Patent ID: 8230023

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for managing email disk usage based on user specified conditions, the computer implemented method comprising: scanning, for a user, an incoming email for an email expression; determining if the email expression matches one of a plurality of listed expressions to form a matched expression; responsive to a presence of a matched expression, determining if a first threshold associated with the matched expression is met or exceeded; responsive to the first threshold being met or exceeded, sending a notification of the first threshold being met to the user; responsive to a presence of a matched expression, determining if a second threshold associated with the matched expression is met or exceeded; responsive to the second threshold being met or exceeded, rejecting or trashing the incoming email; and sending a notification of the second threshold being met to the user, wherein: the email expression is an identification, in a header of the incoming email, indicating a priority level of the incoming email, the plurality of listed expressions includes at least one of a priority identification, in email headers, indicating a priority level of an associated email, or an attachment type of attachments to email messages, determining if the email expression matches one of the plurality of listed expressions to form a matched expression comprises comparing the identification in the header of the incoming email to the priority identification in the plurality of listed expressions, and determining if the second threshold associated with the matched expression is met comprises: determining if emails within a predetermined set of email folders associated with the user have email expressions that match the matched expression; determining a cumulative size of all the emails with the matched expression including the incoming email; and determining if the cumulative size meets or exceeds a predetermined size associated with the second threshold.