If you are over quota and trying to delete messages you may well find that moving messages to the Trash folder fails. This is because, as a first step in the process, the message is copied to your Trash folder before it is removed from your Inbox.

Go to your Trash folder and empty it of any messages already in it. Check that the folder really is empty! That may well allow you to repeat the operation (delete messages from Inbox, go to Trash folder and empty it).

If you want to short circuit the method above and are absolutely sure about which messages you want to delete, then do the following:

• Login to Hermes Webmail at https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk
• Go to Settings, select Preferences under the Settings column, then select Server Settings under the Section column.
• Tick If moving messages to "Trash" fails, permanently delete them
• Select Save
• Select Mail and delete the messages you want to clear from your Inbox. Also delete messages you no longer want from other mailboxes
• Return to Settings
• Untick If moving messages to "Trash" fails, permanently delete them
• Select Save