How to reduce storage in Shared Mailboxes

The University of Windsor will implement new storage limits beginning April 7, 2025 in response to Microsoft’s changes in global storage limits for universities and colleges. These changes from Microsoft have prompted universities worldwide to modify storage offerings.

The University of Windsor’s storage limits will affect individual Outlook mailboxes and OneDrives as well as shared mailboxes and SharePoints. UWindsor’s storage limits are outlined below.

UWindsor’s storage limits for these applications are:

MS365 App	Employee (Faculty/Staff/Sessional)	Student	Retiree	Alumni
OneDrive	20GB	5GB	10GB	N/A
Outlook Mailbox	10GB	5GB	1GB	5GB
Shared Mailbox	20GB per shared mailbox
SharePoint (Teams)	25GB per SharePoint

University of Windsor Outlook and OneDrive storage should only be used for professional and academic matters.

Users who may require more than the allotted quota for work, academic, or research purposes can submit a request to IT Services for review.

Shared Mailboxes

Shared mailboxes enable a group of people to monitor and send email messages from a common mailbox with its own email address, like spam@uwindsor.ca.

UWindsor’s storage limit for a shared mailbox is 20GB.

Note: email archiving is currently available for shared mailboxes. Please request email archiving with discretion, however, as it is expected that it will be counted towards the University’s storage limits in the future.

Owners of shared mailboxes should regularly review and clear emails that are no longer needed.

 

How to review and remove emails and files from your Shared Outlook Mailboxes:

There are many ways to review your Outlook Mailbox to determine emails and files for deletion.

1) Review by Folders:

If emails stored in your Outlook Mailbox are sorted by folders you can use Outlook Web to clear old emails based on date. Learn how to clear old emails from specific inbox folders: https://uwindsor.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/1975/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=151611

2) Use the Sort Tool:

Use the main headings in Outlook to sort your inbox and find specific emails or large attachments that are no longer needed in your inbox. Be sure to review both the “Focused” and “Other” inbox.

 

3) Sort by Date:

You can sort emails by date to get older emails on top and start reviewing and deleting those no longer needed. To sort “by Date” use the dropdown menu on the top right corner of your main mailbox. You can also click the “Received” category to sort your emails by date.

 

4) Sort by Name:

You can also sort emails by name and delete based on sender “From” (in your Inbox folder) or the recipient “To” (in your Sent Items folder).

Example, if you subscribe to a daily/weekly/monthly email, you can search by the sender's name or subject line to find and delete older unwanted issues.

 

5) Sort by Attachment:

You can also sort “by Attachments” to search and remove emails with large attachments (paper clip icon). If you have the file saved to your OneDrive or a SharePoint/Team, there is no need to keep the email version too. 

6) Sort by Size:

You can also sort “by Size” to search and remove emails with large attachments (paper clip icon).

 

7) Find and delete Full Conversations:

You can also utilize the “Conversation View” when reviewing emails. Enabling the conversation view will show the entire email thread grouped together, allowing you to delete the full thread instead of individual emails.

 

8) Empty the Deleted Items and Junk Folders:

Items stored in the deleted folder continue to count against your storage quota until deleted. Be sure to empty this folder periodically. Emails delivered to your junk folder also count against your storage quota until deleted. Be sure to delete emails in this folder periodically. Right-click on the desired folder in the left menu and select “Empty Folder”

 

Other Outlook Mailbox storage management strategies:

1. Archive Old Emails
   • For older emails that are considered important and required for retention, but may not be needed frequently, you can use the Outlook “Archive" function.
   • These emails will still be accessible and searchable but won’t take up as much storage space.
   • Individuals requiring access to the archive function must submit a ticket for IT Services to review.
2. Build good file-keeping habits
   • Create folders within your inbox to save important emails.
   • Set a weekly or monthly reminder to review Outlook to delete emails.
   • Delete unnecessary emails after reading.
   • Empty your deleted and junk folders routinely.