Ever wonder how much storage space you have in your WebTV email account?

Ever wonder how to figure out all the percentage numbers in the "Clean-up mode?

This tute is as far as you need to look.
Let's start with a little history, before we go into our current storage capacity.

Then, MSNTV upgraded our storage to 8 MB. We had 4MB in "Saved Mail, and another 4MB for the "inbox", for a total of 8MB. We also had a limit of 500 emails, each for the inbox, and the saved mail folder, thus each section could either hold 4MB, or 500 emails, whichever came first. (Exceptions)
However, at that time, MSNTV never updated our "clean-up" percentage program, thus when we had 8MB of space, our clean-up still showed % numbers that reflected our old storage capacity.

Although inconvenient, this was pretty easy to figure out.
Both the inbox, and saved mail space was doubled, so all we had to do, was to take each individual email's % number, and divide it by 2, thus if you had an email that showed it took up 4%, you knew it really only took up 2%. If it was .2% (2 tenths), it was really only .1% ( 1 tenth), etc..
To find out the total space used, you added all the shown % numbers up, but instead of being full at 100%, you were not full, untill you reached 200% or 500 emails. (Exceptions)

Now, fast forward to our current capacity.
Since Hotmail, & Yahoo have greatly increased their storage capacities recently for free accounts, and in light of Google's new "Gmail", MSNTV has been kind enough to increase our email capacity, too.
We now have a total of 25 MB's of storage space, or 2,000 emails, and here's how it breaks down:

Our inbox holds a total of 10 MB's, or 1,000 emails, whichever comes first. (Exceptions)

Our saved mail folder now has 15 MB's of storage, or 1,000 emails, whichever comes first. (Exceptions)

Now comes the hard part. MSNTV has STILL not updated our "Clean-up" percentage program!!!
Figuring out how much space you've used up, have left, or the size of an individual email, is gonna get a whole lot messier......
To make matters worse, you need 2 different formulas to figure it out, depending on where the email is located!!!!!

Fear not. I've already done the math for you, to show you how to sort through this mess.
In the meantime, unless you're a "whiz" with numbers, I recomend you learn how to do this:

After you get that down pat, get out a pen and write down the following 2 formulas:

Our inbox holds either 10 MB's or 1,000 emails, whchever comes first. (Exceptions)
To determine an individual email's true size in the inbox, take the "shown" % number, and divide it by 5.
Therefore, if you have an email that shows as 5%, it is really 1%. If it shows as 10%, it's really 2%, etc.

To find the total space used in the inbox, the method is a little easier.
You simply add up all the shown % numbers, but instead of being "full" at 100%, you are not full untill you have reached 500%, or 1,000 emails. (Exceptions)

Our saved mail folder holds either 15 MB's or 1,000 emails, whchever comes first. (Exceptions)
To determine an individual email's true size in saved mail, take the "shown" % number, and divide it by 7.5 (However to make the math easier, just round it up to 8).
Therefore, if you have an email that shows as 16%, it is really 2%. If it shows as 24%, it's really 3%, etc.

To find the total space used in saved mail, the method is a little easier.
You simply add up all the shown % numbers, but instead of being "full" at 100%, you are not full untill you have reached 750%, or 1,000 emails. (Exceptions)

Wed. morning Maint. has brought about a big mess in email clean up. Many emails have nothing for a number or show as 0%, while others are very innaccurate, compared to before. Obviously, Webtv isn't finished with the clean up program, so this little "Whoops" section is just to try to make a little rhyme or reason out of the mess. When they finish working on the clean up program, this tute will naturally be revamped to reflect the final outcome.

First let me say that our storage HAS NOT been changed. We STILL have 25 MB's (10-inbox, 15-saved).
Using a jpg attachment that is exactly 1 MB, I experimented with an empty email accout on webtv. Before the big mess, it showed up as 68%, but now shows as 14%.
Even though the inbox and saved mail have different capacities now, it shows up as 14% in both places, which is why this whoops section can only be used as a vague guide.

As a result of my testing, here is the closest educated guess that seems to stay consistant:
Your inbox is now full at 112%. Individual emails should be divided by 1.4 (1 point 4)

Your saved folder is now full at 154%. Individual emails should be divided by 2.
End of Whoops section.

There are a few exceptions to the limit of 1000 emails for the inbox, and are as follows:

• You can get over 1000 messages in the inbox when you get "postmaster returns" / "failure of delivery" notices.
  This also includes such returns generated by spammers that use your addy to forge spam with, making it look as though YOU sent the spam.
  (commonly known as "joe-jobs")
  If any of the addys they sent spam to bounce, YOU will get the "returns", even if you have a FULL mailbox.



• Certain mails called "E-mail Notifiers" (official announcements from msntv) are placed directly in the mailbox, and show up even if yours is full.



• If you have migrated the webtv.net user to the new MSNTV2 box, and ALSO have it on the old box as well, you can then surpass the 1000 limit.



• If you have an msn or hotmail account as your username on your webtv box, you can surpass the 1000 limit.