Change email

Question

How do I cancel my business account .onmicrosoft.com account? I want an email that is just a .com?

Answer 1

Hi @Jennifer Schab, 

Good day, and thank you for explaining your concern in such detail. 

From your description, you would like to stop using the .onmicrosoft.com address for your Microsoft 365 business account and instead use an email address that ends with .com. 

To provide some context, the initial domain in a Microsoft tenant, typically in the format yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com, cannot be deleted. While you can’t delete the initial domain, you can add custom domains to your tenant and set one of them as the primary domain for user accounts and email addresses. This allows you to use a more personalized and recognizable domain for your organization while still retaining the initial domain for system purposes. 

To transition your email address effectively, please follow these steps below. If you don't have a permission, please contact your IT administrator to follow these steps: 

1/ Add your custom domain to Microsoft 365 and set it as the default 

Once you have your domain, you can add it to the tenant via the admin center by following the steps outlined below. Additional details are available in this document. Add a domain to Microsoft 365 - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn 

• Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center with your admin credentials. 
• Then go to Settings, then Domains.  
• Select Add domain, and then complete the verification steps to confirm you own the .com domain. 
• Follow the prompts to verify your domain ownership. 
• Once your domain is verified, you can create user accounts and assign licenses to them. 
• Reference:  
  • Change your email address to use your custom domain 
  • Domains Frequently Asked Questions | Microsoft Learn 

2/ Update your sign in name and primary email address to the new .com domain 

• In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users, then Active users, and select the user you want to update.  
• Within the Manage username and email settings, you can add your new .com address as an alias and then set it as the primary email, which changes your outward-facing identity and login credentials. 
• Edit the username and ensure the new .com domain is selected, then save the change.  

Reference: Change a user name and email address  

Moreover, if you do not yet own the .com address you desire, you can select the Buy domain option within the Admin Center to verify its availability and complete the purchase directly.

I hope this response has helped address your question and clarify the behavior you're experiencing. Please feel free to reply if you have any further questions, I would be happy to assist further.   

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation.  

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Answer 2

The .onmicrosoft.com address is the default domain for a Microsoft 365 business tenant and can’t be “canceled” or removed, but email does not have to use it. To use a .com address instead, set up a custom domain and change users’ email addresses to that domain.

Key points:

1. A .onmicrosoft.com address (for example, ******@contoso.onmicrosoft.com) is created automatically with the Microsoft 365 tenant and remains associated with the tenant.
2. To have an email like ******@contoso.com instead of ******@contoso.onmicrosoft.com, a custom domain (such as contoso.com) is required.
3. After adding the custom domain and updating DNS (especially the MX record) so mail flows to Microsoft 365, user primary email addresses can be changed to use the .com domain.

High-level steps:

1. Get or use a .com domain
   • If there is no .com domain yet, buy one from a domain registrar. See the guidance to buy one from a domain registrar.
2. Add the .com domain to Microsoft 365
   • In the Microsoft 365 admin center, add the custom domain (for example, contoso.com) and follow the domain verification steps.
3. Point email (MX record) to Microsoft 365
   • When the domain’s MX record is updated to Microsoft 365, all email for that domain will start coming to Microsoft 365. Before changing the MX record, make sure mailboxes are created for everyone who uses that domain.
   • If not ready to move everyone, follow the guidance to pilot Microsoft 365 with just a few email addresses instead.
4. Change user email addresses to the .com domain
   • After the domain is verified, change each user’s primary email address from ******@tenant.onmicrosoft.com to ******@contoso.com in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
   • Users then sign in and send/receive mail using the .com address, while the .onmicrosoft.com address remains as a secondary/hidden address tied to the tenant.
5. If the entire business account is no longer needed
   • If the goal is to completely close the Microsoft 365 business account (tenant), follow the steps to close the business account. This deletes subscriptions, licenses, users, and data, so back up everything first.

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References:

• Change your Microsoft 365 email address to use your custom domain
• Close your Microsoft business account