Microsoft new Outlook.com is designed for the next billion mailboxes. The new email service from Microsoft looks modern and comes with virtually unlimited email storage space. Ability to connect to your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks, and the ability to view and edit documents without leaving the Outlook.com are two cool features.
While most users are enjoying the new service and happy with the clean, advertisement free and uncluttered interface, some users aren’t happy with the metro-inspired design.
Users who had signed up for Outlook.com to explore the new email service and now want to close the account can complete the below-mentioned steps to close the account and delete all personal information.
Please note that when you close your account, your user name, password, account profile will be permanently deleted. Because of this, you won’t be able to sign in to your Microsoft account, Xbox LIVE or anywhere else using this account. Also, note that you will lose access to your Messenger and Hotmail contacts.
If you have used the Outlook.com account that you want to close as an ID with any other websites or services, we suggest you sign in to those sites and services first and delete your personal info or change the email address to the alternate one before closing your Outlook.com account.
Steps to close and delete your Outlook.com account
Step 1: Visit Outlook.com, sign in with your Outlook email address that you want to close and delete.
Step 2: Click on the Options “cog” in the upper-right corner of the page and click More mail settings to open the Outlook options page.
Step 3: Under Managing your account, you will see the Account details (password, addresses, time zone) option. Click on it to open the Microsoft account overview page where you can edit and update your personal and security info, and also close the account.
Scroll down to see Close account option. Click on it to see Close your Microsoft account page. Here you will see what happens when you close your Outlook.com account.
Step 4: Scroll down the page, enter the password for your account (if you have forgotten your password, follow our how to reset or recover Outlook.com account password guide) and then click Next button.
Step 5: On the next page, you will see “To close your @outlook.com account you need to deactivate your Hotmail account” message. Click on deactivate your Hotmail account link to see a new page where you need to click Close account button to permanently close your account and delete all info.
Please note that Microsoft reserves your email address for 270 days after closing your account, and other people won’t be able to get that email address during that time. After that time, it becomes available for other people to use.
dan.bruce says
you must work for microsoft. this information was as useless as the rubbish they publish.
have you investigated their site lately ?? none of the screens you list are visible. dah.
Anne says
There are no ‘more mail settings’ when I click on the cog. It appears I am stuck with these accounts.
ASTRD says
this is crazy i have not used my outlook email in over 4 years and only had it at the time that i was using it because i had a windows phone.. i since then no longer have the phone.. but now would like to use this account once again on a new computer i just got but i dont remember any password info just my email address i have attempted one to many times and now i an locked out…. i was prompted to open a new account so i did but now want to delet the old one that i can not log in too…… HELP
Bruce Claver says
Microsoft seems to prevent users from deleting a single Microsoft app. If you want to close or delete your Outlook app, you will also close and delete EVERY Microsoft account you use. My spouse uses OneDrive so deleting the account was not an option. You are left with three options:
1. You can delete your entire Microsoft account
2. You setup an automatic reply in outlook that tells the user you no longer check or use the account AND, set up a filter that sends all incoming mail to the delete folder. Then, never check outlook again.
3. You can also set up a filter to forward all Outlook mail to your current email provider.
Steps on how to delete your microsoft account:
1.click the cog in the top right
2.click options
3.account and details(password, addresses, timezone)
4.security and privacy near the top right
5.then click on more security settings
6. right at the bottom there will be “close my account” with all microsoft applications.
Lisa Lachapelle says
I have two Outlook accounts that I would like to delete – there is no option under any cog or profile to do so. If my accounts are being used by MSN for any other reason than my personal email I will sue Microsoft Networks, this is bs, it should be simple to delete an email account. Outlook must be notoriously easy to hack.
John Couture says
From what I can tell, to close your Outlook.com account, you have to use the “Close my account” link I found on a Microsoft Support page.
Link to the Microsoft Support Page:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Close-your-Outlook-com-email-account-564b801e-2a47-4cb2-afa8-12ead3185038
Link to the Close My Account Page: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=845493
bonnie philp says
Once again a gigantic pice of crap. Nothing but trouble for 5 years of Micro and outlook,. Nothing but trouble, and then some. this site is the biggest piece of shit I have ever encoutnered on the internet. They charge yo to fix their fuckups.
J says
Useless. My outlook doesn’t even have the menu options you show. Thanks for nuthin’ I don’t know how I ended up having to use this Outlook account to log into my computer but I am not a happy camper. Hijack comes to mind. Very, very dodgy.
henareho says
This article is incorrect since Outlook.com updated their interface as their is no “More mail settings” or Account option under “Options”. You need to click on your account avatar and view your account. Then uder Security choose the close your account option.
kim says
I deleted mine more than four weeks ago and it is still open. The cog option shown above was never there but my IT husband went in and has now clicked delete FOUR times.
If I wanted to receive emails on it I would have kept it open but i don’t!
Block every single email I get to it for hecks sake!
Joel says
someone hacked my yahoo account and opened an account on outlook that looks similar. How do I get to microsoft to close this outlook account?
Aleksandr Starostin says
Bill! Could you please leave my life alone? Let me close my fukin live.com account without waiting for a whole month, please?
Do you think I’ll change my mind and will stay with this slow and useless account? No fukin way.
Why should I wait for a month to close fukin accoint?
Clark says
Yes, I’m now on the lost emails list of Outlook.mail. And I’m finding me another email service, if even it is free, how much of an Outlook is it if it deletes all my old emails from sent folder back to 2013. Someone on the microsoft forum said Engineers were looking into it. Yeh that was Jan. 1st. This is tonight the 7th and it’s like I think they must be gone like last year.
And then the advertised bigger better Outlook.mail to transition over to. Oh? But if it can’t handle the load or the other saved emails i had from the very Hotmail which when that was set up was at that time the newly introduced email and then Windows Live to dispose of that too is just like the typical nudge of taking out with the old and i guess mine were old huh to 2013. And no, i didn’t ever back up my emails and i guess that’s what i get huh.
Allen Balagtas says
Is outlook the reason I have 3 to 6 listings for each of my xfinity contacts and cannot delete them from my contacts?
andrew says
So getting to the account settings takes you to an extra layer of security and if you don’t remember your security info, then you put in another email address to get a code and the account security is FROZEN for a month, so the guy who is able to access my account on another computer has full access for the next MONTH! !!! Only then can I change my password.. yes, I know I should write down the security the minute I open the account but I am IN my own account and I am POWERLESS to save my info in incoming mails and cannot stop whatever mail might be sent out- thanks Microsoft!!!!… in the past you just clicked on “change password” or “close account” job done… Now I see from the first poster the best way, delete all mail and put an automatic reply for a year…. not au revoir microsoft but goodbye!!
Carlos Caso-Rosendi says
I solved the problem by deleting all my addresses and mails and posted an automatic reply for a year. It was impossible to kill that account. The “Delete Your Account” feature is no longer available. Nice way to treat your people, Gates. Go fly a kyte.
“The new web interface for Outlook — obviously designed by the inmates of a Chinese asylum while smoking crack — is so idiotically complicated I do not have the time nor the inclination to figure out if it even works. Since it does all kinds of things by itself i.e. cramming my mailing list with Skype addresses from ages past and other annoying tricks, I have decided to kill this account. Alas, I am not the only one who has decided to take such a drastic measure. So Microsoft in its never ending wisdom has removed the feature that kills the account. You got it, is the old effective trick of tying the unsatisfied customer to a pole! So, since I cannot delete this totally useless account I hereby send Mr Bill Gates and his successors my best regards in the hope that I never have to use their crappy products any more. I am not reading this account ever again please write to the account I provided to all my friends in a previous email. Good bye!”
Rom Da Silva says
UPDATED (23/05/2016):
1- Click on your display picture/figure on far top right icon of screen
2- Click on ‘View Account’
3- Click on ‘Security & Privacy’
4- Click on ‘More Security Settings’
5- Scroll down to bottom and find ‘Close my Account’ option
Voila! Take care peeps!
PEACE.
doll Scott says
I totally agree with every comment!!!!!It never accept my password, no matter what I try. HELP me delete outlook from my phone!!!!!!!
K says
1.click the cog in the top right
2.click options
3.account and details(password, addresses, timezone)
4.security and privacy near the top right
5.then click on more security settings
6. and then right at the bottom there should be close my account
that is until outlook decides to change it again
get says
outlook.com is bullshitttttttttt !
where is the option to delete your outlook accout ?
the above step is not there. It is fake !
joseph says
I have tried every option in the book, there is no option presented anywhere to delete my account they keep telling me to go to ‘more mail settings’ and that option is nowhere to be found, very frustrating.
Lee says
You’ll have to work your way thru account settings, security and privacy, then more security setting, put a sent code, and only then you’ll find the close account…. Good luck and patience!
Joel Hedge says
Please update these instructions.
Thank You
Blake Walsh says
I have been trying to close my account to start afresh with a more appropriate email address and the process has been beyond a joke. When i finally found the ‘de-activation’ option i was asked to enter the last 4 digits of my mobile number to verify identity with another pin code. The pin code never came (i repeated this about 8 times) When i wanted to update security the SMS Feature worked fine. Which leads me to suspect they are trying to make it as hard as possible to get rid of it (the account). I vouched to verify with an email to another account, and all that did was revert back to same page not offering a solution (some sort of weird loop). It was very confusing.
Whence i am here posting this, this ‘deactivation process’ did not help at all.
I went “Options-Manage Account-Account Details-View Basic Information”
The ‘Deactivate Your Account’ Option is nowhere to be found.
I am extremely disappointed that this hasn’t been a simple choice and i could spend my time enjoying other services.
But i have to agree with the other commenters on here. Microsoft just seems to be arrogant.
LynneD says
I thought that I was gonna have to cut a bitch over this ridiculous carry on trying to close/delete stupid Microsoft/outlook account….. I watched videos and read instructions (which I kept forgetting and was jumping back and forth to check again and again and again)…… I swear I’m not stupid it just seems that way lol… After all of that…..I clicked on the “security” part of “manage my account” and hey presto! Away down at the bottom was “close account)……Two shakes of a lambs tail and it was all over :D I still can’t believe how much time I spent trying to find how to close it…..by following other instructions…….I think it’s perhaps slightly different depending on what device you’re using…. I could be wrong obviously but I’ve seen Four different sets of instructions……none of which were any good for me. I just decided to click on everything one after another in hope……and it worked quicker than I expected….. “Security” my arse!!!! That’s the way out!!! Utter goons whoever they are that started this pish in the first place… I’m outta there and here……and only wasted just over an hour so not too bad. Hope nobody else gets stuck in there……bloody nightmare!! Bye Bye Y’all ;D x
Anthony Murray says
i was so unhappy when i got out look but now i am SO HAPPY
Tai says
I tried terminating my account with outlook over the last two weeks without any success. I tried all following instructions but I’m not getting correct programs that showing how to delete my outlook account permanently. Like the software had been hacked.
Robert says
Real instructions on closing account : http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/account-close-account
Jan says
MICROSOFT DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD OR DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT. THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE USELESS!
helen says
trying to delete and do not have a deactivate my account option. has anyone deleted their account please tell me how
lin jennings says
when you finally can delete outlook and microsoft in general, be sure to tell microsoft why you are doing it. Actively boycott all microsoft products, bad mouth them to anyone who’ll listen, and help anyone you can to remove microsoft. Participate in forums and let your thoughts be known about how you feel about microsoft’s business practices. Microsoft management is arrogance based and it’s because no one has really challenged them that they get away with it.
lin jennings says
I am running XP but I will be buying a new computer next month. Be assured it will not be windows based. I want to boycott any microsoft products, especially hotmail, outlook express, windows live and isn’t msn part of microsoft? If so, that’ll go too. Is it possible to completely escape microsoft? I hope so. I suppose I’ll be learning a new operating system soon and I hope I never have to deal with any more bad treatment from microsoft. The techs at the “help” desk are taught to go with the microsoft party line; Oh you will like outlook, just give it a chance. Well, I have and it is not worth having. I have gmail,yahoomail and att and I have never even come close to having the number of problems outlook has caused me. I am cancelling everything I can that even smacks of microsoft. Never thought I’d be using a mac, but it looks like I will and I’m not sure if even that will insulate me from microsoft and windows. Suggestions on my new system?
Sierraman says
Outlook simply sucks! I got one thinking I’m going to have access to great products……every download I attempt ends up pending even the free ones, yes!Now That I’ve tried over and over and over again, I’m fed up with their poor performance so I decided to close my useless account and guess what, it would not let me no mater how much I tried and it keeps popping the same message to me at the end “to be able to close your account, you must deactivate your outlook or hotmail account first”…isn’t that funny, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do, deactivate my outlook account since I don’t even have a hotmail account and the going in circles and circles commences. My advice to would be, seek caution before attempting this meaningless blunder.
Elly says
……….and clearly there is no freedom of speech when it comes to MS!
As a lawyer I AM conversant with defamatory comment.
This subject is a sensitive issue for MS eh?
Poor wee souls.
Elly says
Finally I find a way to delete this garbage, and it appears that others are not succeeding! What is the point of going step by step only to find a locked and bolted door?
The MS site has the same level of anger over this, and all their minions do is refer to ‘you will enjoy the outlook.com experience’! TechnoDaleks who ignored all that was said and just chanted this mantra.
Response was increased frustration, so they closed the thread….with the same patronising ‘kindness’!!
WHY in hell do these ‘systems’ get worse? They are actually paid megabucks to show what idiots they are!
Me? I walked straight into this voluntarily believing it was OE, but it is nothing more than a malignant growth.
And user unfriendly systems will increase—because they can. They don’t give one damn for the end user because they know that for so very many ignorance is blitz!
amina says
after having an outlook account how comes my Hotmail account is not opening?
Jenn says
When I click “deactivate hotmail account” I get to a page that then says “To close your Outlook account, you must first cancel your billing service. Go to Microsoft Account and Billing Services at https://billing.microsoft.com” and that link does not work. If you cut and paste, it takes you to a general page with no deactivate option. From the initial page, the only other option is “cancel,” as in cancel trying to close account. It’s a complete scam. It does not allow closing the account.
Dolly says
I spent over an hour this morning trying to close this useless ‘outlook’ account which is of NO VALUE to me and others. I’ve attempted to close this account for months and months. I know how to deactivate and close it properly; yet it doesn’t allow me to. I don’t want to hear any more ridiculous excuses about subscriptions. I have none! Nor do I want other excuses from you; provide us with more information, uid … etc – to close account or what ever else you have up your sleeve in hopes that frustrated people will give up closing account after all the havoc you’re purposely causing. So you want to have all your unhappy user’s accounts to stay open in order to keep up appearances; pretending/showing that ‘outlook upgrade’ was a good business decision or a good business model – ‘so called successful’ NOT! You’re selfishly making it much more difficult for people to close their accounts. That’ll work against you in the long run. I’ve been fed up for a very long time. Your so called ‘outlook upgrade’ is a big fat FAILURE in your user’s eyes and given the proven bad experiences they’ve had and continue to have! I had a great experience with the use of ‘Windows Live or Hotmail’ The once in a blue moon little glitches they had is nothing compared to the inconvenient on-going nightmare we’re having with your negative outlook; not having a very good outcome! A few of my friends here & family members are having trouble closing their accounts as well. More friends are going to take action. They’ve signed up with reputable satisfactory functional email accounts as opposed to this outlook downer. What ever other possible tactics you’re thinking of in order to delay people from closing their accounts or a way of stopping them; is very bad business practice and bad ethics!
Red says
I HATE this OutLook.Com Web Page ITS SO AGGRAVATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Red says
I tried to Delete my account and it told me webpage not available,what should I do?
Bob says
I have on my Windows 8 machine Windows Live Mail and then I downloaded Outlook.com as well to see what it was all about. I find it hopeless and dislike it! Up until now I still use Windows Live Mail excellently and want to ditch Outlook.com. Are ur instructions above basically saying that if I close my 3 email accounts in Outlook.com (after first taking exported files of Messages, Contacts, Calendar and Accounts from Windows Live Mail), I can then import these exported files, just mentioned, into Windows Live Mail, if nescessary a new installation of it and then people will be able to contact me on the 3 Accounts addresses I closed in Outlook.com and I can contact them as well and will have all my historical email messages as well? Help would be greatly appreciated.
Rania says
When i reach the page “Deactivate my hotmail account” and i click on it, it takes me to the MSN Home page ! So how can i close the account?
ijaz ahmad says
i got Outlook tacked onto my Hotmail
How do I uninstall it so my hotmail goes back to normal the way it was, without losing a thing.. Seems very easy to get this by mistake but can’t get rid of it.
Prima Mawitjere says
outlook is so annoying…
Shelley says
I agree with all of the above comments. I DO NOT LIKE OUTLOOK.COM.
JOHN PLACIDO says
I too would like my old hotmail back,someone PLEASE help us.
sertf says
You need to cancel any paid services or Microsoft Points account associated with your Microsoft account.
George S says
Some how i got Outlook tacked onto my Hotmail
How do I uninstall it so my hotmail goes back to normal the way it was, without losing a thing.. Seems very easy to get this by mistake but can’t get rid of it.
Help
simon carrington says
they could warn people its installation is effectively irreversible
Ruben Smits says
Thanks for the above mentioned steps. Very helpful.
I switched my Hotmail (been using it for years) to Outlook, but I come across several problems concerning this Outlook+aliasHotmail account. Therefore, I want to delete my Outlook account and continue with my Hotmail account. I’m afraid I will lose my Hotmail too, when i delete my Windows Account.
Can you help me solve this? Will I be able to delete only .outlook.com without losing hotmail.com?
Regards,
Ruben Smits