delete my account

Question

How do I delete my personal account?

Answer 1

Deleting a personal email account from classic Outlook for Windows and permanently closing a personal Microsoft/Outlook.com account are different actions.

To remove a personal email account from classic Outlook for Windows (so it no longer sends/receives mail there):

1. In classic Outlook for Windows, select File in the upper-left corner.
2. Select Account Settings > Account Settings.
3. On the Email tab, select the personal account to remove.
4. Select Remove.
5. Confirm the warning that offline cached content for this account will be deleted from the computer, then select Yes.

This only removes the account from Outlook on that PC; it does not deactivate or delete the underlying email account with the provider.

To permanently close a personal Outlook.com/Microsoft account (which also closes the Outlook.com mailbox):

1. Follow the steps in Close your Outlook.com account to start closing the Outlook.com email account.
2. This process requires closing the entire Microsoft account. When the Microsoft account is closed and the reopen window has passed, Microsoft deletes the data and content associated with that account as described in How to close your Microsoft account.
3. Be aware that closing the Microsoft account also removes access to other Microsoft services tied to that account (for example, Xbox, Skype, OneDrive, and any saved BitLocker recovery keys).

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References:

• Remove or delete an email account from classic Outlook for Windows
• Close your Outlook.com account
• How to close your Microsoft account

Answer 2

Hello Rod Mack, 

If you want to delete your personal Microsoft account, the supported way is to close the account from Microsoft’s account closure page. To do that, please sign in with the account you want to remove, review the checklist, select the reason, choose the re-open window (30 or 60 days), and then select Mark account for closure.  

You can start by Close your account: https://account.live.com/closeaccount.aspx  

Before closing the account, please make sure you have saved anything important and checked any services linked to that account. Closing a Microsoft account also removes access to services connected to it, such as Outlook.com/Hotmail/Live/MSN email, OneDrive, Xbox Live data, Skype, and other Microsoft services. Please also note: 

• You need to be able to sign in to close the account. If you cannot sign in, use the Sign-in helper first.  
• If you recently reset your security information, Microsoft requires you to wait 60 days before you can close the account. 
• After the selected re-open window passes, the account’s data and content are deleted.  

If your goal is only to stop using the account on a device, you may also review whether you simply want to sign out or remove it from the device instead of closing the entire Microsoft account.

For more information, please visit https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/how-to-close-your-microsoft-account-c1b2d13f-4de6-6e1b-4a31-d9d668849979

Thank you so much for your understanding. 

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