If you or someone else is receiving a mailbox full error when sending mail to your address, check the setting in your mail program that leaves a copy of all e-mail on the server. If your mail client is not setup to remove messages after they have been downloaded to your computer, your mailbox can fill up and cause incoming mail to bounce back to the sender. If your mailbox is full you should receive a “mailbox quota exceeded” warning. The most common error the sender will receive is something that says “Recipient’s mailbox is full, message returned to sender.” Error #5.2.2. You may also see a notice from the server stating that your disk space limit has been exceeded.
To setup your mail program to not leave mail on the server, follow the instructions below for the mail client you are using.
On Windows Outlook 2010 and higher:
1) Click on the “File” menu and open “Account Settings”
2) Highlight your e-mail account then click “Change”
3) Click on the More Settings button
4) Click on the Advanced tab
5) Uncheck the “Leave a copy of message on server” box.
6) Click OK.
7) Click Next and then Finish
8) Do a “Send/Receive” one more time to clear out all the old messages.
On Windows Outlook and Outlook Express go to:
1) Tools menu -> Accounts
2) Click on the mail tab
3) Choose properties on your mail account
4) Click on the Advanced tab
5) Uncheck the “Leave a copy of message on server” box.
6) Click Apply then OK and close the Internet Accounts window.
7) Do a “Send/Receive” one more time to clear out all the old messages.
On Windows Outlook 2002/2003:
1) Tools menu -> E-mail Accounts
2) Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, then click Next
3) Choose your e-mail account, then click Change
4) Click on the More Settings button
5) Click on the Advanced tab
6) Uncheck the “Leave a copy of message on server” box.
7) Click OK.
8) Click Next and then Finish
9) Do a “Send/Receive” one more time to clear out all the old messages.
On Outlook 2011 for Mac:
1) Click on the ‘Tools’ menu.
2) Click the ‘Accounts’ tab, and select the appropriate email account.
3) Click the’ Advanced’ tab.
4) Clear the “Leave a copy of each message on server” check box.
5) Click OK.
On Mail for OS X (newer versions)
1) Go to the Mail menu and choose Preferences.
2) From the Accounts tab, highlight your e-mail account in the left column and click the “Account Information” button.
3) Make sure the line that says “Remove copy from server after retrieving a message” is checked.
4) Set the selection box to “Right Away”
If you wish to remove all old stored mail on the server, you can click the “Remove now” button to delete the mail off the server.
5) Close the Preferences dialog and Click “Save” to save the changes.
On Mail for OS X (older versions)
1) Go to the Mail menu and choose Preferences.
2) From the Accounts tab, highlight the e-mail account and click on the “Advanced” tab.
3) Make sure the line that says “Remove copy from server after retrieving a message” is checked. This is the 3rd checbox on the layout.
4) Set the selection box to “Right Away”
If you wish to remove all old stored mail on the server, you can click the “Remove now” button to delete the mail off the server.
5) Close the Preferences window and “Save” changes.
On Thunderbird for Mac or Windows:
1) Open Thunderbird. Click the Tools menu and select Account Settings.
2) Select Server Settings in the left column.
3) Uncheck Leave Messages on the Server
4) Click OK.
On Mac Outlook Express & Entourage:
1) Tools
2) Accounts
3) Double-click on your mail account
4) Choose the Options tab
5) Uncheck the “Leave a copy of each message on server” box
6) Click OK and close the Accounts window
8) Do a “Send & Receive” one more time to clear out all the old messages.
On Eudora for Windows:
1) Open Eudora Pro. Click the Tools menu and choose Options.
2) Select the Incoming Mail category and uncheck Leave mail on server.
3) Click OK.
On Eudora for Mac:
1) Open Eudora Pro. Click the Special menu and select Settings.
2) Select the Checking Mail category.
3) Uncheck Leave on server for [ ] days.
4) Click OK.
Other mail programs have similar settings but you have to check the preferences individually to find where that setting is.
