Deleted emails from Microsoft email inception

Elizabeth K 0 Reputation points
2026-10-12T22:50:07.5833333+00:00

I've used Microsoft email since its inception and I have a lifetime of important emails and documents. Whenever my mailbox was too full I deleted emails then I paid to keep my emails. Yet when I went to find an email today it was nowhere to be found. When did you start deleting emails, despite guidance stating to delete your own emails when the inbox is too full? When I signed up my emails were supposed to stay untouched. Did you seriously delete decades of important documents on my account? I've been using your services since inception, and that should be honored. I shouldn't get punished for being an established, long term customer of Microsoft, thereby having many long term documents retained in the system.

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Email

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  1. Chloe-V 14,125 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-10-13T04:03:43.45+00:00

    Hi @Elizabeth K

    I understand that you are referring to older emails that were stored in your Inbox, not messages in the Deleted Items folder.

    A full Outlook.com mailbox prevents new messages from being sent or received. Messages sent while the mailbox is over quota are returned to the sender. However, the available storage guidance does not state that reaching the storage limit automatically deletes emails already stored in the Inbox.

    Please sign in to Outlook.com in a web browser and search for a few known messages using the sender, subject, keywords, or approximate date. Also check the Archive and Junk Email folders, clear any active message filters, and review Settings > Mail > Rules to see whether a rule or Sweep action moved or removed older messages.

    If the emails cannot be found, this user-to-user forum cannot access the mailbox or review service-side activity. Please contact Microsoft Support while signed in to the affected Microsoft account and provide several example senders, subjects, and approximate dates so the support team can investigate further.

    I hope this clarifies the difference between messages that were not delivered while the mailbox was full and existing messages that are now missing from the Inbox.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

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