Apr 10, 2023 • Filed to: Recover Emails • Proven solutions
Q: How do I deactivate my Outlook account?
"I no longer wish to continue using my Outlook account as I believe it has been compromised. Is there any easy solution to delete Outlook email account?"
This might sound surprising, but a lot of people wish to delete Outlook account due to all kinds of reasons. For instance, your Outlook account could be related to your previous work that you no longer use or it could have been hacked. It doesn't matter what the situation is, Microsoft provides a seamless solution to close Outlook account. Though, there are certain things that you should do and take care of before deleting your account. In this guide on how to delete an Outlook account, we will provide every essential detail that you need to know.
You might also be interested in How to Recover Outlook Password.
Before we teach you how to remove an email account from Outlook, there are certain things we should discuss beforehand. For instance, it is important to consider both, the pros and cons of removing an Outlook account. Here are some of the common reasons why people choose to delete an Outlook account.
If you wish to deactivate an Outlook account, then there are certain things that you should know. Here are some of the pitfalls for removing your account:
Therefore, after considering these pros and cons, you can decide if you wish to delete your Microsoft Outlook account or not. Before completely getting your account deleted, you should at least have a copy of the Outlook PST file backup. However, if you have already got all the emails wiped, there are still a few ways to recover the deleted Outlook emails.
Now we have explored the reasons why people would like to remove their account and the disadvantages of deleting the Outlook account. Then let's come to the results after closing an Outlook account.
As stated above, deactivating an Outlook account has certain consequences. Ideally, when you would close your Outlook email account, the following things would happen.
Outlook understands the numerous reasons for deleting an account and has provided a few alternatives instead.
By now, you must be all set to delete your Outlook account permanently. In this case, make sure that you consider the following things in advance for a seamless transition.
In case if this is your primary account and is used to contact others, you should consider informing them about it. You can simply write an email, letting your important contacts know that the account would no longer be activated. Also, include your alternative account where people can reach you instead.
Most of the computers have the features of automatic login which will sign in to your account without your permission. Therefore, it is recommended to turn this feature off. Just log out of your account once and disable the "Keep me signed in" option from here. Otherwise, when you would log-in to your account by mistake (even after deleting it), the action would activate it again.
Have you subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, or any other service using your Outlook account? Once your account is deactivated, you would no longer be able to access these services with the same Microsoft account. Consider to de-link your email from these services and add another email account instead. Also, do the same for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc., or any other website.
Apart from the linked third-party services, you would no longer be able to access other Microsoft offerings as well. Ideally, if your Microsoft account is deleted, then you can't access the linked Skype, Hotmail, Xbox, GamerTag, MSN, OneDrive, and NuGet.org account. If you still want to use them, then consider linking them with another Microsoft account instead. Also, take a backup of your OneDrive data to your system or any other source.
Most importantly, consider saving all the important emails and attachments beforehand. This is because after when you delete your Outlook account, your data from its server would be wiped off. You can save your data manually or use any other third-party backup service. If you want, you can save attachments manually to your system's storage. There is also a provision to export individual emails as PDF files too.
Ideally, there are two ways to stop using an Outlook account. You can either remove the linked email id from Outlook or deactivate Outlook altogether. We have discussed both the scenarios here.
This is a perfect solution to remove an email account from Outlook. That is if you have another third-party email (like Gmail or Yahoo!) linked to your Outlook instead of an Outlook.com account. While this would only delink your account from Outlook, you can keep using it from the main server's interface.
If you are looking for a more permanent solution, then you can choose to delete your Outlook account entirely. This would remove your Outlook.com or Microsoft.com account and its data from the server. To delete an Outlook account permanently, simply follow these easy steps:
However, if you're using Hotmail, learn how to delete a Hotmail account here. In case if you want to prevent the deletion of your Outlook account, you can just sign-in to your account and activate it once again within 60 days of its closure.
That's a wrap, folks. I'm sure that after reading this guide, you would be able to delete an Outlook account easily. To help you make up your mind, we have also discussed its pros, cons, and the important things to consider in advance. Though, in case if you have accidentally deleted the saved Outlook data from your system, then you can always take the assistance of Wondershare Recoverit Data Recovery. A highly professional and user-friendly data recovery tool, it will help you get back all kinds of content (including Outlook emails and attachments) from your Windows or Mac systems.
Amy Dennis
staff Editor