Online Outlook email account storage limit change ?

Anonymous
2023-03-04T11:04:19+00:00

Hello,

As from 3rd March 2023, on my 20 year old online outlook email account, I now receive need more storage messages.

It says I am using around 6GB when there is only 5Gb available.

I thought the limit was more than 5GB, I vaguely remember some indicator in the past that showed I was nowhere near the limit.

After checking the available info I find the following - *"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.You also get 15 GB of free Outlook.com email storage which is separate from your Microsoft cloud storage."*I do not use cloud storage just the email account admittedly with thousands of email stored.This info suggests I have a limit of 15Gb in Outlook yet when using around 6Gb it says I need more as I'm over 5Gb The message on the outlook account states this was taking place from 1st Feb 2023 as well, yet this comes up from 3rd March.

I do not know if something has changed, or is wrong, or if I have misunderstood this.

It seems to me that contacting Microsoft is almost impossible ?

Thanks. Mike. UK

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-03-07T17:22:56+00:00

    Hi Mike,

    I have just been in touch with Microsoft customer service as I have the same issue. They clarified that all attachments in your hotmail account now count towards your 5GB OneDrive limit even if they aren't in your OneDrive. So I guess after more than 20 years with hotmail, I will sent up a yahoo account as they grant 1TB of space and then I will transfer my emails that I want to keep there.

    Bests....

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-07T17:19:12+00:00

    Looks like more folks are expressing concern and getting no where: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/my-microsoft-storage-is-over-5-gb-but-my-email/febd53ac-9ee5-446b-a207-1f40c5d0572e

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/how-much-free-storage-space-do-i-have-for-onedrive/eeaec729-4190-4b29-b8bf-4cb8bfc6e5ae

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1185737/not-enough-storage-space-on-outlook-but-plenty-on

    Here seems to be the source of how they are trying to explain the change: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-does-microsoft-storage-work-2a261b34-421c-4a47-9901-74ef5bd0c426#:~:text=You%20have%205%20GB%20of,from%20your%20Microsoft%20cloud%20storage

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    The more I look at this the more it looks like they are saying they want to keep all of the non-attachment email content toward your 15GB but attachments in outlook are limited to 5GB because they are also considered part of your overall storage limit from onedrive.

    This looks like three things are happening:

    1. a forced push to make users buy more space
    2. an attempt to do 1 while also keeping all of the metadata they can from the emails that are contained in your hotmail account so they can utilize it to generate revenue.

    a. the statement of 15gb is for outlook being available but then not really completely available appears to be either a true mistake/error in execution

    or

    b. potential attempt to give users of Microsoft owned email systems the illusion that they won't be impacted by the change until it slowly impacts a few folks over time and they eventually realize what's happened.

    (I hope 3a is the right assessment and Microsoft can fix things.)

    As an end user, I'd like to see Microsoft keep the 15gb for outlook, to include attachments, independent from the 5gb of onedrive storage, but I guess we'll have to see if they get on board with making changes.

    If you found this thread through a search and/or are impacted by this problem, even if you don't have the time or opportunity to clearly describe your concerns but it's obvious it's related, please post in this thread to keep it on Microsoft's radar and hopefully they'll address it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-07T16:31:06+00:00

    I have the same issue as Mike. I have unlinked my One account from my hotmail account but it did not resolve the issue.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-07T16:12:32+00:00

    I am having this same issue. It just doesn't seem to make sense. I received a message in my hotmail interface to say that I had used 10.7gb of 5gb and that I will need more storage to receive and send emails. This has confused me as my OneDrive is empty when I checked. To me it sees that I should still have 4.3gb of space available to me.......As discussions just seem to go round in circles, suggesting that I delete info, I am considering creating a yahoo account and moving my emails there as they provide 1TB of storage.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-07T10:38:37+00:00

    Thanks for the input and reply.

    A previous person explained to me that attachments now count to the over 5GB on OneDrive. And yet the 15Gb shows there is still space etc. The fact is for myself at least, I am possibly not understanding this for some reason but I just cant get my head around it.

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