Important: McGill Outlook email storage capacity reduction starting May 31^st 2024

 

On May 31st, 2024, McGill’s Outlook email storage for all students will be reduced to 20GB to comply with Microsoft’s new Storage quota for its educational sector clients. The Outlook email storage provided to staff or faculty members will not be affected.

If you are a McGill student, please verify your current storage using the instructions in this article: How to check file storage usage in outlook.

If your current storage exceeds 20GB, start by emptying your mailbox’s deleted items. As a secondary step, go through your inbox and all its online storage folders and download any "big" attachments such as videos, PowerPoint presentations or images by saving them to another location using the Save as... option in the attachment drop-down menu and then by Removing them.

Please note: these options are only available on Outlook for PC, not on the online or Mac versions. If you only use these platforms, download the attachments then save/delete the email. (Don't forget to empty the deleted items folder after.)

If you plan on storing those files on OneDrive, be aware that OneDrive's storage will also be adjusted to 20GB starting May 31st. For more information: consult the IT Services announcement on the subject.

Important: Change to the recipient limits for your Non-2FA enabled McGill email 

In an effort to limit the impacts of unsolicited and fraudulent emails being sent in large numbers to the McGill community, McGill’s IT Infrastructure & Information Security has decided to limit the number of emails that can be sent from non-2FA (two-factor authentication) enabled email accounts.

This limit will be imposed on all such accounts as of October 3rd, 2023. From that date on, accounts that are NOT two-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled (at this moment, mostly Alumni and Retirees’ accounts) will be restricted to sending messages to a maximum of 100 recipients per 24 hours. This limit is imposed on the number of recipients, regardless of the number of emails sent.

Important: McGill Active Directory managed distribution lists are not affected by this change. Such distribution lists are treated as 1 recipient.

For more information, please read the FAQs about the change to the recipient limits for your Non-2FA enabled accounts.

Managing your mailbox

Keeping your Inbox small

Minimizing the number of items in your Inbox greatly improves the performance of your email, particularly when switching between mailboxes. One way to minimize Inbox items is to organize incoming mail into folders, then manually move (drag & drop or right-click) items as you read them.

Another method is to create Outlook Rules to automatically move messages based on keywords in the Subject, From fields, or a combination of fields. Rules are usually applied to messages as they are received but can also be run retroactively on items already in your Inbox.

To quickly clear your inbox, you can create simple rules based on Date ranges. For example, you could create subfolders named 2017, 2018, and 2019. Then, create three rules to move items to each subfolder depending on their receipt date. 

There are many possibilities for creating rules, and most can be applied on the server side, which means you see the rule's effect on all your email devices and mail clients (you don't have to recreate it for each mail client application).

For more information and instructions, see Create Outlook rules to manage your email.

Checking your mailbox storage used (quota)

Although the maximum mailbox size is quite large in Office 365 (50 GB for students and 100 GB for faculty & staff), you may run out of space if you send large files often. Find out how to Check your mailbox storage used

Reducing your total mailbox size

Although the mailbox capacity in Office 365 is very large, it is good practice to delete unwanted emails. Before deleting any email, ensure it is not considered a McGill record, which must be kept for archival purposes. Here are some tips for reducing the number of items in your mailbox:

• Use distribution lists: If you routinely email many people, consider using an email distribution list; this allows you to reach many individuals with a single email message. You can also create a distribution list in Outlook for your personal use.
• Empty your Deleted Items folder: When you delete an email, it is sent to the Deleted Items folder but continues to count towards your quota. To permanently delete mail from your Deleted Items folder in Outlook, right-click Deleted Items > Empty Folder.
• Delete junk email: Mail in your Junk Email folder also counts towards your quota. Deleting mail from your Junk Email folder will move it to your Deleted Items folder, where you can permanently delete it.

Avoiding attachments 

Avoid attachments whenever possible. Attachments use a lot of disk space and can spread viruses when received from an untrusted source.

Alternative: Instead of sending a file as an attachment, consider putting it somewhere on a document management system, such as Microsoft Teams, D2 (Documentum), or McGill's OneDrive cloud file storage, and send recipients a link to access it. Be sure to set the appropriate level of permissions to view or edit.

In your email message, provide the link where recipients can find the file. This will also ensure that they view the latest version of the file.

If you do send or receive attachments, follow these practices:

• Scan incoming emails for infected attachments. If your antivirus program does not do this, save attachments and scan for viruses before opening them.
• Be cautious of attachments with the following file types: exe, com, bat, vbs, zip, shs, pif, one (MS OneNote), or scn extensions. These files may contain executable instructions; always confirm with the sender before opening. Note: Many attachment types that could pose a security risk are blocked automatically.

Junk mail/spam

Although McGill provides anti-spam email security filtering globally to block spambots and obvious threats to users, there are other actions you can take to reduce the amount of spam you receive in your Inbox:

• Avoid using your professional address for unsecured commercial activities on the Internet. If you sign up for a service mailing list or are required to register to enter a website, you should use a secondary or disposable email address. You can then forward mail to your professional account if necessary or disable or discard the email address should it become a source of spam.
• Avoid having your email address appear unobfuscated (in clear text) on any website. If you want your email address to appear on the web, ensure it is in a form that cannot be easily "harvested" by spambots.
• Never reply to or click on an unsubscribe link in a spam message.
• Consider eliminating any legacy email accounts that you are still having email forwarded from; they could be a source of spam.

Find out more at Junk E-mail Options in Office 365.

Checking for valid messages treated as junk email 

Occasionally, some valid email is incorrectly identified as spam and sent to the Junk Email folder. If you expect an email from someone and have not received it in your Inbox, check the Junk Email folder.

Right-click on any mail message, select Junk >, and choose how to handle email from that sender in the future, such as Block Sender, Never Block Sender, Never Block Sender's Domain, Never Block this Group, or Mailing List.

It is also a good idea to periodically delete items in the Junk Email folder to keep your mailbox size down.

Security

Spotting fraudulent emails

You need to be aware of email scams, the vulnerabilities spread through email, and what you can do to protect yourself. See Stay safe online and the other articles below.

Warning recipients when sending confidential information

When sending email containing content not intended for sharing or distribution, notify recipients that the message should not be forwarded.

Respecting recipient limits for mass emails

The following limits are set on the number of emails that can be sent from a 2FA enabled account on Office 365:

• 500 is the maximum number of recipients for any single email message.
• 10,000 is the maximum number of recipients targeted for email messages within 24 hours.

For Non-2FA enabled accounts:

• 100 is the maximum number of recipients per 24 hours.
• McGill Active Directory managed distribution lists are not affected by this change and are treated as 1 recipient.

You can use a LISTSERV or email distribution group in Outlook to send email to large audiences. An email sent to a group or LISTSERV only counts as one recipient. See Email Distribution Lists (LISTSERV, Outlook)

Email etiquette dos & donts

As a staff or faculty member, you use email daily to communicate with colleagues and business professionals. As a student, email is the official means of communication between you and your department. You want your emails to be effective, communicate clearly, and convey relevant information, especially when you cannot meet face to face. Email messages are also a great means to track what was discussed for future reference.

Here are some tips on communicating effectively to get the best results.

Do:

• Write a clear, informative subject line: The subject lets your recipient know what the email pertains to immediately. People will more likely open an email with a subject that is relevant to them.
  
  
• Address people respectfully. If you know the person on a first-name basis, you can address them by first name. If not, use their formal title (Professor, Dr., Mr., Ms., etc.)
  
  
• Keep emails brief and to the point, but include any relevant information the recipient needs.
  
  
• Put yourself in the recipient’s position. They may have missed the original email, so recap any assumptions, even if they were stated in a previous email.
  
  
• Put one primary contact in the To field and Cc (carbon copy) others. If you put all your contacts in the "To:" field, no one has direct responsibility for taking action; the consequence is either no action or an overlap of several individuals doing the same thing.
  
  
• Include a signature containing your full name, department, location, and phone number. This helps colleagues know who you are and how to contact you without searching the University directory. See the following articles on the Microsoft Support site:
  
  • Create and add an email signature in Outlook  on the web
  • Create an email signature in Outlook (2013 & 2016)
  • See McGill's email signature guidelines on the Visual Identity Guidelines page.
    
    
• Going on vacation or sick leave? Set up an Out of Office reply in Outlook
  
  
• Use a spell checker. If you use Outlook, set your preferences to spell-check the message when you click Send.
  If you use a web-based message box with no automatic spell checker, copy/paste your text into a word-processing application that can check the spelling before sending it.
  
  
• Consider the email content's confidentiality level. If necessary, warn recipients that the message is confidential and should not be forwarded.

Don't:

• Don’t forget the subject. A descriptive subject gives your contact an idea of the urgency of your message and makes it easier to track later on.
  
  
• Don't "Reply To All" when your reply does not involve everyone. If one email is sent to your whole team requesting information, everyone on the team does not necessarily have to read your response. In situations where the recipient already receives many emails daily, they do not appreciate unnecessary clutter in their Inbox. This advice depends on the situation, so use your judgment.
  
  
• Don't use cryptic acronyms and instant messaging (IM) shorthand. It’s not professional and could lead to unnecessary confusion. When using a McGill acronym, if you are unsure the person will know what you mean, you can spell out the full name and place the acronym in parentheses the first time you refer to it.
  
  
• Don’t send attachments if it is possible to include the same information as text within the body of the message. If you need to send a file to someone who works at McGill, send the link to a cloud-based file location (e.g., on OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint).

  If you need to send an attachment as part of a mass-mailing (for widest distribution), be sure to include a brief but informative description of the contents and attach a PDF (portable document format) version of the file; this format can be successfully opened on all computers and mobile devices.

• Don't forward emails containing content that might reasonably be considered confidential. 
  

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:

• Phishing scams and how to protect yourself
• Email FAQs