I have done that forever. Then in February of this year,...

[SharonEJ]

I have done that forever. Then in February of this year, Shaw changed something (2022). I went into shaw mail, deleted a whole bunch of folders and stuff on the server and was HORRIFIED to discover they had disappeared on my computer as well. I lost YEARS of data. I am NOT IMPRESSED. And when I tried to talk to them about it, they tried to make me feel like I was stupid.

No, sorry, it has worked this way for years and now something has changed. What is it?

Answer: "nothing..."

Yes, seriously considering leaving Shaw because of this and because of their ridiculously high pricing.

[Oliver1178]

I've deleted almost all my emails.  The problem still continues.

Does my files affect this problem?

[rstra]

@Oliver1178 

Have you emptied your sent and trash folders?

[mdk]

@SharonEJ -- it has worked this way for years

Yes, when you use Shaw WebMail, you are "peeking" at the messages in your "inbox" (same as when Canada Post drops letters into the mailbox on the outside of your home). Anything you delete from the Shaw "inbox" (or remove from that exterior mailbox) is gone, forever.  Anything you move from the "inbox" to a local folder on your computer (or drop on the kitchen table for later processing) is still there.  Anything you "peek" at, in the "inbox" (or inside your physical mailbox) and leave there, stays there.

Ask Shaw if they can "restore" your entire "inbox" to the date/time at which they took a complete backup of every "inbox" for every Shaw user.  Shaw might be doing a "daily backup", as a "disaster recovery / business continuation" plan. Maybe, this might work. Be sure to make a copy of all your messages that arrived after you did the "mass-delete", before talking to Shaw, because a "restore" may wipe-out those "new" messages.

[SharonEJ]

Thank you for your response. However, when I deleted messages or folders off shaw.ca webmail, it NEVER used to delete them off my computer. Which is why when I got the Quota warning (rarely used to get those before, why am I getting them now? I have had a shaw account for over 20 years) I went and cleaned out stuff off shaw.

Like I said, to return to my computer and practically die in shock. Yes, they were able to restore some of the stuff but not all. Like I said, I am going through all my accounts now, changing the email to my gmail account and will likely be switching to telus. I don't want to, but Shaw customer service which used to be great, now sucks.

[Username4652]

....2 years later encountering the same issue.  Yes, I understand that I can archive my email and that is what I do.  The point the Grand Master and Kilted_Canuck so blithely  ignore is the absurdly small 1G allocation for the mailbox.  Perhaps Shaw could make an effort to differentiate themselves from the competition rather than striving to do no better than the other guys?

[vincepoulin]

This is TRUE. The same happened with my email account. After many "quota" warnings and being frustrated I deleted my long - extremely valuable email history. I use that history every time I respond to a client. I review what was sent and said before addressing a new issue. I must say - NEVER in my right mind did I think my history - in emails was not stored on my computer. I had no idea that all the emails I deleted from the server would disappear forever on my computer. Never in over 40-years of working history has my email accounts been so limited that I without knowing trashed those valuable records. I'm having the same problem again!!!! The Quota Warning is back and all I have are less than 2-years of emails. I've emptied trash and spam. What I have a extremely valuable emails that I must keep. If this means after all these year I have to leave Shaw - I will.

[mdk]

@vincepoulin --  I've emptied trash and spam. 

Within Shaw WebMail, you can sort your messages on "Size" (or "Date" or "Sender").

By ordering by "Size", you can view the list of the largest messages.

Open the largest message, which probably has an attachment.

Download the attachment to your computer.

Click to "remove" the attachment.

Close the message.

Notice that the message now occupies much less of your "quota" of storage.

Repeat for other "big" messages, to free-up more of your quota.

Or .......

Use a full-featured E-mail program on your computer, e.g., Microsoft Outlook (or "Windows Mail"), to download all your messages onto your computer, where you have much more storage.