SOLVED Cannot receive emails because I am being told that the senders are receiving a mailbox full message.

[Heathsideboy]

I have never had this problem before, and this is the first time. I am using Microsoft Outlook 2019. I am being told by others who have sent me emails they are getting a message there end saying that my mailbox is full. Therefore, I cannot receive any emails. The problem is with my exchange account, not my extra profile accounts.

I've gone into my settings > storage, and it shows 6.0 GB used from 5 GB. This shows in blue as my OneDrive account.

My email storage shows I have only used 3.2 GB out of 15 GB and only used 21%, so there is plenty of room left as I have used nowhere near 15 GB. So, why am I not being able to receive emails? Is it just a case of taking out over 1 GB in my OneDrive account, and then it will return to normal?

Please advise and tell me what to do, as this is urgent. Thank you.

HB

 

[Bighorn]

Yes, decreasing the amount of data to below the 5GB OneDrive should help, I don't have need for OneDrive but would treat it like my computer drive, keep at least 20% free space. It may mean getting an External USB drive to move from both areas, treat it as Archiving some of the data.

 

[Heathsideboy]

Thanks for coming back to me, Bighorn

Yes, that’s what I’ve done, and I am doing. It seems to do the trick. I understand I went over the limit in my OneDrive account; I get that. What I cannot understand is by going over the limit in OneDrive, why I could not receive emails in my Microsoft Outlook 2019 application.

My email storage shows I have only used 3.2 GB out of the free 15 GB, only 21% of the allowed free quota. Therefore, why could I not receive emails if I exceeded the limit on OneDrive? I thought the two were unrelated, weren’t they? Microsoft must have changed their policy or something, as I have never had this problem before.

HB

 

[Bighorn]

No, the two are not unrelated, quite well tied together. One could disable or uninstall OneDrive but it may come back at each Version Upgrade and maybe with Build updates.

And if I had money to bet I'd wager it will get tighter in the future considering one of things mentioned a few years ago is coming true with SaaS, Software as a Service, [subscriptions] and the other thing was WaaS, Windows as a Service, or maybe thought more of as Cloud Computing.

 

[Heathsideboy]

In that case, it will be better for me to put the files on my hard drive. The only reason I use OneDrive is because of the free storage.

HB

 

[Bighorn]

A part of the concept given of OneDrive [older name was SkyDrive], iDrive, Google Cloud is the capability of accessing files when working away from the office or home, it did lessen the issue of losing a thumb drive that carried important files but still access them from a 'foreign' computer. And like DropBox and other such sites one could share files with others, let them download those that were too large for E-Mail attachments.

 

[Heathsideboy]

Yes, I know, but in my case, I am disabled, and I had one set of documents on my laptop in my room. If I put files and folders in OneDrive, I could access them in my garage, where they were on a desktop computer. That saved me great inconvenience going to and from each room in a wheelchair. I only need a few files on OneDrive anyway, for my purpose.

How do you move OneDrive files and folders to your hard drive? Can you just cut and paste them as normal, or is there a different way I should use? Thanks.

HB

 

[Bighorn]

I don't use OneDrive, haven't gotten comfortable with the possibility of losing files inadvertently.

I went a different way. I have a network in my house with several computers, both Wired Desktops and Wireless/Wi-Fi Notebooks connecting to the Internet through a Wireless Router using a WirelessDSL PoE Modem. I have a NAS drive attached to my Router and can Map the drive on any computer for file storage and access, no one computer has to be running to do so, Same for the 2 printers attached to Router. It's been a good setup since leaving Windows 98 SE with its ICS/Internet Connection Sharing feature and Dial-UP service over 20 years ago.

 

[Heathsideboy]

It sounds like you've got it sussed. Now all I have to do is work out how to transfer some of my files and folders from OneDrive to my hard drive. Do you know how to do this? Thanks.

HB

 

[Bighorn]

Should be able to use File Explorer and Copy, Paste from one folder to the other. And maybe also a "just in case" USB drive.

 

[Heathsideboy]

Yes, but if I copy them, they will still be there on OneDrive, will they not? That defeats the object of trying to free up space on OneDrive, does it not? Can I not just cut & paste them, so it removes them from OneDrive altogether?

 

[Bighorn]

When dragging files from one folder to another on the same drive they Move, from a drive to a different drive they Copy so can then Delete from the first will work after the Copy.

 

[Heathsideboy]

That shows you how naïve I am. I thought you could just cut & paste from OneDrive to another drive and they will be gone from OneDrive.

Let me see if I've got this right?

If I copy them on OneDrive and put them anywhere on my hard drive, I can then delete them in OneDrive. Is that what you are saying?

Thanks

HB

 

[Bighorn]

As I indicated, I have little experience using OneDrive on a daily basis but there is a folder on the computer for OneDrive, I'd just move from that folder to another on the same computer then check what happened on OneDrive itself.

 

[Heathsideboy]

I'll give it a go and let you know what happened in this thread.

HB

 

[Heathsideboy]

Okay, I moved many files and folders in my OneDrive and put them on my computer’s hard drive. That gave me 2.8 GB used out of 5 GB.

With my email storage, my total use after moving all my sent emails (many with attachments) into an archive folder is 2.2 GB used out of 15 GB. The yellow warning sign disappeared when I opened my computer the next day.

OneDrive storage not only takes into consideration the amount of files & folders it stores, but also attachments that are on your emails. This is the policy that has changed, as they never used to include attachments in your Outlook email. I only use OneDrive for a few folders, and they are all syncing now, so that was the problem.

Anyway, job done. If anyone sees this post and uses OneDrive, just take that into consideration; cheers.

HB

 

[Bighorn]

Good for you.

 

[Heathsideboy]

Thanks, Bighorn, and thanks for all your advice.

HB