How long do you keep emails?

 

I use Windows Mail and place most emails, received and sent, in folders that I have made. A few computers later, I have over 13,000 incoming emails with some 6 years old.

 

Am I a hoarder?

Psh, I'm more than a gig deep in my gmail box and I shutter to think about actually counting them all.

 

So no, you don't have a problem

Based on the fact I have folders with emails from the early-90s, I'm not sure I'm one to judge...

No Problem Paul, I have stuff thats older than that, but saved in folders so I know where to find it. That and I even do daily, end of week and 2 times a month clean ups, but I do go though 300-500 emails a day.

being a computer tech, i have emails with "fixes" and documents, and stuff like that, dating back to 2000, when i started working with my current company...

 

now we are being told we are out of compliance, and our email retention will only be 1 year .. it's going to suck when they delete our PST folders... i'm at 2 seperate 3GB files for my emails... my deleted items has over 21,000 emails..lol...

 

since it's all digital, and doesn't take any physical space, i don't think it matters, until you start running low on hard drive space, which these days, can almost be impossible..

 

so i think you are good, unless you have sensitive emails, i wouldn't worry about it..

My archive goes back to 2008 with a few chunks of 2000-2005

being a computer tech, i have emails with "fixes" and documents, and stuff like that, dating back to 2000, when i started working with my current company...

 

now we are being told we are out of compliance, and our email retention will only be 1 year .. it's going to suck when they delete our PST folders... i'm at 2 seperate 3GB files for my emails... my deleted items has over 21,000 emails..lol...

 

since it's all digital, and doesn't take any physical space, i don't think it matters, until you start running low on hard drive space, which these days, can almost be impossible..

 

so i think you are good, unless you have sensitive emails, i wouldn't worry about it..

 

I have a few accounts that I use, combination of Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail that I achieve my stuff in so I can access it anywhere and also have no retention policies to deal with. That and these new Clouds and Live accounts, as well as Box etc are good for the same thing.

 

I also run a NAS at home as well as 2 separate 1TB external HD's that I keep stuff on and use LogMeIn so I can access it and do what I want remotely.

 

Not that I need to tell you, and if company policy doesn't restrict it, plenty of alternate options for off site storage.

I delete obvious junk but have over 10 years of email. The cost of storage is almost nothing and there is an occasion when I do want to go back over old stuff.