Why am I getting an over the free storage limit message when I have less than 500mb in my email storage

Question

I have deleted all attachments, emptied the deleted folder, and deleted many emails multiple times.

The Office 365 subscription that came with this computer is expiring and I don't want to renew it.

I see a banner at the top of the page that says I won't be able to send and receive emails because I have exceeded the free storage limit.

But I clearly have not exceeded that limit.

Please help me

Answer 1

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the update. That message usually means your OneDrive storage, not just your email is over the free limit. Even if your Outlook mailbox is under 500 MB, Microsoft counts everything linked to your account, including OneDrive files, Personal Vault, and email, toward your total storage.

The first thing to do is check your overall storage usage by signing in to your Microsoft account and reviewing the breakdown for OneDrive and Outlook. If you’re close to the free limit, even small sync issues can trigger warnings. Clearing space can help empty your OneDrive recycle bin, remove large files, or move them to an external drive. Also, check if your Personal Vault has big files that might be taking up space.

If you need more room, consider upgrading to a Microsoft 365 plan, which gives you 1 TB of storage. And just to be sure, verify your Outlook storage separately in your account settings.

Let me know if this helps or if you need more clarification—I’m happy to assist!

Warm regards,

Edward

Answer 2

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft community and for sharing the details. Just to clarify, when you check your Outlook storage settings under Settings → View all Outlook settings → General → Storage, does it show your mailbox size as under 15 GB, or is there a hidden folder like Recoverable Items or Archive taking up space?

This will help us figure out whether the issue is simply a delay in updating your quota or if there’s something hidden that’s still pushing you over the limit.

You can also check your OneDrive storage because if that’s over the free 5 GB limit, it can trigger the same warning. After clearing out deleted items and junk mail, sign out and back in to refresh your account. Sometimes, if your mailbox was large before, it can take up to 24–48 hours for the system to recalculate.

If you’re still blocked after that, try using Outlook’s Sweep tool to quickly remove old emails, and if OneDrive is the problem, download your files and delete them from the cloud.

Hope this helps clear things up! If you need more guidance, feel free to post back.

Regards,

Edward