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Outlook says storage is full, even after you deleted everything

You cleared out thousands of emails, maybe your whole inbox, and Outlook still says your storage is full and you can't send or receive mail. Here's why that happens, and how to work out which storage is actually full.

Updated October 14, 2026 · Outlook.com, Hotmail, new Outlook, classic Outlook

Short answer: A free Microsoft account has two separate limits: 15 GB of email storage and 5 GB of Microsoft cloud storage, shared with OneDrive. Email attachments count toward both. If either one is full, Outlook.com stops sending and receiving. Deleted email also keeps counting until you empty Deleted Items; emptied items then sit in a Recoverable Items store until you purge them, which is the only way to erase them permanently.

You have two storage limits, not one

Most confusion about "storage full" comes from this. A free Microsoft account (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live or MSN address) has two separate allowances:

QuotaFree sizeWhat counts toward it
Mailbox (email) storage 15 GB Your emails, attachments and in-line images, calendar items, contacts, and deleted messages
Microsoft cloud storage 5 GB OneDrive files and photos (including the OneDrive Recycle Bin), Outlook.com attachments and in-line images, Teams attachments, and some other Microsoft app files

Microsoft's own wording: you get "15 GB of free Outlook.com email storage which is separate from your Microsoft cloud storage," plus "5 GB of free cloud storage … shared across your files and photos in OneDrive, attachments in Outlook.com and your Microsoft 365 apps."

The catch is in Microsoft's storage FAQ. To the question "Do Outlook.com attachments count toward both cloud and mailbox storage?" the answer is "Yes." So an inbox full of photos and PDFs can sit comfortably under 15 GB of email storage and still push you past the 5 GB cloud quota.

That matters because either limit stops your email. In Microsoft's words: "You can't send or receive email if you exceed either your cloud storage quota or mailbox storage quota." If you see a "Microsoft Unified Storage is full" message, Microsoft says that specifically means you've gone over the cloud storage quota, and you can't send or receive Outlook.com email "even if you didn't exceed your email storage quota."

This is exactly what users describe on Microsoft's own forums. In one thread with 90+ "same question" votes, a user reports that Microsoft storage showed "6.4 GB of 5 GB used" while email storage showed 6.2 GB of 15 GB. Outlook blocked their mail because the cloud quota was over, even though the mailbox wasn't. (Microsoft Q&A)

Step 1: Find out which one is full

Before deleting anything else, check both numbers. Deleting the wrong things wastes hours.

  1. Check your Microsoft cloud storage. Sign in to the Microsoft storage section of your Microsoft account dashboard. This shows your cloud usage and what's using it: OneDrive, Outlook attachments, and so on.
  2. Check your email storage. In Outlook.com, open Settings and find the Storage page. Microsoft's help pages list it under Settings > Account > Storage; newer pages describe it as Email storage under Settings > Subscription. It shows how much space each folder in your mailbox is using.
  3. Compare. If cloud storage is over 5 GB and email storage is under 15 GB, the cloud quota is the problem. Focus on attachments and OneDrive. If email storage is near 15 GB, focus on the mailbox.

Why this matters: If the cloud quota is the full one, moving attachments into OneDrive won't get you under it, because OneDrive files count toward the same 5 GB. You need to actually delete large attachments or OneDrive files, or buy more storage.

Why deleted email still counts

When you delete an email in Outlook, it isn't gone. It goes to Deleted Items, which counts against your quota until it's emptied. Emptied items then sit in a Recoverable Items store until you purge them, which is the only way to erase them permanently.

1. Deleted Items

Deleted email goes to the Deleted Items folder by default. Microsoft says the Deleted Items folder "does count against your mailbox storage quota until it is manually emptied or the emails are automatically deleted after 30 days, whichever happens first."

So if you deleted 20,000 emails this morning and never emptied Deleted Items, your storage hasn't changed yet.

The same goes for Sweep. Microsoft is explicit: "Items deleted using Sweep will not count toward reducing your storage quota until they are also deleted from the Deleted Items folder." (More on Sweep's quirks in our Sweep guide.)

2. Recoverable Items

Even after you empty Deleted Items, Outlook.com keeps a second safety net. Microsoft says: "Once you have deleted an email, it moves to a Recoverable items store. To permanently erase all of your Deleted Items you need to also purge all of your Recoverable items."

3. Large deletes take time, and sometimes come back

Microsoft's delete help page warns that if you've deleted a lot of email, "it may take some time for those items to be removed," that you should leave the browser window open while it runs, and that if it fails you should "select a smaller batch to delete." It also says: "If deleted email comes back, it could be because you have deleted a lot of email recently. Please try again later."

Cloud storage numbers can lag too. For files deleted from OneDrive, Microsoft says it "might take up to 24 hours for your quota to update." Don't panic if the number doesn't drop the moment you finish.

Users report this on Microsoft's forums: "I have deleted thousands of emails but it still says I need more storage, how can that be?" (Microsoft Q&A, 80+ same-question votes). Unemptied Deleted Items, unpurged Recoverable Items, a lagging quota, or a full cloud quota are the usual causes.

Checklist: how to actually free space

Work through these in order. Steps 1–3 often fix it on their own.

  1. Empty Deleted Items. Open the Deleted Items folder and select Empty folder above the message list.

  2. Purge Recoverable Items (only if you're sure). In Deleted Items, select Recover items deleted from this folder at the top of the message list, then select Empty folder. Microsoft warns that items removed here "are permanently deleted and cannot be restored."

  3. Empty Junk Email. Open the Junk Email folder and empty it.

  4. Use the Storage page's bulk options. On the Storage page, Microsoft says each folder is listed "with the option to permanently delete all items (or those older than 3, 6, or 12 months)." This is the fastest native way to clear a big old folder. It's permanent, so check the folder first.

  5. Find the biggest emails. Attachments are Outlook's share of the 5 GB cloud quota. In a folder, select Filter > Sort by > Size at the top of the message list. If the smallest are on top, choose it again so the largest come first. Microsoft says to "sort each folder by size to find items that use the most space."

  6. Don't forget Sent Items. Attachments you sent count too. Microsoft specifically recommends reviewing Sent Items sorted by size.

  7. Delete the email, not just the attachment. Microsoft: "To delete an attachment, you must delete the email message that contains it." To skip Deleted Items, select the messages and press Shift + Delete to delete them permanently.

  8. If the cloud quota is the problem, clean OneDrive too. Look for large files and old camera-roll backups, then empty the OneDrive Recycle Bin online. Microsoft notes that your Recycle Bin also counts toward cloud storage, and that emptying your computer's trash isn't the same as emptying the OneDrive Recycle Bin.

  9. Clear out bulk senders. Years of newsletters and notifications add up. You can remove everything from a single sender with Sweep or search; see how to delete all emails from one sender and how to delete thousands of emails.

  10. Wait, then re-check both numbers. Large deletes can take time to process, and quotas can take time to refresh.

Missed emails while you were over quota? Microsoft says mail sent to you while you're over quota is returned to the sender, and "the sender needs to resend the email" after you free up space. It won't arrive by itself later.

The 15 GB limit, explained

You may have read that Outlook.com "cut" free storage to 5 GB. That isn't what Microsoft's documentation says. Microsoft's storage FAQ states that "Outlook.com users keep their existing free 15 GB email storage limit for use in Outlook.com only. Microsoft didn't reduce that limit."

What changed is that attachments also count toward the 5 GB Microsoft cloud storage quota you share with OneDrive. In practice:

Users on Microsoft's forums describe exactly this. In one thread with 200+ same-question votes, a user with an unused OneDrive reports that their Outlook attachments filled the 5 GB cloud quota and they could no longer send or receive email, even though their mailbox was "well within" its limit. (Microsoft Q&A)

If you can't get under the limits by cleaning up, Microsoft's option is a paid Microsoft 365 subscription, which raises both quotas.

If you pay for Microsoft 365, or use a work account

Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal, Family, Premium or Pro

Microsoft says "All Microsoft 365 subscriptions include 100 GB of mailbox storage," and cloud storage starts at 100 GB on Basic and goes up from there on the other plans. Consumer mailboxes are capped at 100 GB. If you're over it, Microsoft says "you need to free up storage space"; consumer mailboxes are capped at 100 GB, and Microsoft points anyone needing more to its Enterprise plans. Also note:

Work or school accounts (Exchange Online)

Work mailboxes are managed by your organization. Microsoft says they can have up to 100 GB per mailbox, but administrators can set lower limits. When the mailbox is full you can't send or receive, and senders get a "mailbox full" error. The same Storage page and per-folder cleanup options exist in new Outlook and Outlook on the web (Microsoft lists Settings > Accounts > Storage in new Outlook). If cleanup isn't enough, Microsoft's advice is to move items to your archive mailbox or ask your IT admin for more space.

FAQ

Is free Outlook.com storage 15 GB or 5 GB?

Both. A free account gets 15 GB of Outlook.com email storage plus 5 GB of Microsoft cloud storage, which is shared by OneDrive files and photos and Outlook.com attachments. Attachments count toward both quotas, so the 5 GB cloud quota often fills first.

Why does Outlook say my storage is full when my mailbox is nearly empty?

Usually because your Microsoft cloud storage is full, not your mailbox. Microsoft says you can't send or receive email in Outlook.com if you exceed either your cloud storage quota or your mailbox storage quota.

Do emails sent to me while I'm over quota arrive later?

No. Microsoft says messages sent to you while you're over quota are returned to the sender, and the sender needs to resend them after you free up space.

Does Sweep free up storage?

Not right away. Microsoft says items deleted using Sweep don't count toward reducing your storage quota until they are also deleted from the Deleted Items folder.

How much mailbox storage do Microsoft 365 subscribers get?

Microsoft says all Microsoft 365 subscriptions include 100 GB of mailbox storage, and consumer mailboxes are capped at 100 GB. It isn't available to trial subscribers.

One thing Outlook's Storage page won't tell you is which senders are using the most space. It breaks storage down by folder only. That's the gap PurgeInbox is being built to fill.

Sources

See which senders are eating your storage

PurgeInbox (in development) will rank every sender in your Outlook inbox by email count and storage used, so you can clear the biggest ones in a few clicks.