Storage says full even after deleting hundreds of emails

Question

I have spent two days deleting old emails from my Hotmail account and OneDrive and it still says my storage is full.

I don't want to buy more storage. Why is it full after all these deletions?

Answer 1

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

Could you also confirm whether you have deleted those files or emails from the Recycle Bin in OneDrive and the Deleted Items folder in Outlook?

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Open an incognito tab and sign in with your Microsoft account here-

https://outlook.live.com/

Select Settings > Accounts > Storage.

Expand the Microsoft Storage and Email storage section.

Find out which section is using most of your account storage.

Select Free up space: either OneDrive or Outlook (Attachments).

This will redirect you to a page where you can delete the files that are taking up a large amount of space in your OneDrive or Outlook.

Delete those items and then empty the Recycle Bin folder in OneDrive as well. If your account is frozen because your storage is full, it can take up to 24 hours for the updated storage status to be reflected. After that, you should be able to send and receive emails normally.

Let me know if you still need more help.

Answer 2

The storage is still showing as full because Microsoft uses a single, unified cloud storage quota across OneDrive and Outlook.com, and several things still count against that quota even after deleting many emails.

Key points based on the current behavior of Microsoft storage:

1. Unified storage, not just email
   • The message “Microsoft Unified Storage is full” or similar means the overall Microsoft cloud storage quota is exceeded, not just the mailbox.
   • The quota includes:
     • OneDrive files and folders
     • Items in the OneDrive Recycle Bin
     • Outlook.com mailbox content (including Deleted Items and Junk)
   • If this unified storage is exceeded:
     • New files cannot be uploaded/edited/synced to OneDrive (existing files become read‑only).
     • Email cannot be sent or received in Outlook.com, even if the mailbox itself appears under its email-only limit.
2. Deleted items may still be counting
   • In both Outlook.com and OneDrive, items moved to Deleted/Recycle folders still count toward storage until those folders are emptied.
   • For OneDrive specifically, the storage quota includes “Any items in your Recycle Bin,” so simply deleting files without emptying the Recycle Bin will not free space.
3. Shared folders and old/other accounts can push the quota over
   • A folder shared with the account in OneDrive can make the account go over its storage limit, even if personal files are small.
   • It is also possible that an older Microsoft profile or secondary email address tied to the same Microsoft account is over quota, even if the current OneDrive view looks fine. In similar cases, users found that:
     • The warning emails were sent to an older/secondary email address.
     • An older OneDrive profile (for that address) was still full until everything was deleted and the storage emptied there.
4. Changes can take time to show
   • After freeing space (deleting emails/files, emptying Deleted Items/Recycle Bin, or removing shared folders), it can take up to 24–48 hours for storage status to update across Outlook.com and OneDrive.
5. What to do without buying more storage To get back under the quota without purchasing storage:
   1. In OneDrive on the web:
      • Go to the account, select Storage used (lower-left corner) to see what is taking space.
      • Delete large or unneeded files and folders.
      • Select Empty your recycle bin so those items stop counting.
      • If any large shared folders are present that are not needed, remove them from OneDrive using the guidance in how to remove shared folders from your OneDrive.
   2. In Outlook.com:
      • Delete unneeded messages from Inbox, Sent, Junk, and Archive.
      • Empty the Deleted Items folder so those messages no longer count.
   3. If warning emails are going to an older or secondary address:
      • Sign in to the Microsoft account associated with that address and check its OneDrive and Outlook.com storage; download and delete content there if it is full.
   4. Wait up to 24–48 hours for the storage status to refresh across services.

If the unified storage is still reported as full after all of the above and after waiting for propagation, the remaining options are to continue freeing more space (especially large files and shared folders) or to purchase additional storage.

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References:

• My OneDrive says it's full
• Storage limits in Outlook.com
• Microsoft storage FAQs
• Microsoft storage limit exceeded - Microsoft Q&A
• storage exceeded in outlook after purchasing MS 365 subscription - Microsoft Q&A
• Storage showing full - Microsoft Q&A
• How to Fix outlook - Microsoft Q&A