[peeb]

I used to use Outlook, and every couple of years I would have to archive old .pst files, or else the whole thing would implode under the gravitational field of my old email. Don't tell me not to store so much email, I know, I know, but I still do it.

I now use Mail.app. What is the practical limit to the amount of email I can keep in folders? At what point do I need to archive, and what is the best way to do this?

Thanks!

[rickey939]

I don't think there is a limit.

[Chuckit]

I've never heard of a limit. My Mail dock icon currently lists my number of messages as "Lots," and it's still chugging along all right.

[macintologist]

I've got well over 3000 emails in each of my mailbox and it's doing just dandy. That may or may not be a big number.

[- - e r i k - -]

How can you see how many emails you have in total? Get info, even on local folders only bring up account info

[OreoCookie]

I have several thousand e-mails in Mail with no problems whatsoever. Obviously a mailbox containing 3000 messages will load slower than one with a few hundred.

[rickey939]

Yeah, the fundamental reasoning for this is because Mail stores each e-mail separately, whereas, something like Entourage uses a database to store all the e-mail together. Entourage's database can only grow to 2GB before you are done.

[peeb]

Thanks! Yep - that's the problem I had with outlook - the database got too big - so there's really no practical limit with mail? Wo hoo!

If I did want to archive it, do I just move the folders?

[Catfish_Man]

I have about 4k messages in my main inbox, about 700 total in the other two. Can't say I've noticed any problems.

[Peter]

i've got in excess of 25,000 and it runs fine

[Nivag]

Originally Posted by rickey939 

Yeah, the fundamental reasoning for this is because Mail stores each e-mail separately, whereas, something like Entourage uses a database to store all the e-mail together. Entourage's database can only grow to 2GB before you are done.

The new versions of Entourage 2004 can handle over 4GB - not very well mind, but it does work. Entourage X had the 2GB limit.

I worked on a machine today that had +19,000 emails in the Inbox alone, running the most up to date version of Entourage on a 1GB Mac Mini Intel. To say it had a few spinning beach balls was an understatement! The Database was only 2.6GB in size, i've in-excess of 5GB on some machines and it works fine, but with far less actual emails.

Once I trimmed the inbox and deleted items down to a smaller number (6K in the inbox) it was a lot better.

[real]

I have tons of messages in mail and its doing fine. But I will tell you I have thought of this being a former Entourage user.

[peeb]

So the conclusion is I don't need to do anything?

[JKT]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

How can you see how many emails you have in total? Get info, even on local folders only bring up account info

Do you mean in Mail? Look in the toolbar of the Mail window:



Edit: If you mean for all the mailboxes you have, then you can select multiple mailboxes at once by shift/command clicking them in the Mailbox pane.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by peeb 

So the conclusion is I don't need to do anything?

Other than keeping a backup of your entire Mail folder in ~/Library/ in case things go pear-shaped, no, you don't need to do a thing.

[peeb]

That's so cool!

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by JKT 

Edit: If you mean for all the mailboxes you have, then you can select multiple mailboxes at once by shift/command clicking them in the Mailbox pane.

Awesome. Thank you. I have 2812 mails stored.