Where to find your storage information

Open Yahoo Mail and look at the bottom left corner of the screen. You'll see a storage meter that shows how much space you're using. It displays two numbers: the amount of storage you've used (in GB) and your total storage limit. Click on that meter, and Yahoo Mail opens a detailed breakdown of what's taking up space in your account.

If you're on a mobile device, tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left, scroll down, and select "Storage." This shows the same information as the desktop version but formatted for your phone or tablet screen.

Key Takeaways

  • Your storage meter appears in the bottom left corner of Yahoo Mail on desktop and in the menu on mobile devices.
  • Yahoo Mail gives you 15 GB of free storage, shared across email, attachments, and files you've saved.
  • Deleted emails stay in your Trash folder for 30 days before Yahoo Mail removes them permanently, so emptying Trash actually frees up space.
  • Large attachments and old emails with photos or documents use the most storage, so deleting these first makes the biggest difference.

Understanding your storage limit

Yahoo Mail provides 15 GB of free storage for all your emails, attachments, and files. This limit is shared across your entire Yahoo account, not just email—if you use Yahoo Photos or other Yahoo services, they draw from the same 15 GB pool. You can see exactly how much of that 15 GB you're currently using by clicking the storage meter.

If you reach your limit, Yahoo Mail stops accepting new incoming mail until you delete old messages or attachments. This means your contacts won't be able to send you emails, and you won't receive notifications that messages are bouncing. The only way to know is to check your storage yourself.

What counts toward your storage

Every email in your inbox, sent folder, and archived messages counts toward your 15 GB limit. Attachments—documents, photos, videos, or any file someone sent you—take up the most space. A single high-resolution photo can be 5 to 10 MB, and a video can be 100 MB or more. If you receive emails with multiple attachments, they add up quickly.

Emails in your Trash folder still count toward your storage limit until you permanently delete them. Yahoo Mail keeps deleted emails in Trash for 30 days, then removes them automatically. If you need to free up space immediately, empty your Trash folder manually instead of waiting for the 30-day window to close.

How to free up storage space

Start by emptying your Trash folder. Click the Trash folder in the left sidebar, select all messages (use the checkbox at the top), and click Delete. This removes them permanently and frees up space right away. Next, look for emails with large attachments. Use the search box and type "has:attachment" to see only messages with files attached, then delete the ones you don't need.

Delete old emails in bulk by selecting messages from several years ago. You can sort by date to find older messages faster. Photos and videos are usually the biggest space-takers, so search for emails from specific people who tend to send media-heavy messages and review those folders first. If you want to keep certain attachments, download them to your computer before deleting the email.

When you're running out of space

If your storage is nearly full (above 90 percent), start deleting immediately. Once you hit 100 percent, you can't receive new mail, and your contacts will get bounce-back messages. You can still read and delete existing emails, but you won't see new incoming messages until you make room.

If you regularly hit your storage limit, consider downloading old emails to your computer using a mail client like Thunderbird or Outlook, then deleting them from Yahoo Mail. This keeps a backup on your device while freeing up your Yahoo account. Another option is to use Yahoo Mail's archive feature—archived emails are hidden from your inbox but still count toward storage, so this doesn't actually free up space, only organizes it.

Storage limits for paid Yahoo Mail accounts

Yahoo Mail Plus, a paid subscription, offers 250 GB of storage instead of 15 GB. If you send or receive very large files regularly, or if you keep years of emails with attachments, the paid plan removes the need to delete old messages. Yahoo Mail Plus also removes ads and adds other features like priority support.

You can upgrade to Yahoo Mail Plus directly from the storage meter—click it and look for the upgrade option. The cost varies by region and billing period, but you can see the exact price before you commit. If you downgrade later, Yahoo Mail gives you 30 days to download any emails that exceed the free 15 GB limit before they're deleted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Yahoo Mail storage include spam and promotional emails?

Yes. Emails in your Spam folder count toward your 15 GB limit until you delete them. If you receive a lot of promotional emails, periodically empty your Spam folder to free up space. You can also unsubscribe from mailing lists you no longer read to prevent them from accumulating.

Can I see which folders are using the most storage?

Yahoo Mail doesn't break down storage by folder in the interface, but you can estimate by looking at folder sizes. Folders with years of emails and attachments use the most space. Sorting emails by attachment size (using the search box) shows you which individual messages take up the most room.

What happens if I don't delete emails when I'm out of storage?

New emails won't arrive in your inbox, and senders will receive bounce-back messages saying your mailbox is full. You can still read and delete existing emails. Once you delete enough messages to drop below your limit, new mail starts arriving again.

Is there a way to automatically delete old emails?

Yahoo Mail doesn't have a built-in auto-delete feature, but you can manually delete emails older than a certain date using the search box. Search for "before:2020" to find all emails from before 2020, then select and delete them in batches. Repeat with different years as needed.