topic Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails? in Among Friends

How long do you keep your old, read emails?

qualitygal — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:56:21 GMT

I was just deleting some, and wondered how long you keep your emails for? Some I want to save I move to a folder I've made.

I think it makes your computer work harder to save and keep these indefinitely. But then, I'm not that computer savy. I'm guessing.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

circles — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 10:37:29 GMT

I read and either reply or delete as i go along...before the end of the day i have cleaned out all of my sent and trash...I like to keep my e-mail clean...if i really want to keep something...i will make a copy of it...rarely happens, though...

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

AngelPuppy1 — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 10:53:01 GMT

I am terrible at deleting e-mails. I will not even say how many I had. Just yesterday, I purged all of it.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

Desertdi — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 11:15:21 GMT

Until I get a new one from that person

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

cotton4me — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 12:49:16 GMT

I delete them once I read and/or reply. There's usually no reason to keep them.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

jackthebear — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 12:52:57 GMT

No more than 3 months

junk and mail that is unread gets deleted into the trash can

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

151949 — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:17:13 GMT

I don't have a lot of storage in my chromebook so it deletes them as the space gets filled with new ones. Even if you delete them they are still in there somewhere.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

VaBelle35 — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:08:17 GMT

For Work, I have every email since the day I arrived on 1/6/2000.

For Home, I think it automatically deletes the trash folder periodically. The sent folder, I keep for a few years and then go in and delete a year or 2. I tend to need to find things periodically that someone told me, an address someone sent me or the name of a baby, things like that.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

hckynutjohn — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:53:11 GMT

@qualitygal wrote:
I was just deleting some, and wondered how long you keep your emails for? Some I want to save I move to a folder I've made.

I think it makes your computer work harder to save and keep these indefinitely. But then, I'm not that computer savy. I'm guessing.

That depends on the importance of the e-mail to me. Important ones I save in a folder made specifically for them. I also make sub-folders within that main folder based on it's content.

If they are important enough, I also back them up on my external drive and/or a thumb drive.

As far as the computer working harder? That depends on the content in the e-mail. Only text don't have much, if any effect. Pictures? The bigger the files the more possible effect. Any type of graphics kicks in more computer resources, with video files using the most.

I have maybe a total of 75, my wife has well over a thousand.

hckynut(john)

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

hckynutjohn — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 17:11:10 GMT

@VaBelle35 wrote:
For Work, I have every email since the day I arrived on 1/6/2000.

For Home, I think it automatically deletes the trash folder periodically. The sent folder, I keep for a few years and then go in and delete a year or 2. I tend to need to find things periodically that someone told me, an address someone sent me or the name of a baby, things like that.

Yikes! I hope you have a flawless filing system if "you keep them for a few years". I would need a lot of Main Folders and even more sub-folders within that folder. No way I would remember where I saved so and so's address.

Whatever works for someone.

hckynut(john)

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

chickenbutt — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 17:28:08 GMT

I don't work, so all of mine are personal or personal household type stuff.

As soon as I reply to a personal email I delete it.

When I get a 'thank you for your order' email I have a 'Temp' folder for those. Then, as soon as I get the 'your order has shipped' email I put it in the Temp folder and delete the previous one. As soon as I receive said order I delete the shipped email. Consequently, that folder will always only have current stuff in it.

I keep a folder for 'Product Reg and Warranties'. I keep those for years. Every now and then I go through it and delete all those for warranties that are expired.

I keep a folder for bills. I put the email notifying of the bill in there until I pay it and then I replace that one with the 'paid' email. Then, the next month, I delete all of those to be replaced as the new month's bill emails come in.

I guess the only other ones I keep at all are the ones that are in the folders I have created for each computer, the Tivos, magazine orders, or stuff for Ru.

I do have a number of created folders for certain things but any emails that don't need to be kept are deleted right away.

It's just however YOU want to do it.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

Moonchilde — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:37:51 GMT

@chickenbutt wrote:
I don't work, so all of mine are personal or personal household type stuff.

As soon as I reply to a personal email I delete it.

When I get a 'thank you for your order' email I have a 'Temp' folder for those. Then, as soon as I get the 'your order has shipped' email I put it in the Temp folder and delete the previous one. As soon as I receive said order I delete the shipped email. Consequently, that folder will always only have current stuff in it.

I keep a folder for 'Product Reg and Warranties'. I keep those for years. Every now and then I go through it and delete all those for warranties that are expired.

I keep a folder for bills. I put the email notifying of the bill in there until I pay it and then I replace that one with the 'paid' email. Then, the next month, I delete all of those to be replaced as the new month's bill emails come in.

I guess the only other ones I keep at all are the ones that are in the folders I have created for each computer, the Tivos, magazine orders, or stuff for Ru.

I do have a number of created folders for certain things but any emails that don't need to be kept are deleted right away.

It's just however YOU want to do it.

I am similar. Any personal mail is answered and then deleted unless it's an ongoing discussion with information I want to keep, either for awhile or for the foreseeable future.

I have folders for hanging on to registration and password info, personal business correspondence, purchases, bills, etc. I usually keep purchases and bills in my Inbox until I've received the mdse and am sure I won't be returning it, and until I have the payment receipt, then I delete it. I periodically (every 6 mos/yr) go through all my folders snd delete anything I no longer need to hang on to.

Something I don't believe has been touched on, though - is everyone speaking of gmail, yahoomail, hotmail, etc or are people still using on-computer email program software like Eudora?

I was a huge Eudora fan and used it many years but gave up when it was bought and incorporated by I forget who and I couldn't get it to behave as I wanted. At that point I went with gmail and have never looked back.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

ECBG — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 22:28:12 GMT

I only keep friends work schedules for the period, order confromations, and discount code emails that I may use.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

lulu2 — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 22:45:11 GMT

99% of mine are deleted immediately.

When I reply to an email, I delete the original as there is a copy of it in my sent box.

I love an empty mailbox.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

masque — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 23:17:00 GMT

I was just looking through the folders I have on my main email. There is one that I will never delete. It's from Dec. 2009 from a good friend who is now deceased.

I have some from my dear sister on my yahoo account . She went to be with Jesus in 2013. I will also keep hers forever.

Other folders I go through occasionally and delete the ones I don't need anymore.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

bonnielu — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:57:23 GMT

I read then I wait until the end of the week and then I save in a file those I really need... such as reservations, travel arrangements... the important stuff. (AOL has files in categories). The rest I delete.

I get over 200 emails a day. You can only imagine how much fun this is.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

VaBelle35 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 02:55:28 GMT

@hckynutjohn wrote:
@VaBelle35 wrote:
For Work, I have every email since the day I arrived on 1/6/2000.

For Home, I think it automatically deletes the trash folder periodically. The sent folder, I keep for a few years and then go in and delete a year or 2. I tend to need to find things periodically that someone told me, an address someone sent me or the name of a baby, things like that.

Yikes! I hope you have a flawless filing system if "you keep them for a few years". I would need a lot of Main Folders and even more sub-folders within that folder. No way I would remember where I saved so and so's address.

Whatever works for someone.

hckynut(john)

Key word search is my friend ;o) I file my work by year but I can key word search because I can actually "see" the email I'm looking for. It's disturbing to me if I think about that fact too much.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

GCR18 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 03:33:52 GMT

I only keep two kinds of emails. One is for orders I place online. As I get updates, I delete the older one. Two is for egift cards or coupon codes. I print them, but keep the email until I use it. I move these emails to a folder. Everything else is deleted as I read it. I have OCD and need to have a clean inbox.

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

bebe777 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 20:29:23 GMT

@VaBelle35 wrote:
@hckynutjohn wrote:
@VaBelle35 wrote:
For Work, I have every email since the day I arrived on 1/6/2000.

For Home, I think it automatically deletes the trash folder periodically. The sent folder, I keep for a few years and then go in and delete a year or 2. I tend to need to find things periodically that someone told me, an address someone sent me or the name of a baby, things like that.

Yikes! I hope you have a flawless filing system if "you keep them for a few years". I would need a lot of Main Folders and even more sub-folders within that folder. No way I would remember where I saved so and so's address.

Whatever works for someone.

hckynut(john)
Key word search is my friend ;o) I file my work by year but I can key word search because I can actually "see" the email I'm looking for. It's disturbing to me if I think about that fact too much.

@VaBelle35, I agree. I tend to keep more things but they are filed away so my inbox doesn't look messy. I have certain key files, but the rest is just filed by year in case I want to find the info later on (maybe a few years later).

I'm very good at remembering details so I a few relatively unique key words will generally pull the info I'm looking for right up.

-- bebe

Re: How long do you keep your old, read emails?

AnikaBrodie — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 03:40:31 GMT

I try to keep my Email Usage file under 25%. I have organized file folders according to subject for emails I wish to keep. I review the emails in the files periodically and delete some of the older ones that I no longer need.