cancel email

Question

I want to delete my outlook email account. I only want to use my aol email.

How do I do this??

Answer 1

Hi Linda Topel

Thanks for reaching out.

To make sure I guide you correctly, could you please clarify a bit:

• Do you want to stop using your Outlook.com email and use your AOL email going forward, while keeping your Microsoft account?
• Or do you want to permanently delete the Outlook.com mailbox, knowing this also closes the entire Microsoft account?

Could you also confirm have you already reviewed or tried the Q&A Assist steps? If so, please let me know which option you want.

Meanwhile, please try the following steps:

1, Just sign out of Outlook.com on the web

If you only want to stop accessing it in the browser, just sign out from the Outlook.com page. Sign out of Hotmail or Outlook.com - Microsoft Support

2, Permanently delete the Outlook.com mailbox (close the Microsoft account)

Kindly follow Microsoft’s official steps here: Close your Outlook.com account - Microsoft Support

Please review the steps carefully before proceeding.

Note: Microsoft notes there’s a 30- or 60-day grace period where a closed account can be reopened by signing in and confirming via a security code. You may also see: Reopen your Microsoft account - Microsoft Support

Thank you for your time and understanding.

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Answer 2

To stop using Outlook.com and use only the AOL address, there are two options depending on the goal.

1. To keep the Microsoft account but stop using Outlook.com email:

• Remove the Outlook.com address as a sign-in alias or simply stop using it in mail apps, and use only the AOL address for email going forward. This preserves access to other Microsoft services (Xbox, OneDrive, etc.).

2. To permanently delete the Outlook.com email account:

• Outlook.com email is tied to the Microsoft account. To permanently delete the Outlook.com mailbox, the Microsoft account itself must be closed.
• When the Microsoft account is closed, Outlook.com email and contacts are deleted from Microsoft servers and cannot be recovered. Access to all other Microsoft services linked to that account (for example Xbox, Skype, OneDrive, and any saved BitLocker recovery keys) is also lost.
• Before closing the account, sign in and follow the on-screen steps from the “Close your account” flow described in the documentation. If sign-in is not possible, Microsoft Support must be contacted as indicated in the article.

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References:

• Close your Outlook.com account