Did you know that your Outlook will eventually run out of space if it has too many emails in it?
Outlook has a space limit of 15GB (depending on the version you are running). This is a lot! But, if you get a lot of emails, this space will eventually run out. And when it does, you will not be able to send or receive emails until the problem is rectified.
If you use up all the space in your Outlook, you will see the error message “Outlook Mailbox is full”.
Another thing that can happen is that you could get a message saying that OneDrive is full. This may seem confusing, as it’s Outlook you’re trying to use, not OneDrive! The problem comes up because attachments to emails are stored in OneDrive behind the scenes (see below*), so it is possible for the space in your OneDrive to become full of email attachments, and this will also stop you being able to send or receive emails.
*As Microsoft explains: You get 15 GB of free Outlook.com email storage which is separate from your Microsoft cloud storage. You have 5 GB of free cloud storage with your Microsoft account shared across your files and photos in OneDrive, attachments in Outlook.com and your Microsoft 365 apps.
How to free up space in Outlook
You can free up space by removing some of the emails, particularly those in your Junk folder. You can remove emails either manually, or using File > Tools > Mailbox Cleanup.
If you don’t want to lose any of your emails, the alternative is to archive them. Again, this can be done manually, by exporting the emails out of Outlook. But if you need to be able to easily access these emails again in the future, you may benefit from an email archive.
An email archive reduces the amount of space you’re using up in Outlook. This has the added benefit of making Outlook run faster. The email archive is easily searchable, meaning that you can quickly pull up emails that you want, based on sender, subject line, date or many other details. This is not just convenient, but also means you are complying with any industry regulations you may be subject to regarding keeping information.
Call us if an email archive might be useful for you, and our technical team will be able to advise you further and help get you set up if this if right for you.