Gmail Sort By Size / Find Large Messages Feature

[Danny Sullivan]

I keep nearly running out of space in Gmail. Apparently, I'm not
alone:

http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature/search?group=gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature&q=search+by+size&qt_g=Search+this+group

Gmail needs to provide an option to allow people to locate large
files, so they can be deleted. We keep getting all these other lab
features -- why not this essential?

Yes, I can upgrade my account for more space. I might do that
eventually. But then again, not offering a delete large files feature
feels like Google might be purposely failing to offer this to force
people into the paid system.

More than anything else, when looking for third party solutions, I can
find scripts and software that purports to help. But does Google
really want people using third party add-ons to potentially introduce
security issues with email, due to its failure to offer sort by size
directly?

[Chuck.Reynolds]

I could see using this... it'd be helpful for sure!

[Joachim]

> Gmail needs to provide an option to allow people to locate large
> files, so they can be deleted. We keep getting all these other lab
> features -- why not this essential?

I agree. I would like to see pretty close parity with Outlook. And
sort by size would be very nice.

> More than anything else, when looking for third party solutions, I can
> find scripts and software that purports to help. But does Google
> really want people using third party add-ons to potentially introduce
> security issues with email, due to its failure to offer sort by size
> directly?

If Google can't keep up with the feature requests, they should open up
an API for the community to write the plugins. Yes there are security
issues. But gadgets/integrated features would be easier to vet for
security than would be external scripts that modify Gmail HTML/
scripts. I would have hapily written several gadgets or Gmail features
if there was a way to do so.

Joachim

[Jason S]

I agree. We need this. This often saves me at work in Outlook when I
reach space limits.

On Jul 26, 5:21 pm, Danny Sullivan wrote:
> I keep nearly running out of space in Gmail. Apparently, I'm not
> alone:
>

> http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature/sear...

[nichenet]

Agreed - I've hit my limit as well -

[Ben Wikler]

Agreed: let us sort by size!

[ktboundary]

This really would be a very welcome feature!

On Jul 26, 4:21 pm, Danny Sullivan wrote:
> I keep nearly running out of space in Gmail. Apparently, I'm not
> alone:
>

> http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature/sear...

[ythis]

i need sort by size. run out of space now....

[JKedy]

I definitely agree about the need for a sort-by-size.
Everyone keeps saying "search is superior" - I really don't care which
is better, as long as I can sort my messages by size to get rid of
some of the larger messages.

Two possible soultions:
1. If I'm syncing with Outlook, when I delete a bunch of large emails
there, shouldn't it update Gmail?
But, even if it does, I'm sure Google doesn't want to be forcing
people to use outlook to get this feature...

2. Enhance the filtering, so that we can filter, say, emails that are
1-5MB and 5+MB.
That way, you can then create a label called "1-5MB" and "5+ MB" and
easily view your large emails without the need for a sort capability.

Just a thought. I hope Google is listening.

[William Deegan]

+1

[TheNate]

Agreed. +1

On Sep 29, 3:20 pm, William Deegan wrote:
> +1

[genezkool323]

I like this idea as well!

[Daniel Tiriba]

I agree too! This feature is very important

[Squawkboxed]

Agreed - this is a feature that should be integrated.

[jorwex]

YES!!

[Bette Newman]

Yes please please please!

[Michael D.]

+1

[nixomose]

Think about it people, google's not dumb. They're not making it
available for a reason.

On Oct 21, 12:09 am, Michael D. wrote:
> +1
>
> On Oct 20, 10:04 am, Bette Newman wrote:
>
> > Yes please please please!
>
> > On Oct 15, 11:38 pm, jorwex wrote:
>
> > > YES!!
>
> > > On Oct 7, 5:46 am, Squawkboxed wrote:
>

> > > > Agreed - this is afeaturethat should be integrated.

>
> > > > On Sep 30, 6:50 pm, Daniel Tiriba wrote:
>

> > > > > I agree too! Thisfeatureis very important

[Girts]

+2

[Fernando Pimenta]

I agree!!

Show size and sort by size!!

[gluino2]

That crossed my mind too, but I cannot imagine why.

Dear Googlers,
If there is a reason why you don't want to allow search/sort by size,
please tell us.

Can anyone think of a possible reason behind it?

[cemax2009]

I agree!!!
Sort by size is an extremely useful feature!

Thanks!

[Juan Pablo]

Count me in too! I agree!!

Show size and sort by size!!

On 11 Nov., 09:07, cemax2009 wrote:
> I agree!!!Sortbysizeis an extremely useful feature!

[horstie]

count me in.

[natty c]

I agree. I come on to look for the lab sort by size only to be
disappointed. I just assumed it existed. Why would google prevent
me from sorting from size? Please inform me if this comes around.

[Twintone]

Just chiming in that I would also love to be able to clean and sort my
emails by size. Even just a filtering option would be great.

On Dec 13, 7:40 am, natty c wrote:
> I agree.  I come on to look for the lab sort bysizeonly to be

> disappointed.  I just assumed it existed.   Why would google prevent

> me from sorting fromsize?    Please inform me if this comes around.

[bananapeel]

Me too! It's an obvious feature and I'm curious why the Gmail team
purposefully omits it.

On Dec 16, 6:05 am, Twintone wrote:
> Just chiming in that I would also love to be able to clean and sort my

> emailsby size.  Even just a filtering option would be great.

[PG_inf]

On Dec 17, 10:04 am, bananapeel wrote:
> Me too! It's an obvious feature and I'm curious why the Gmail team
> purposefully omits it.

*Bump* yes, very useful feature!

As to why it's purposely omitted, I suspect it's for PR reasons.

When Gmail was launched, much hoo-haa was made over it's allegedly
"infinite" capacity of 1GB, which was admittedly a lot back then.
Hotmail and others struggled to keep up. Then Google announced the
"Infinity+1" campaign, offering users a whopping 2GB. And the capacity
on offer is growing since then.

In other words, "more space than you'll ever need" is one of the
selling points Google uses to pitch Gmail. Basically, they want you to
believe you have more space than you'll ever need. They want you to
think that the size of an email is irrelevant, that it's something
only users of inferior, non-Gmail systems have to worry about.

If Google brings out a feature to allow sorting by size (or even
displaying size next to the subject line) it will focus user's
attention on message size and undermine the PR effort. People will
wonder: if size is irrelevant, why are we now being allowed manage
messages by size?

It's similar to why Gmail won't show you the sender's IP address when
you "View original". Gmail is pitched as having great spam filtering
services. No Gmail user should ever have to worry about tracking a
spammer by IP address, since no Gmail user will ever be bothered by
spam. If they start showing IP addresses, people will wonder why it's
necessary. They'll start to wonder is it because the spam filtering
isn't as good as claimed.

[rohn]

Not only sort by size but also an option to display size. At same time
add sort by any of the columns: sender name, subject, date as well as
size. While they are tweaking columsn, make the individual columns re-
sizable, the defaults often "waste" space that I would rather see used
by one column or another..

On Dec 13, 7:40 am, natty c wrote:

[Tegid]

Seconded. I'd like to clean out my large attachments.

On Dec 15, 2:05 pm, Twintone wrote:
> Just chiming in that I would also love to be able to clean andsortmy

> emails bysize.  Even just a filtering option would be great.

>
> On Dec 13, 7:40 am, natty c wrote:
>
>
>

> > I agree.  I come on to look for the labsortbysizeonly to be

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > +1- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Albert Cuesta]

Seconded: please add a size column and allow sorting by it. If not
possible, include a filtering option.


On 20 Des, 17:45, rohn wrote:
> Not onlysort bysizebut also an option to display size. At same time
> addsort byany of the columns: sender name, subject, date as well as

> size.  While they are tweaking columsn, make the individual columns re-
> sizable, the defaults often "waste" space that I would rather see used
> by one column or another..
>
> On Dec 13, 7:40 am, natty c wrote:
>

> > I agree.  I come on to look for the labsort bysizeonly to be

[joc1394]

I'm also in favor of this feature...at least a filter "mail larger
than a certain size"...

Thanks google!

[dahz]

Right! At least a filter by size would be a great add-on. Can somebody
help us?

On Dec 22, 11:09 am, joc1394 wrote:
> I'm also in favor of this feature...at least a filter "mail larger

> than a certainsize"...

>
> Thanks google!
>
> On Dec 22, 7:37 am, Albert Cuesta wrote:
>

> > Seconded: please add asizecolumn and allow sorting by it. If not

> > possible, include a filtering option.
>
> > On 20 Des, 17:45, rohn wrote:
>

> > > Not onlysort bysizebut also an option to displaysize. At same time

> > > addsort byany of the columns: sender name, subject, date as well as
> > >size.  While they are tweaking columsn, make the individual columns re-
> > > sizable, the defaults often "waste" space that I would rather see used
> > > by one column or another..
>
> > > On Dec 13, 7:40 am, natty c wrote:
>
> > > > I agree.  I come on to look for the labsort bysizeonly to be
> > > > disappointed.  I just assumed it existed.   Why would google prevent

> > > > me from sorting fromsize?    Please inform me if this comes around.

[Nairolf]

Good Idea, I vote for it too

On 27 déc 2009, 16:07, dahz wrote:
> Right! At least a filterby sizewould be a great add-on. Can somebody

[Tony Buonodono]

Hotmail has an infinity program too.. it's called unlimited space!

Size is important... thus why gmail shows your capacity at the bottom
of every page and on the gmail home page.

I could greatly reduce the size of my inbox by being able to see my
largest files, and I think that it would be a great feature

On Dec 18 2009, 4:46 pm, PG_inf wrote:
> On Dec 17, 10:04 am, bananapeel wrote:
>
> > Me too!  It's an obvious feature and I'm curious why the Gmail team
> > purposefully omits it.
>
> *Bump* yes, very useful feature!
>
> As to why it's purposely omitted, I suspect it's for PR reasons.
>
> When Gmail was launched, much hoo-haa was made over it's allegedly
> "infinite" capacity of 1GB, which was admittedly a lot back then.
> Hotmail and others struggled to keep up. Then Google announced the
> "Infinity+1" campaign, offering users a whopping 2GB. And the capacity
> on offer is growing since then.
>
> In other words, "more space than you'll ever need" is one of the
> selling points Google uses to pitch Gmail. Basically, they want you to
> believe you have more space than you'll ever need. They want you to
> think that the size of an email is irrelevant, that it's something
> only users of inferior, non-Gmail systems have to worry about.
>

> If Google brings out a feature to allow sortingby size(or even

> displaying size next to the subject line) it will focus user's
> attention on message size and undermine the PR effort. People will
> wonder: if size is irrelevant, why are we now being allowed manage

> messagesby size?

[alinixx]

oh my god.
this is exactly what i need.

i'm running out of space and this lab feature would be more than
helpful to erase some of my thousand messages.

could you members of gmail labs team do us this great favour?

thanks in advance.

[Sahil seth]

This feature is very much needed !!,
Please more and more gmail users might end up making more than one
accounts, and may end up wasting space.

The tiny trick to sort it by size seems seems very logical

On Jan 4, 11:17 am, alinixx wrote:
> oh my god.
> this is exactly what i need.
>
> i'm running out of space and this lab feature would be more than
> helpful to erase some of my thousand messages.
>
> could you members of gmail labs team do us this great favour?
>
> thanks in advance.
>
> On Dec 13 2009, 11:40 am, natty c wrote:
>

> > I agree.  I come on to look for the labsortbysizeonly to be

> > disappointed.  I just assumed it existed.   Why would google prevent

> > me from sorting fromsize?    Please inform me if this comes around.

[Derrel]

+1 I use this all the time to free up space and identify those
correspondents who don't have a clue what they are sending.

[Crockett Tristan]

+1. I will program it if you hire me, Google!

On Jan 7, 9:28 am, Derrel wrote:
> +1 I use this all the time to free up space and identify those
> correspondents who don't have a clue what they are sending.
>
> On Jan 6, 5:19 pm, Sahil seth wrote:
>
>
>
> > This feature is very much needed !!,
> > Please more and more gmail users might end up making more than one
> > accounts, and may end up wasting space.
>

> > The tiny trick tosortit by size seems seems very logical

[dave from cleveland]

This is a no brainer. We need sort by size.

[AlexKyoto]

I didn't even realise that one couldn't do this until I tried today.
Long overdue feature. I hope they include it in the labs options soon.
While gmail originally offered lots of storage they are falling behind
the times now and it has meant I need to delete large emails to keep
under the limit. Unfortunately I can't find the big files easily so
this would seem like a no-brainer. Needed. +1

[Dan M. the First]

+1. I would LOVE a sort by size feature so I can clean out my inbox
and have more space to kick around. Please, Google! Help us out,
here!

On Jan 14, 4:08 am, AlexKyoto wrote:
> I didn't even realise that one couldn't do this until I tried today.
> Long overdue feature. I hope they include it in the labs options soon.
> While gmail originally offered lots of storage they are falling behind
> the times now and it has meant I need to delete large emails to keep
> under the limit. Unfortunately I can't find the big files easily so
> this would seem like a no-brainer. Needed. +1
>
> On Jan 11, 12:18 pm, dave from cleveland wrote:
>
>
>

> > This is a no brainer. We need sortby size.

>
> > On Jan 8, 4:22 pm, Crockett Tristan wrote:
>
> > > +1.  I will program it if you hire me, Google!
>
> > > On Jan 7, 9:28 am, Derrel wrote:
>
> > > > +1 I use this all the time to free up space and identify those
> > > > correspondents who don't have a clue what they are sending.
>
> > > > On Jan 6, 5:19 pm, Sahil seth wrote:
>
> > > > > This feature is very much needed !!,
> > > > > Please more and more gmail users might end up making more than one
> > > > > accounts, and may end up wasting space.
>

> > > > > The tiny trick tosortitby sizeseems seems very logical

[Stebo]

In Outlook I use 'sort by size' to quickly read my smaller messages
(e.g. ebay searches), so as to reduce the number of messages in the
inbox. Then I just have the bigger ones left to read more carefully.
BUT in Google online you can't sort by size. Why not??

[gluino]

Agree 100%.
Dear Google,
You need to do at least one of the following:

(A) provide search/sort by size
OR
(B) increase quotas by much more, or go unlimited like Yahoo.

If Google is deliberately withholding a way to search/sort by size
because it would be inconsistent with some PR campaign that message
sizes should be irrelevant, they need to realize that many people are
bumping up against the 7.4GB quota, and have been for the past few
years.

7.4GB is not enough ESPECIALLY when there is no way to search/sort by
size!

[cpo]

I agree.

Google, please implement a sort by size feature in Gmail. Long
overdue. Surely you have the technology!

[JohnW2]

They've had the technology to vote for it for some time.
But you just don't go to the correct Suggestions page!!
Look at
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs
rather than here.

[neoswf]

+1 for that!!!
I'm nearly 90% of space usage.
I would love to have this feature.

[EwanG]

Haven't seen anything on this for a while. Does that mean it's been
implemented and I've missed it? If not, then let me add a +1 for this
request as well!

[jpaulino]

+1 ... I would love to have this feature!

> > I would love to have this feature.- Ocultar texto citado -
>
> - Mostrar texto citado -

[thomes1nan]

Hmmm.....

Size of emails. If your gmail quota is nearly full, there are several things you can do. You could purchase more storage: currently $5 a year to more than triple the size of your quota, i.e. it's almost free! Alternatively, you could open a new gmail account and move across all your oldest emails. (You might want to consider linking your accounts together. Warning: I'm not sure what google's policy is with quotas and linked accounts.) For various reasons this is a fairly silly solution, but you could try it.  Another option is to download your oldest emails onto your own hard drive (or backup device) and delete them from the cloud.  The best way to do this is with an email client, e.g. outlook or thunderbird, but you will need a little know-how and/or determination.  Another possibility is to find and permanently delete some unimportant emails.  You can make use ofgmail's extensive search capabilities, e.g. "has:attachment"; or you could use your email client.  The main advantage of the email client is that it will (probably) let you sort by size/sender etc. whereas gmail does not.  For whatever reason, google shows little sign of implementing sorting or size indicators in gmail (although it is mentioned on the feature request page).
[Tip I]

sites.google.com/site/mailgwishlist/tips-tricks

[Alberto Xodo]

+1.. I'd like this feature in my Gmail.

On Jul 16, 10:28 am, thomes1nan wrote:
> Hmmm.....
> *
> *
> *Size of emails*. If your gmail quota is nearly full, there are several
> things you can do. You could purchase more storage<http://www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage>: currently

> $5 a year to more than triple the size of your quota, i.e. it's almost free!
> Alternatively, you could open a new gmail account and move across all your

> oldest emails. (You might want to consider linking your accounts together<http://www.google.com/accounts/MultipleSessions>.

> Warning: I'm not sure what google's policy is with quotas and linked
> accounts.) For various reasons this is a fairly silly solution, but you
> could try it.  Another option is to download your oldest emails onto your
> own hard drive (or backup device) and delete them from the cloud.  The best

> way to do this is with an email client, e.g. outlook<http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/>
>  or thunderbird <http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/>, but you will

> need a little know-how and/or determination.  Another possibility is to find
> and permanently delete some unimportant emails.  You can make use ofgmail's

> extensive search capabilities<http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7190>,

> e.g. "has:attachment"; or you could use your email client.  The main
> advantage of the email client is that it will (probably) let you sort by
> size/sender etc. whereas gmail does not.  For whatever reason, google shows
> little sign of implementing sorting or size indicators in gmail (although it

> is mentioned on the feature request page<http://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs>
> ).
> [Tip I]*
> *
>
> sites.google.com/site/mailgwishlist/tips-tricks

[Alberto Xodo]

+1.. I'd like this feature in Gmail.

On Jul 16, 10:28 am, thomes1nan wrote:
> Hmmm.....
> *
> *

> *Size of emails*. If your gmail quota is nearly full, there are several
> things you can do. You could purchase more storage<http://www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage>: currently

> $5 a year to more than triple the size of your quota, i.e. it's almost free!
> Alternatively, you could open a new gmail account and move across all your

> oldest emails. (You might want to consider linking your accounts together<http://www.google.com/accounts/MultipleSessions>.

> Warning: I'm not sure what google's policy is with quotas and linked
> accounts.) For various reasons this is a fairly silly solution, but you
> could try it.  Another option is to download your oldest emails onto your
> own hard drive (or backup device) and delete them from the cloud.  The best

> way to do this is with an email client, e.g. outlook<http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/>

>  or thunderbird <http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/>, but you will

> need a little know-how and/or determination.  Another possibility is to find
> and permanently delete some unimportant emails.  You can make use ofgmail's

> extensive search capabilities<http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7190>,

> e.g. "has:attachment"; or you could use your email client.  The main
> advantage of the email client is that it will (probably) let you sort by
> size/sender etc. whereas gmail does not.  For whatever reason, google shows
> little sign of implementing sorting or size indicators in gmail (although it

[Ross Parker]

Not perfect, but there is a way to do this. Use Gmail's IMAP access feature to access your 'All Mail' IMAP folder. Then use Outlook or another IMAP client to filter by size and delete/save elsewhere the big files.

[eagle15]

I had been looking for this functionality for quite some time to free up older, larger emails without manually looking at all of them. I just found the best thing I have seen out there as a third party plugin:  https://www.findbigmail.com/ . Basically: it goes in via IMAP as some have suggested but rather than having to delete via IMAP it applies labels for various sized items and identifies your largest email. Useful if you have a limited number of very large emails sitting in your mailbox. Hope it helps someone else out.

 

On Sunday, July 26, 2009 5:21:53 PM UTC-4, Danny Sullivan wrote:

I keep nearly running out of space in Gmail. Apparently, I'm not
alone:

http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature/search?group=gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature&q=search+by+size&qt_g=Search+this+group

Gmail needs to provide an option to allow people to locate large
files, so they can be deleted. We keep getting all these other lab
features -- why not this essential?

Yes, I can upgrade my account for more space. I might do that
eventually. But then again, not offering a delete large files feature
feels like Google might be purposely failing to offer this to force
people into the paid system.

More than anything else, when looking for third party solutions, I can
find scripts and software that purports to help. But does Google
really want people using third party add-ons to potentially introduce
security issues with email, due to its failure to offer sort by size
directly?

[Dan Rydell]

I second this feature request.

[mjt772]

+1. The ability to view (and search/sort by) message size is a basic function that GMail should have implemented long ago. Come on, Google!

[sara evans]

+1 sorting by size.  

[Chuck Grant]

How can this possibly not be an existing feature, when quotas are enforced?

Come on Google, do the right thing.

[Raúl Salinas Monteagudo]

Google's guys are programming Gods. 

I really dislike them not enabling a simple feature such as ordering by size just to receive more paid plans.

[Andy Baker]

You can't sort but you can search by attachment size:

http://lifehacker.com/5960627/gmail-introduces-easier-ways-to-search-for-large-attachments-and-old-messages

So I'd say this is pretty much solved.

[bond...@gmail.com]

+1

[Elia Cusimano]

+1 love the idea

[Baldain68]

I second this request. My inbox is getting huge, and I need to sort by size so I can clean it up.

[Goofy 235]

Baldain68,

This thread started in 2009...Like SIX + yrs ago!! Give it a nice burial and be done with it!

(copy/paste from on old posting):

Google will NOT make it easy for you/us to delete stuff. They are here to make money selling you extra storage.

BTW:

In case you think someone from Google monitors this forum or this is a popularity contest, take a look at:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail-labs-suggest-a-labs-feature/Wz55gyU03h4

So, keep on asking/+1/begging/pleading/cajoling/threatening, you never know...BUT, don't hold your breath :-)