Hotmail account repeatedly locked

I had the same issue with my Hotmail account being temporarily locked due to "unusual activity", also since 1/9/2022. I also received the message "Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow" when I tried to "verify" my account. Multiple back-and-forths with Microsoft support didn't help.

SOLUTION: It turns out that my problem was that I had too many emails in my "Send" folder! I didn't see this mentioned anywhere as a potential problem but once I deleted most of them, my problem has been solved. Just a lucky guess on my part. Here's what I did:

Go to Settings

Click on "View all Outlook settings"

Click on "General" and then "Storage"

Scroll down to the "Send" folder

On the right, under "Empty", you can select either 3, 6, or 12 months (to delete all emails in the "Send" folder that are older than that number of months).

I had over 24,000 emails in there, since I have been using this same Hotmail account for many years. It would be nice if there were a way to tell Hotmail to delete emails from the "Send" file after a year or two, the same way it deletes emails from the "Delete" folder after 30 days.

Hope this helps some of you!

I have only used 6.9%.

THIS IS THE PROCESS EVERYTIME:

I send emails through the Outlook app AND Outlook for the Web.

1. When I try to send emails through the Outlook app, I receive the message 'Please sign into <*** Email address is removed for privacy ***>. SIGN IN'

I click SIGN IN > enter my password > click Sign In > click Show more verification methods > click Text my mobile number > enter the last 4 digits of my mobile number > Send code > enter the code > Verify > I receive a message that my account has been locked > click Next > enter my mobile number > click Send code > I receive the message 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' This first happened on Friday. I tried again on Saturday & received Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' I tried again Sunday and received the message 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' I tried again today (Monday) and received the message 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.'

I've tried entering a relative's mobile number which let me continue but when I tried to send emails I received the message 'Please sign into <*** Email address is removed for privacy ***>. SIGN IN'

When verifying, I'm now receiving the 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' when entering my relative's mobile number too as this has been going on for so long.

When I try to send emails through Outlook for the Web, I receive the message 'We've noticed some unusual activity in your Outlook account. To help protect you, we've temporarily blocked it. Please verify your account.' I click Verify and receive the message 'Your account has been locked'. I click Next, enter my mobile number then click Send code and receive the message 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' I enter my relative's mobile number then click Send code and receive the message 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' This has also been happening every day since Friday. I've tried a third mobile number of another relative and now receive the 'Usage limit exceeded. Try again tomorrow.' with that one too.

I experience the same messages when I try to sign into the Community and when clicking Reply. I've had to ask a friend for their mobile number - so that's now a fourth mobile number, in order to be able to reply to your post.

I'm running out of mobile number's I can enter

Hello JerryJackson7

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate that you've taken the time to post your concern here in Microsoft Community Forum**.**   

My apology if you encounter an issue that your Outlook/Hotmail account locked. Let me go ahead and assist you.

I made a research and we found out that this matter is an on-going issue. I will be consulting our internal team about this issue once I gather the information. I keep you posted.

With respect,    

Jason Guer 

M365 Forum Moderator

I have had the same problems-- being locked out because of the wrong password but it wasn't. I was changing them constantly and noticed MS wanted me to agree to them changing my emails. I did not agree and felt it unreasonable. If this is what was going on I need to close the outlook. 2. Each time I was asked for more verification beyond the secret questions, like who were my latest emails to and what was in the subject line. A month of this to wait 3 days each TIME to unlock!! even though I had given the code just sent. 3. I found a list of passcodes they had sent so kept them for the next time and they were all WRONG. They had 8 digits as required but instead only took 7. 4. When they 3 times offered to send a text code to my home phone AND NOT OFFERING FOR MY CELL PHONE [have not changed numbers in years], I felt these were more than just mistakes. 5. Today, I was told they could not find my account at all! when I was looking at it on my computer minutes before. Thought my computer was slow, bought a new one, had Geek squad and HP support and it keeps happening.