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The Easy Way To Safely Delete Microsoft Outlook Email Account

Remove or delete an email account from Outlook

When an email account from Outlook is removed it does not deactivate the email account. If you would like to deactivate your account make sure to contact your email account provider. When you delete an Outlook account you will not be able to send and or receive email from the account. (Note: These instructions will apply to Outlook 2016, 2013, and 20201 only.)

From the primary Outlook Window, select “File” in the upper left corner of the screen.

Select “Account Settings” and “Account Settings” once again.

Choose the account you want to delete, then click “Remove“.

You’ll then be prompted with a message warning you that all offline cached content for the account will be permanently deleted. This only affects downloaded content and stored on your desktop.

Confirm and select “Yes“

How to Close your Outlook.com account

If you would like to permanently close your Microsoft Outlook email account, you must close your Microsoft account. If you do decide to delete your Microsoft account know that all of your email and contacts will be deleted from the servers and will not be able to be recovered. If you use your Microsoft account with an Xbox, Skype, OneDrive, or any other Microsoft services you will no longer have access to it.

If you want a clean slate you can create a new account without closing your old account. This will give you a new Outlook.com email, inbox, and From address, without losing access to your current email and contacts.

If you a new email address with your current Outlook.com account, you can add an email address to your Outlook.com account. This will give you an additional email address which uses the same inbox, contact list, and account settings as your primary email address.

If you would just like to have a new name to be associated with your account, from there you can change your profile photo or name.

How to delete an email account from mail and calendar apps

If you do not want to receive email from a specific account in the Mail app for Windows 10 you can either delete the account, remove it from the app or just turn off the email for that account. Deleting or removing an account from either app will also remove any calendar associated with that account.

Delete an Account from the Mail and Calendar apps

In either the Mail or Calendar apps, choose “Settings” in the lower-left corner

Choose “Manage Accounts” and then choose the account that you would like to remove.

Choose “Delete Account” if you don’t see the Delete Account option, you’re probably trying to remove the default email account added when you logged on to Windows 10. You can turn off email from this account instead.

How to Turn off email for an account

If you would like to disable email for an account, either because you can’t delete the default account or because you only want to use an account for your calendar, you can modify the sync settings for the account.

Select “Settings” in the lower-left corner.

Choose “Manage Accounts“, and then choose the account you no longer want to receive email from.

Choose “Change Mailbox Sync Settings“, then scroll down to “Sync Options“.

Use the slider to set “Email” to “Off” and then choose “Done” and “Save“.

What to consider when deleting your outlook.com email account?

You must seriously consider the reasons for which you want to delete your email account. There may be serious consequences to closing your email account so lets see the outcome of deleting your Outlook on the web email account.

Reasons why to delete your email account

• The email account and email address is not professional– This account may be tied to an email account or address that is not meet professional standards and it may be time to consider getting a more professional email address to have proper correspondence with professional individuals.
• The email account is not being used – If you are not using your email account then why have one? If you just don’t use that email account then deleting it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
• There is too much spam – If you open your email to vast amounts of spam you may want to consider just opening a new email account and getting rid of all those pesky spammers.
• There is concern over the email being hacked/leaked – If you are concerned about your email account being vulnerable or susceptible to getting leaked or hacked then maybe you are better off deleting the account and having a fresh start.

Now here are some of the consequences of closing your email account.

• The email address is connected to important accounts – It shouldn’t come as a surprise if your email is connection to accounts such as your banking or social media accounts. So make sure that information on all of those accounts are changed so you don’t send a reset password email to an email account that’s been deleted.
• There will no longer be any reminders for important information – If you are used to getting reminders from your email or a calendar tied to your email make sure to have your alternative before deleting the account and losing all those reminders.
• Individuals who have this email will no longer be able to contact you – Make sure to keep your important contacts and let them know you have a new email address before deleting your email and potentially losing that content.
• Any information on the email account will be permanently deleted – Remember that this will be permanent and any and all important documents will not be salvageable. Make sure to keep all of your important documents and keep them backed up elsewhere.
• You will lose services with any other associate programs – Many email accounts are connected to a slew of programs like G Suite or Microsoft Office however once you delete your email account many of these services that are tied to your account will not be accessible with your account anymore.

After much deliberation and having decided to delete your email account go through this checklist on what to do before deleting your email account.

• Make sure to change the information on any connected accounts to that specific email account.
• Archive and backup any important email information you may have.
• Make sure to notify all of your contacts of your new email address.