Messed up at work. Feel sick

[User292]

This might not sound like a big deal but it is and I’m STUPID!!! I’m literally so stupid for not realising. Everything that I do is largely via email. I send and receive lots of emails daily, i have been at the company for a year and so I’ve got a years worth of emails on my laptop (plus a little more from a few months before I started)

all last week I was getting notifications to say my mailbox is almost full. I was deleting emails that I don’t need to keep but it wasn’t really doing anything, and today I got a notification that said I can’t send or receive any new emails because my inbox is full. I decided, all of the very old stuff can go because I’ve already dealt with it and it’s done. I cleared out all of the emails from June 2023 to June 2024. But my inbox was still full. The notification said to empty my deleted items folder. So I did. Inbox still full. So at this point I messaged my manager and said I don’t know what’s happening with my emails, it’s saying inbox full despite me deleting. He replied saying DO NOT delete any emails!! As we need a trail as backup and evidence of conversations and approvals for things etc. I haven’t replied because I’m hyperventilating. I have just deleted a years worth of emails. I feel really sick why did I do that! I thought I had to and there was no other way around it because it was saying I can’t send or receive any new emails so what else was I supposed to do?! He said there is an archive folder to put them in to clear space but I didn’t know 😢

Not sure what this post is for but needed to just say AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

go to File > Account Information > Mailbox Settings and click on Tools and you should see Mailbox Cleanup. Click view Mailbox Size and you’ll see all your folders and subfolders. It could be that you’re auto saving something in a sub folder (like Drafts) and you can free up more space that way. Just a thought ;)

One of the biggest culprits is Calendar - if people attach items to meeting invites it can destroy your mailbox easily

Can't you just get IT to move them from where they are now to the archive cloud, rather than restoring them to you?

And make friends with the PA’s too! The IT people and PA’s are the ones with the real power!

Request some IT support and get help setting up automatic archiving.

Now for the hard part. Take this learning and implement it. You are and never were stupid, you have this. You came across a problem, got help and are in the process of sorting it.

That is the most important thing that happened today. You and your problem solving and working out the solution. It is always really difficult to take that and apply it the next time the proverbial hits the fan.

All too bloody often we don't recognise our own strengths.

I’ve asked my manager to call me when he’s out of a meeting because I can’t do it by myself I don’t know wtf is going on. I don’t know how to rectify the issue when your mailbox is too full yet he doesn’t want me to delete anything……. Yea it’s all still there on the web version, but the problem still remains that I have no space. I have thousands and thousands of emails I can’t sift through every single one to work out what is important and what can be deleted. I’ve even done what he said and moved stuff to archived but it’s not helped. Might need to speak to IT but what can they do exactly other than give me unlimited space because this is just going to keep happening and it’s not nice to have such clogged up emails as well with pointless shit that I might never even need. What a mess

It happens, we were told to delete loads of emails and files we didn't need only a few people deleted some deathly important files by accident... like completely off the system into the ether kind of deleted. I'm glad you have everything restored :)

This is a good idea. Also I look for keywords:

things like "cake in the kitchen"

leaving gifts and parties

external emails for things like courses that you don't need at all or anymore

It can soon save a few hundred emails!

I had 60,000 on my gmail! Then I found exactly the same emails in my promotion folder, and three other folders which is why I could not email my friends!

I had kept my work email down to a small level - I have archived some but we get so much shit on our work emails that we do not need that I got rid of those, no problem. As long as you can sort thru what is important (I keep anything about training) but get rid of the rotas after I have typed them up (about a week later I mean I get rid of.

What a lovely thread.

I'm retired now but can well remember the awful panic when you make, what you think, is a sacking offence mistake at work.

People online can be so scathing. It's so good to see all these posters wanting to reassure and help OP.

I believe IT back up the system every night in most organisations so they should in theory be able to get you back to where you were when you logged on this morning. Depends on the size of your company/server/IT department though.

Always better to move things out of your ‘InBox’ and pop in an archive file of sorts - I do this every December 31st. Create a folder that says ‘inbox to 31st Dec 20XX’ and move it over. That way I still have everything but it’s not in staring at me every time I open my inbox.

Try not to panic.

I don't know about restoring emails but presumably any emails you sent had a recipient and all the emails you receive have a sender, so someone still has copies of them. It's not your fault you deleted them, you didn't know that your manager wanted you to keep them. It seems a bit excessive to me to keep every email.

I think you've done the right thing getting your manager involved so they can tell you what they want you to do with the emails - if they need you to keep them they 1) need(ed) to have told you that up front at the beginning, and 2) have a process in place to ensure they're kept responsibly.

What if you were off on long term sick and they wanted to find something in your outbox/inbox? They couldn't really wade through thousands of unfiled emails either, could they?

In looking into it further OP I think the new outlook system is flawed.

It used to be that you could delete everything in your online outlook because you already have a downloaded version on your outlook programme on your computer, which you can then create a separate back up of. But it seems you can't back up your local version anymore, and you can only save what you have online (not local), so if you delete those they will be gone forever, it is obviously done to make you pay for more storage.

I think the easiest option is to get more storage, it will solve both problems, it will get you online again, and it will keep a copy of your emails which is what they require.

Is the computer & outlook subscription yours, or is it something the company provides? If it's yours, login to the online version, go to 'settings' > 'general' > 'storage' and see what it says, click on 'get more storage' and see what that says, if you have a free account you can upgrade to a paid for one for £1.99 a month which will up your storage considerably, if your employer requires you to keep copies of emails for so long then they should be paying that for you to be honest, or if they own everything they should be able to grant you more storage.

None of this is your fault as they obviously haven't made it clear what they expect with regards to retaining emails/archiving etc.

Speak to IT before you speak to your manager.

I kinda get annoyed when someone comes to me with an IT issue and I say, speak to IT. Get the solution or at least the options from IT first before asking your manager.

Hope you get this resolved.

I’ve sorted it out now thank god. Got a headache

So relieved for you, OP. And you are NOT stupid. This could have happened to everyone. If anything the system just doesn't work if you inbox keeps getting full like that.

Calm down. Take a propanolol. Ring IT

a few things to remember at work for “about to shit myself” panic moments :

1. there is rarely such a thing as permanent delete any more. Generally IT can restore most things, especially if you notify them the same day as you’ve deleted items.

2. rarely is a fuck up ONLY your fault. IME the vast majority of perceived fuck ups by individuals are actually systems failures, training failures or failures of management. That’s not so say it’s prudent to play the blame game- but also, don’t berate yourself, if you’ve made a human error in a system that isn’t working or isn’t supporting you.

3. if you’re not a brain surgeon, it’s likely that your fuck up will ultimately, on the level that matters be okay. And if it’s not okay- likely nobody died.

4. Boris Johnson. Matt Hancock. Liz Truss. When THEY fucked up, they really fucked up. You will never have as bad a day at work as one of those fools - and they walk around with their heads held high. So can you.

I know that must be really upsetting but here is what I hear:

1. You wanted to keep working and deleted emails to ensure that you were still able to do your job and get emails into your inbox.
2. You deleted a reasonable time frame (so not super recent) so you are aware that you may need more recent emails.
3. You tried to sort the problem out yourself.

So, hard working, proactive and thoughtful. Give yourself a major break. Emails should be able to be restored via the IT department (what if someone hacked into your company server, what if a laptop was stolen internally, what if a disgruntled employee deleted something before they left......for example).

Your company will have provisions for these things happening. You didn't screw up at work and you didn't do anything wrong. If you manager would like a clear trail and if the process is to use an archive folder they need to tell you this so that you can know to follow process. You can't read minds.

So youve to transfer stuff into an archive folder.

Um, in my work that gets auto deleted oldest stuff first.

Plus it still adds to the size of our inbox.

So I'm thinking that's not really an answer.

There needs to be somewhere that documents of note (such as emails that are important to prove stuff) are saved so anyone can see them.

They shouldn't be in one persons inbox. What if something happens to that inbox. Like IT delete it or something.

There needs to be a storage solution that's appropriate. I'd be asking colleagues if it's ever been discussed. Or IT colleagues.

Your manager doesn't seem to know much.

This! I am a bit shocked that your employer didn't give you the appropriate training before they let you start.

Thanks for this, and you’re completely right! ❤️

Thank you 🥹 I did manage to sort it by myself. My manager still isn’t out of a meeting so I was never able to tell him what I’d done. But I’ve managed to find a way around it now anyway. Thanks for this comment ❤️

Your personal emails is a ridiculous place to store emails you may need. Don't they have a filing system?