Recent MS Outlook problem

Question

Recent MS Outlook problem

William J Kincaid 0

Unable to use "Empty" feature for Deleted and Junk folders.

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hello William J Kincaid,

Thank you for reporting this. Since the issue affects both Deleted Items and Junk Email in Outlook.com, could you clarify what happens when you select Empty folder? For example, is the option unavailable, does an error appear, or does the folder remain unchanged?

In the meantime, please try selecting and deleting a small group of messages from each folder instead of emptying the entire folder at once. For Deleted Items, you can also open Recover items deleted from this folder, select Empty folder, return to Deleted Items, and try Empty folder again.

You can find the official guidance here: Cannot empty the Deleted Items folder in Outlook.com

Please also let me know whether the same behavior occurs in another browser or a private browsing window. Thank you so much for your understanding.

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Answer 2

For Outlook on the web or Outlook.com, use this sequence:

Open the Deleted Items folder and select Empty folder.
At the top of the message list, next to Recover items deleted from this folder, select Recover.
Select Empty folder again.

If a large number of messages were deleted, leave the browser window open while deletion finishes. If it still fails, delete a smaller batch at a time.

For Outlook.com, Deleted Items can also be set to clear automatically when signing out:

Go to Settings > Mail > Message handling.
Under Message options, select Empty my deleted items folder.
Select Save.

In Outlook, deleted items are not permanently removed until the Deleted Items or Trash folder is emptied. Emptying these folders regularly helps reduce mailbox usage.