What to Do If Your Outlook Mailbox is Full

Pankil is a Civil Engineer turned freelance writer. Since his arrival at Guiding Tech in 2021, he delves into the world of how-tos, and troubleshooting guides for Android, iOS, and Windows. Besides his new-found love for mechanical keyboards, he’s a disciplined footfall fan and loves international travel with his wife.

Fix 1: Use the Mailbox Cleanup Tool

Microsoft Outlook includes a Mailbox Cleanup tool that can help reduce your mailbox size bydeleting old emails quickly. You can start by running this tool to fix the “Your mailbox is full, you may not be able to send or receive items.” error in Outlook.

Step 1:Open the Outlook app and click theFilemenu in the top left corner.

Step 2:In theInfotab, clickTools > Mailbox Cleanup.

Step 3:Select theFind items older thanoption and enter the value in days in the textbox. Then, clickFind.

Step 4:PressCtrl + Akeyboard shortcut to select all the old emails. Then, press theDeletekey on your keyboard to delete them.

Fix 2: Configure Outlook to Empty Deleted Items on Restart

When you delete unwanted emails, Outlook still stores them in your Deleted Items folder for 30 days. This behavior can cause Outlook to display the Mailbox Full error even after deleting everything. To avoid this, you can configure Outlook to empty the Deleted Items folder when you close the app. Here’s how.

Step 1:Open the Outlook app and click theFilemenu in the top left corner.

Step 2:SelectOptionsfrom the left pane.

Step 3:Switch to theAdvancedtab and clear theEmpty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlookcheckbox. Then, clickOK.

Fix 3: Delete Large Emails Manually

Another quick way to free up storage in your Outlook mailbox is to delete emails with large attachments. Here’s how you can go about it.

Step 1:Open the Outlook app on your PC. Right-click on theSearch Foldersentry in the left pane and chooseNew Search Folder.

Step 2:Under Organizing Mail, selectLarge mailand specify the minimum email size in the box. Then, clickOK.

Step 3:Hold theCtrlkey on your keyboard and select the unwanted emails. Then, click theDeletebutton at the top.

Fix 4: Enable AutoArchiving in Outlook

Microsoft Outlook includes the AutoArchive feature, which can automatically archive older items to stop your mailbox from getting full. Here’s how to set it up.

Step 1:Open the Outlook app on your PC and go toFile > Options.

Step 2:In the Outlook Options window, switch to theAdvancedtab and click theAutoArchive Settingsbutton.

Step 3:Tick theRun AutoArchive everycheckbox and specify the number of days after which the AutoArchive feature should run.

Step 4:Use the checkboxes to specify how Outlook should handle old items during AutoArchive.

Step 5:Enter the age of the items you want to archive and then clickOK.

Fix 5: Store Attachments Outside the Mailbox

If your work involves receiving a lot of attachments throughout the day, you may find yourself encountering the “Your mailbox is full” error too often in Outlook. To avoid this, you can save your attachments outside of Outlook.

Step 1:Launch the Outlook app and open the email containing the attachment you want to save. Click the arrow next to your attachment and selectSave As.

Step 2:Select your preferred location for saving the attachment and clickSave.

You can then safely delete the email containing the attachment.

Fix 6: Compress the Outlook PST File

Compressing your Outlook PST file on Windowscan help eliminate unused space and remove redundant information within the data file, effectively reducing its size. You can try doing this to keep your Outlook from getting full.

Step 1:Open the Outlook app on your PC and click theFilemenu at the top-left corner.

Step 2:In theInfotab, click onAccount Settingsand selectAccount Settingsfrom the resulting menu.

Step 3:Under the Data Files tab, select Outlook Data File and click onSettings.

Step 4:Click theCompact Nowbutton.

Wait for Outlook to reduce the data file size and then check if the error still appears.

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Last updated on 12 August, 2024

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