How to Delete Outlook Account?

Amy Dennis

Aug 23, 2023 • Filed to: Recover Emails • Proven solutions

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.

Part 1: Should You Delete an Outlook Account?

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.

• Your account is dormant and is not being used, so it is better to deactivate it.
• It was a work-related account that you intentionally do not wish to continue using anymore.
• Outlook might consume a lot of space on your system and you wish to clean it through.
• The username was juvenile or something inappropriate that you no longer wish to continue.
• You are getting too many spam emails and you think that your account details are leaked.
• Our Outlook account has been hacked and compromised, and thus you wish to delete it entirely for security reasons.

Before you delete your 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:

• People who only know your email id would no longer be able to reach you.
• All the reminders, bills, etc. that were associated with the account would be deleted as well.
• If your account is linked to any other social networking site, subscription plan, etc. then it would be affected.
• Since the action will also get rid of your emails, you would no longer have access to this information (emails or attachments).

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.

Part 2: What Happens 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.

• It will evidently close your Microsoft account, which means you won't be able to access the linked Microsoft services like Skype, Hotmail, OneDrive, Xbox, etc.
• All the contacts, emails, files, and every other kind of data linked to the account would be deleted from the server and you would no longer have access to it.
• Other people won't be able to send you emails and your subscriptions or accounts that are linked to Outlook would be inaccessible.

The Possible Alternatives

Outlook understands the numerous reasons for deleting an account and has provided a few alternatives instead.

Part 3: What to Do Before Closing an Outlook Account?

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.

• Notify others

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.

• Discontinue automatic login

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.

• De-link your account

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.

• Consider Plan B for Microsoft services

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.

• Take a backup of important Outlook data

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.

Part 4: How to Remove Email Account from Outlook?

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.

1 Remove Email Account from Outlook

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.

1. Launch Outlook on your system and go to its File > Info tab.
2. Now, select the linked email from the dropdown option and go to its Account Settings.

3. Once the Account Settings pop-up window would launch, go to its Email tab.
4. Select the linked email id and click on the "Remove" button. Confirm your choice to delink your account from Outlook.

2 Deactivate Outlook Account Permanently

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:

1. To start with, go to the account closure page of Microsoft Close your Outlook com account to get detailed information about the process and what you would be losing. To proceed, just click on the "Close Account" button.

2. You will be asked to enter the password of your account for security reasons. Just sign-in by entering the correct account credentials to pass the security test.

3. Once you sign-in, a warning message would appear, listing all the things that you would no longer have access to. Simply agree to the warning by checking the sign and agree to the terms and services. Also, you would have to provide a reason for closing your account.

4. In the end, just click on the "Mark Account for Closure" button to delete the Outlook account permanently and send the request.

5. That's it! This will permanently close your Outlook account and would inform you the same. Please note that you would still have 60 days to undo this action or recover your data from Microsoft's server.

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.