message store has reached its maximum size

Question

I cannot access my emails, send or receive due to a message I am receiving

"Cannot display folder. The message store has reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this message store, select some items that you no longer need, and permanently delete them".

Answer 1

Hi @Patti Pressano,

Based on your sharing, the error message means that the Outlook's local data file is full. In classic Outlook for Windows, mails are stored locally in a pst/ost file, while New Outlook stores mails in the cloud via Exchange Online. Refer to Configure Size Limit for PST and OST Files In Outlook | Microsoft Learn, the default size limit for pst/ost file in Outlook is 50GB (if you use older Outlook 2007/2003, the default is 20GB).

To reduce the size of the data file, you can use the built-in Mailbox Cleanup tool

• In Classic Outlook, go to File > Info > Tools > Mailbox Cleanup
• In the Cleanup window, you can perform tasks to reduce your mailbox size, for example: empty the deleted folder, find old items to delete or archive your old items to reduce file size, etc.

For reference: Reduce the size of your mailbox and Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost) - Microsoft Support

Hope this information will help. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I look forward to hearing from you. 

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Answer 2

The error indicates that the mailbox’s hidden Recoverable Items folder has exceeded its quota, not just the visible folders in Outlook. When this folder is full, Outlook can no longer delete or move items and may block normal mailbox access.

For a Microsoft 365 work or school mailbox, this is typically resolved by an administrator changing the Recoverable Items quota or using archiving/hold features.

Actions for the admin of the tenant hosting this mailbox:

1. Increase the Recoverable Items quota via hold or archiving
   • If the mailbox is (or can be) placed on Litigation Hold or In-Place Hold, enable one of these. When either is enabled, the Recoverable Items quota is automatically increased from 30 GB to 100 GB.
   • Alternatively, enable the archive mailbox, turn on auto-expanding archiving in Exchange Online, and create a custom retention policy for mailboxes on hold. After this, the Recoverable Items folder in the archive has unlimited storage.
   • See: Increase the Recoverable Items quota for mailboxes on hold.
2. Understand what is filling the Recoverable Items folder
   • The Recoverable Items folder is not visible in Outlook, but it stores items that are soft-deleted, including:
     • Items deleted or emptied from Deleted Items.
     • Items deleted with Shift+Delete from any folder.
   • Users can restore items from this folder using Recover Deleted Items in Outlook or Outlook on the web, but they cannot directly empty the folder when it has reached quota; that must be handled by retention/hold configuration or admin tools.
3. Use retention policies and archiving to keep it from filling again
   • If retention policies are not working correctly and items are not being deleted or archived as expected, review and troubleshoot them. See: Resolve email archive and deletion issues when using retention policies.

Until the Recoverable Items quota is increased or content is reduced by policy/archiving, the error will persist even if visible folders are cleaned up in Outlook.

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References:

• (Message store has reached its maximum size) error when a Microsoft 365 user tries to delete an item in Outlook or Outlook on the Web
• Mailbox storage limits in Outlook
• Reduce the size of your mailbox and Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)
• Storage limits in Outlook.com