yes this might be a Problem that Swisscom blocks the "abnormal use" of their services.

But you could contact Swisscom via 0800 800 800 or via WhatsApp (same number) alternatively using the MySwisscom -App.

Clarify them your problem and tell them that they should, if possible clear your whole inbox.

They may want you to pay a single fee as this is not a regular service which swisscom supports in your case.

Cheers,

Dominik

LeylaG

Hello @Dww

Have you been able to delete those emails?

We are looking forward to hear from you.

Have a nice day

Dww

Thanks for asking.

Yes, I did remove them all manually, but then, before I really understood what was happening, my "rules" copied more 1000s more old emails into my local OST files, and these got replicated on to the Bluewin server.

I removed them from the local OST files, but they're still on the Bluewin server and I can only remove them manually, 100 by 100...

I guess there's a reason the synchronisation can't remove them from the Bluewin server...?

At least my email accounts can be used so I can still work with them, unlike the day I raised the problem first.

Best regards,

David