Hotmail won't allow messages to be sent

Question

I have updated my hotmail account for 100gb storage. I have currently used 11gbs. Hotmail won't allow me to send emails because it says I don't have enough storage.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

With a free Microsoft account, you get 5GB of OneDrive cloud storage and 15GB of Outlook email storage. If you exceed either storage limit, your account will be temporarily frozen.

Therefore, if you upgrade your storage or free up space, it usually takes 24 hours or more for your account to unfreeze and for the storage updates to show in your account. After that, you can send and receive emails normally.

In this situation, I recommend waiting for 24 hours and then trying to send an email from outlook.com using an incognito tab to see if you can send emails successfully.

Answer 2

Outlook.com blocks sending and receiving mail when either Microsoft cloud storage or mailbox storage is over quota, even if the mailbox itself shows plenty of free space.

Take these steps in Outlook.com (web):

1. Check Microsoft cloud storage status
   • Go to the mailbox storage page using the storage link provided in the Outlook.com error or via the account storage page.
   • If the banner or details say Microsoft Unified Storage is full or show that Microsoft storage (OneDrive + other services) is over quota, email sending will be blocked even if email usage is low.
2. If Microsoft cloud storage is full
   • Either:
     • Purchase a subscription or additional storage if using a free account, or
     • Free up space by deleting files from OneDrive and other cloud storage until total Microsoft storage is below the quota.
   • Details on behavior when storage is exceeded and how to get back under quota are described in the Microsoft storage article referenced from the storage page.
3. If email storage is full (or near full)
   • In Outlook on the web: Settings → Account → Storage.
   • Use the Clean up Mailbox options to permanently delete items (or items older than 3, 6, or 12 months) from large folders such as Deleted Items, Junk Email, and Sent Items until usage is below the limit.
4. After freeing space
   • Wait a short period for quota status to refresh, then sign out of Outlook.com and sign back in.
   • Try sending a new test message without attachments first.

If storage is clearly under quota but sending is still blocked, check the Outlook.com service status and recent-issues page for any known bugs affecting storage display or sending.

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References:

• Storage limits in Outlook.com
• Mailbox storage limits in Outlook
• Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com
• Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com