I’d like to stop email from backing up onto icloud

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I’d like to stop email from backing up onto icloud

i have the basic storage plan (5gb) and more than half of that is email. I rarely check my email, I have several email addresses. One of my hobbies is couponing and requires a ton of junk email. Therefor I have more than 10,000 unread emails that I don’t care about. Unfortunately there’s no easy way to delete them. My primary is an icloud/Me email address, that is being backed up into my iCloud storage space. I understand that the iCloud email IS icloud, I just don’t want them stored/backed up at all. I can’t figure out how to use this. When I look into the settings, I have options to turn off messages, delete them Etc, along with every other app, but the email option only says how much space is being used by storing email (3GB) but doesn’t give me the option to click on it and delete what’s being stored , like the others do.

Posted on Nov 17, 2018 8:46 PM

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Answer 1

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Moozito

Community Specialist

Nov 18, 2018 4:33 PM in response to AttEsccRep

Hello AttEsccRep,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand that you would like to free up storage space used in iCloud by mail.

When you use an iCloud email account, emails in your account automatically count towards your iCloud storage. While you can turn off Mail under Apps Using iCloud, like shown in your screenshot, this only stops emails syncing from iCloud to your iPhone. There's not a way to stop an iCloud email account from using storage on iCloud. Instead you can free up space by deleting the emails from your iCloud email account:

Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support

Specifically, check out the steps in this section for the different ways you can delete emails from your account:

Delete messages and manage Mail

You can free up iCloud space when you delete email messages from your iCloud email account. You can also move email messages from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC, where they no longer count against your iCloud storage.

Use the steps below to delete messages from your account. Remember that messages with large attachments take up more space than simple text emails.

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is set up to access iCloud email, you can delete messages from any mailbox, then empty the Trash to free up space:

Swipe left across any message to delete it.

Tap your Trash folder.

Delete messages one at a time, or tap Edit > Delete All to delete all of them.

Mac or Windows PC

If you use iCloud Mail with a desktop email app, such as Mail on your Mac or Microsoft Outlook on your PC, use these steps:

Mail on your Mac: Delete the messages that you no longer want, then choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items and select your iCloud email account from the menu.

Microsoft Outlook 2010 through Outlook 2016 (Windows): Delete the messages that you no longer want. Outlook will permanently delete your messages the next time you close and restart the app.

iCloud.com

From your computer, sign in to iCloud.com.

Click Mail.

Delete the messages that you no longer want, then click and select Empty Trash.

Cheers!

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I’d like to stop email from backing up onto icloud

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