How do I delete my account?

To permanently close an Outlook.com email account, the Microsoft account must be closed.

Before doing that, note the impact:

• Email and contacts are deleted from Microsoft servers and can’t be recovered.
• Access is also lost to other Microsoft services tied to that account, such as Xbox, Skype, and OneDrive.
• Any saved BitLocker recovery keys associated with the account are also lost.

To close the account:

1. Sign in first.
2. Use Close your account and follow the instructions.

If the goal is only to remove the account from Outlook on a device, that is different from deleting the account itself:

• In classic Outlook for Windows: File > Account Settings > Account Settings > select the account > Remove.
• This does not deactivate the email account. It only removes it from Outlook on that computer.

Important:

• If the account can’t be signed in to, use Contact Microsoft Support.
• If the goal is to start over with a new account but keep old data, deleting the Microsoft account removes access to cloud data tied to it.

• Close your Outlook.com account
• Remove or delete an email account from classic Outlook for Windows