mailbox full

Question

mailbox full

Shirley Rosiak 0

i am getting a message the my mail box is full. What shuld I do?

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hello

If this mailbox belongs to a business account managed by an organization, the issue usually indicates that the mailbox storage quota has been reached.

1/ As a first step, try checking and cleaning up the mailbox storage through "Outlook on the web" (OWA):

Sign in to Outlook on the web.
Go to "Settings" -> "General" -> "Storage".
Review which folders are consuming the most space and permanently delete any unnecessary emails, especially those with large attachments.

For your reference:

Reduce the size of your mailbox and Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)

2/ If mailbox cleanup does not free enough space, you may need to contact your IT administrator to enable Exchange Online Archiving (Online Archive). This allows older emails to be moved to a separate archive mailbox while remaining accessible from Outlook.

For your reference:

Exchange Online Archiving service description

3/ If an Online Archive is not available in your current subscription, your organization may need an Exchange Online Plan 2 license or another Microsoft 365 subscription that includes archive mailbox functionality.

For this review, please see the "Feature availability across Exchange Online plans" section of the second article link above. It compares the features included with each Exchange Online license, allowing the administrator to verify whether the current plan supports the required archiving and mailbox storage capabilities or if an upgrade to Exchange Online Plan 2 should be considered.

Please let me know if I can do anything more for you.

Have a nice day!

Answer 2

Open Outlook on the web and go to Settings → Account → Storage, then permanently remove enough mail to bring the mailbox below its quota.^1^

Free mailbox space

Select Settings (gear icon) → Account → Storage.
Review the folder-size breakdown and clean the largest folders first.
To find large messages, return to the message list and select Filter → Sort by → Size. Select it again if the smallest messages appear first.
For messages with attachments you need:
- Select Save to OneDrive beneath the attachment.
- After confirming the file was saved, delete the original message.
Empty Deleted Items. Ordinary deletion only moves messages there, and that folder continues to count against your storage quota.
To bypass Deleted Items, select unwanted messages and press Shift+Delete. This permanently deletes them, so verify the selection first.^1^
Check Settings → Account → Storage again, then send yourself a new test message.

You can also select a repetitive message in the Inbox and use Sweep to remove older or unwanted messages from that sender. Empty Deleted Items afterward, because Sweep alone does not reclaim the storage.^1^

If there still is not enough space

For a work or school mailbox, ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to:

Enable or provision an archive mailbox so older messages can be moved out of the primary mailbox.
Review your mailbox quota and license, and provision more space if the subscription permits it.^1^

If Storage shows available capacity but the full-mailbox warning remains, report that discrepancy to the administrator rather than deleting more mail; hidden recoverable items or organizational retention settings may require administrator investigation.

References

[Web](https://support.microsoft.com/outlook/mailbox-storage-limits-in-outlook)