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Yes it is my fault that despite numerous emails in the past about Google Apps deleting emails in the Trash, or in our case with Google sync and Outlook, the Deleted Items folder. I will talk with Microsoft about not using such cryptic naming conventions like DELETED ITEMS for folders in Outlook.

I’m so tired of people treating the Deleted Items folder like a flipping file cabinet, and then being called a smart ass when I make comments like " Do put things in your trash at home that you want to keep? You need to think of Deleted Items or Trash folder as that."

About ready to just delete all emails and have people use pen a paper.

While this rant didn’t make me feel better, I appreciate the forum to release some frustrations. Please resume doing what ever you were doing.

45 Spice ups
2

Couldn’t agree with you more. My users do the same thing and it boggles the mind.

I love this and I think I will probably steal it (sorry!):

“Do put things in your trash at home that you want to keep? You need to think of Deleted Items or Trash folder as that.”

Also, someone definitely has to address the “cryptic naming conventions”, good call! LOL!

8 Spice ups
3

I am in the same boat, we have users that will do the same thin with messages on our VOIP system.

3 Spice ups
4

I know of this argument sooo well. It’s always when… “I really needed that e-mail from that important customer that will never do business with us again, EVER, if we can’t get it back”. It’s the Chicken Little Syndrome or the Boy Who Cried Wolf Syndrome.

The treatment: smile, nod your head in agreement, apologize for something that isn’t your fault, affirm that it is beyond your control and that you’ll send Bill Gates another e-mail about it. Then Rant to fellow spiceheads. Just don’t bottle it up or it’ll consume you.

5 Spice ups
5

It is amazing. In all my years in IT, this is one of the most consistent issues with users. It amazes me that they would uses a deleted items folder as a file cabinet. I have even seen users create sub folder in the deleted items folder.

11 Spice ups
6

The worse part is I have software called MailStore running that archives emails after 3 to 6 months (depends on the user and amount of email traffic). There is a plug in for outlook that allows you to search the archive various ways. It’s quick and runs in the background. I have no space restrictions on that because it compresses the crap out of everything, so they can save what ever they want for as long as they want. There is no need to trash things you think you will ever need.

I just remembered of a user at my old job about 12 years ago. He would print out every email he got and file it in a file cabinet. If someone replied to an email he would print that out and staple it to original. Think he had two 5 foot file cabinets when I left that company.

People are crazy.

7 Spice ups
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It’s amazing that there are others with the same issue. I didn’t think this was so widespread.

1 Spice up
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I used the line “Do put things in your trash at home that you want to keep?” until I was told to stop by HR because it’s “belittling”. I feel your pain.

6 Spice ups
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Trash Folder…don’t you mean “EXTRA” folder? Thats terrible for you, but some people don’t understand the reasoning behind a “TRASH” folder.

1 Spice up
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Wow if that is belittling I would have been fired a long tome ago.

3 Spice ups
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We used to have very small hard drives and no folder redirection, so occasionally people would run very low on disk space. I was cleaning up someone’s drive once and that process of course empties the Recycle Bin. This person, who is no idiot–but also not terribly tech savvy–kept files in there that he needed. I thought I was going to get fired over that one.

2 Spice ups
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We get users who do this all the time, as if that’s the absolute safest place to keep anything important…with a name like Deleted…ugh, this makes my head hurt already.

1 Spice up
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I feel your pain. We use an email archiver and all email is saved, but users still want to keep everything. Instead of emptying the Deleted or Sent Items, they ask for a larger mailbox. When they don’t get a larger mailbox, they create their own deleted items folder. I call these folders Outlook Archives. Why use archives when we have an archive system? So when a user has multiple archives that reach 10-20GB and they corrupt…back to explaining the archive system and listening to them complain. I feel your pain.

2 Spice ups
14

I used to tell people “Do not use the Deleted Items folder for storage. I WILL empty it when I log on to your computer”.

But then enough of them complained that my manager at the time asked me to stop deleting the Deleted Items…

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Unless people are continually running out of storage space, I think what you were doing was probably excessive, too. If it’s that much of a problem, make a policy to delete things older than 30 days or something. At least then people have some warning and it’s consistent.

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This. Then users will stop taking, what apparently seems like a great storage area, for granted and start using other folders like normal folks do.

3 Spice ups
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+1

I wish I could do this… people have whole 3 GB pst files of JUST deleted items. I’m not allowed to nuke them. They even have file/folder structures.

3 Spice ups
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Not accusatory, genuinely curious: What’s stopping you? We just kind of did it and notified people that it was happening.

(I felt like I was channeling my inner elcor with that question.)

2 Spice ups
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i trashed someone’s deleted files once then a few days was called into a meeting with his md and hr etc.

the md was all for me losing my job over the important documents i had ‘lost’ for his team member (bank acquisitions team) and being marched off the premises,

till i said ‘well i didn’t know he stored important deal files in the deleted items area’

at which point the md looked at the bloke and said ’ is this true?’

team member ‘yes’

md ‘you’re a moron get out of my sight’ (this to a vp)

md ‘sorry Danny i seem to have been a bit rash and ill informed, miss hr lady don’t waste my time in future’

i thought it was a joke at first, but the hr woman made me worry.

the worst of it was that I checked the backup’s and got it all back for him anyway, he left for another bank soon after.

5 Spice ups
20

Despite on numerous occasions showing users how to archive emails they create subfolders directly under their inbox and cant understand why their mailbox is full…or better still then ask me if I will increase their mailbox size instead because “searching between two folders for one topic is annoying”…i’m sure they think i’m just being awkward!

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