Yahoo Mail Storage Limit: 98% Reduction From 1 TB to 20 GB

Over the years, Yahoo Mail was known for offering free 1 TB email storage, which is the feature that stands out from its competitors like Gmail and Outlook. Most of the users also depend on it as they archive their personal and professional communications without worrying about storage. This thing has changed now as the storage limit has been reduced by nearly 98 percent bringing the limit down to only 20 GB from 1 TB. This change brings discomfort to all the users and makes them to think about what to do with their thousands of emails that are stored.

I have created this guide to explain the change in detail, who is most affected by this change and also what strategy you should consider for a long term data safety.

Who Is Most Affected by the Yahoo Mail Storage Reduction?

This storage change hasn’t affected all the users, because there are users who use Yahoo Mail as a short-term communication tool. On the other hand there are users who uses Yahoo Mail as a long-term repository, and these are the ones who get affected mostly by this significant change of storage. After creating the ID they haven’t deleted any emails because of the limit that Yahoo has provided earlier.

Professionals who have used Yahoo Mail to store invoices and client communications are vulnerable after this change. These attachments consume a large portion of storage silently over time. Some users also use Yahoo Mail as a backup inbox for other services. For such users the Yahoo mail storage limit change may have a solid impact, most of the time when thet are planning to export Yahoo Mail to PST file for long-term.

New Yahoo Mail Storage Limit is Here! How to Check?

To see how does this massive 98% storage cut affects you check much storage you use currently:

• Step 1. Log in to Yahoo.
• Step 2. Click on the Settings cog (⚙) at the top left corner.
• Step 3. Then, in the flyout pane, click … More settings.

• Step 4. On the settings screen, check the menu pane; you should see the current Yahoo Mail storage limit.

If Yahoo Mail storage limit is over 20 GB, then you won’t be able to send/receive any emails until you delete some of the old emails or upgrade to the premium tier.

To delete unwanted data:

• Step 1. Open Yahoo mail (sort if need be). Select one or more emails, and hit Delete.
• Step 2. Hover over the Deleted Items folder and tap the red dustbin icon.

You might see an archive option when you select emails. This archive is a bit different from what you usually mean by archive. So if you are confused about what path to choose, take a look at our detailed discussion on the Yahoo Mail Archive vs. Delete options.

You don’t always have to get rid of old emails, and sometimes you might not even want to. For these specific scenarios, we have the SysTools Yahoo Mail Backup Tool Free. It helps you to increase your mailbox size by creating a local backup in numerous formats, i.e., PST, MBOX, EML, PDF, and MSG. After creating the backup your can delete your data from the server or your Yahoo account which automatically enhances your mailbox storage. Try the demo today.

Not only this but you can use the resultant file formats in your preferred services like Outlook (PST), Apple Mail (MBOX), Thunderbird (MBOX), etc.

What Counts Toward Yahoo Mail Storage?

The common misunderstanding among users is thinking that the only inbox emails consume the storage but this is far from the truth. Because in reality Yahoo calculated storage based on all data stored in the account. This includes sent items, trash folders, etc. The primary contributors to consuming storage are PDFs, videos and even emails that are several years old if they remain in any folder. This is the answer to the users asking what is Yahoo Mail storage limit and how it can be measured, when they try to do something new like how to select all in Yahoo Mail during clean up.

That’s the reason it is important to understand what contributes to Yahoo Mail storage usage as it helps users avoid unwanted cleanup strategies that reduce the space under the Yahoo Mail storage limit.

Early Warning Signs Your Yahoo Mail Is About to Stop Working

Yahoo never blocks email functionality just after your storage limit is exceeded. There are signs that you will see before it happen and they are incoming messages taking time to receive and emails are not being sent. 

Also you will see notifications that your storage limit has been exceeded. In some rare scenarios users see synchronisation problems while using Yahoo Mail in desktop or mobile email clients, like Yahoo Mail not syncing on Outlook Mac. Attachments don’t get downloaded or emails appear partially loaded. These are some more signs that your account is not operating properly or you have exceeded the Yahoo Mail storage limit. 

After seeing these signs taking action regarding this is the wise decision one should take before communication is completely disrupted.

What Happens If You Don’t Take Action?

If you have exceeded the Yahoo Mail free storage limit and you are not taking any action against it. Then Yahoo banned both the incoming and outgoing emails. In simple words it means that messages that are sent from you will not get delivered and bounce back to you again and new messages will not land in your inbox. 

If this continues it may lead to more severe consequences. Yahoo offers the right to delete stored data if the account remains in excess of the storage limit for a long period of time. The answer is pretty clear for the users who is asking how Yahoo Mail has a storage limit and the consequences of ignoring it.

It’s become a hard task to recover the emails after they were deleted due to policy enforcement.

Short- Term Cleanup: Deleting Emails to Free Space

The immediate and yet time-consuming way to reduce the storage is manual deletion. Users can filter the emails according to their requirements and identify messages with large attachments. Equally, it is also important to empty Trash and Spam folders as they consume the storage until they get cleared, in situations like when users attempt actions like how to delete folders in Yahoo Mail app.

This approach can temporarily reduce usages but it is an easy way to do it and if done carefully. This method is time-consuming when it comes to deleting large mailboxes manually and increases the risk of removing important emails. Using only this method under the Yahoo Mail storage limit should not be a part of your long-term strategy.

Why Manual Deletion Is Risky as a Long-Term Solution

Most of the users faced the issue of not realising earlier that they had mistakenly deleted ian mportant email during cleanup. There are some emails that are proof for financial transactions and legal communication and it is important for any organisation. Once it get deleted the chances of retrieving them back are very low.

The risk of losing legal documents is extremely high for users who have years of emails stored on their Yahoo Mail accounts. Under the new policy manual deletion can lead to permanent data loss if there is no backup taken earlier making it an uncertain response to the Yahoo Mail storage limit change.

Subscribe to Access New Yahoo Mail Storage Limits

Step 1. On the Yahoo main screen, click on Subscriptions.

Step 2. On the Subscriptions page, click on Add subscriptions.

Step 3. Find the storage plan you want and complete the purchase.

But the question is “Why,” such a drastic reduction.

Best Long-term Storage Strategies for Yahoo Mail Users

There is no single solution available for every user. There are users who prefer paid cloud storage and on the other hand there are some who value ownership and offline access. Both are good choices but going with the hybrid approach like backing up emails locally and maintaining minimal cloud usage, can be flexible and give a long term control.

For users who ask did Yahoo Mail change storage limits? The simple answer is relying entirely on free cloud cannot a good decision as their policies can change frequently without notice.

Why the Yahoo Mail Storage Limit Changed?

Frankly, it was long overdue. No other email service provider was offering such a large volume of email storage, and that too for free. It must have been costly to maintain such a feature with no apparent ROI; the inbox ads and other measures to boost revenue were not getting much traction due to low user adoption.

Although there are no reports that say Yahoo was losing money by providing such a generous amount of space. Cost reduction and increasing revenue seem to be the biggest factors in motivating Yahoo to make this adjustment on its mail platform.

This is evident from the fact that 1 TB of space is still available but is now locked behind a monthly subscription.

Another reason could be that the vast majority of Yahoo Mail users never use the storage to its full potential. So why maintain a service that no one is using?

This is not the first change to Yahoo Mail storage limit. There have been many major upgrades and downgrades. The last major one was more than a decade back, when Yahoo did away with its unlimited storage in favor of a 1 TB cap.

Moreover, storage is not the only thing that makes an email service great. There needs to be a mix of multiple factors, like spam detection, troubleshooting support, and, more recently, AI features. It’s safe to say that Yahoo lags behind its peers in all those departments.

So by bringing the storage close to other players and focusing more on other features, Yahoo might just increase its market share, but only time will tell.

After you subscribe, your email storage capacity will expand. But which plan to choose? Check out my detailed analysis that will help you decide.

Breakdown of the New Yahoo Mail Storage Limit Pricing Model

The Yahoo Mail storage is now split into 3 different categories.

First, there is the free tier. It has 20 GB of available space, which is still 5 GB more than what Gmail and Outlook give to their free accounts.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum, there is the 1 TB plan. To access it, you must pay $9.99 + taxes. Currently, Yahoo doesn’t seem to provide any annual commitment plans at an overall reduced price. So you must choose the monthly pricing option.

Moreover, this subscription-based model also has a lower-cost intermediate layer costing ~$2 for 100 GB. It lies between the free and ~$10 per month 1 TB plan. This gives users a choice to get some extra space at a lower price point.

The premium tier plans come with Yahoo Mail storage limit management tools:

• Simultaneous storage tracking across web and mobile.
• Dashboard-style visualization portal
• New and improved sorting options for large mail.
• Attachment manager to pick and remove unnecessary email attachments.

TL;DR for Yahoo Mail Storage Limit Changes

• Yahoo Mail’s storage limit is being cut by 98% (1TB to 20GB).
• New storage subscription plans introduced ($1.99/mo for 100 GB and $9.99/mo for 1 TB).
• Subscribe, or better yet, get a Yahoo Backup tool to stop worrying about storage ever again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. If I get the $9.99/mo 1 TB plan, does the entire 1 terabyte of storage unlock instantly, or do I get a staggered release like the Office 365 Online archive?

You get access to the entire 1 TB space instantaneously.

Q. Are the new Yahoo Mail storage limits out globally?

No, storage limits have begun rolling out in some geographical regions, like North America. However, other areas like South Asia are yet to receive the change. If you try to force your way through, you get greeted with the following screen.

Q. What happens to my emails if I stop paying or don’t subscribe to the premium plan while exceeding the 20 GB cap of the new free tier?

Yahoo stops your ability to send or receive emails. Moreover, if you don’t take any action soon, like switching, subscribing, or saving emails elsewhere, all of your emails will be deleted.

Q. What is going to happen when Yahoo Mail Storage is full?

It directly affects your email sending and receiving and you will get notifications all the time.

Q. Is it true that archived emails count toward Yahoo Storage?

Yes, it is true that archived emails count toward Yahoo Storage.

Q. If storage stays full than Yahoo delete emails on their own?

Yes, if the storage stays full then it may lead to permanent deletion.

Q. Is it correct that Yahoo Mail change storage limit recently?

Yes, Yahoo reduced free storage from 1 TB to 20 GB.