Outlook Size Limits and Usage

Outlook has limits on mailbox size and attachment size, both of which can cause issues if exceeded. Below is information on what the limits are and how much storage you are currently using.  

Storage and Attachment Size Limits

1. Student and employee Outlook accounts can have up to 100GB of storage per mailbox.

2. Email attachment size limit is 34 megabytes. If you have a larger attachment and are sending the file to a student or an employee, please upload it to your OneDrive and email it as a OneDrive share.

3. If an email attachment is for an external party, compress/zip the file and then email as an attachment.

4. The maximum message size allowed inbound to MCC is 30 megabytes.

5. OneDrive space is 5 terabytes for employees and students.

On the Web and New Outlook Desktop - How to Check Mail Storage & Clean up Mailbox

To see how much mailbox storage you've used and quickly clear up space:

• At the top of the new Outlook window, select Settings   > Accounts > Storage.

To clean up your mailbox:

• From the Settings > Storage page you should see a breakdown of how much space each folder in your mailbox is taking. Below, you should see a list of the folders represented in the breakdown with the option to permanently delete all items (or those older than 3, 6, or 12 months) in these folders to free up space.

Old Outlook Desktop - How to Check Mail Storage & Clean up Mailbox

You can check how much storage you are currently using by selecting File  > Info > Mailbox Settings. 

To clean up your mailbox: 

1. In Outlook, choose File> Tools > Mailbox Cleanup.

2. Do any of the following: 

• View the total size of your mailbox and of individual folders within it.

• Find items older than a certain date or larger than a certain size.

• Archive items by using AutoArchive.

• View the size of your Deleted Items folder and empty your Deleted Items folder.

• View the size of your Conflicts folder and delete this folder.

Best Practices to Keep your Mailbox Lean

Here are some ways to keep your mailbox size under control:

• Archive older items – Move old items you want to keep to an archive. 

• Empty the Deleted Items folder – Empty the Deleted Items folder frequently to make sure you aren't keeping messages you don't need.

• Empty the Junk Email folder – Periodically empty the Junk Email folder to save your inbox space for messages you actually want.

• Store attachments outside your mailbox – As attachments accumulate over time, they can take up a lot of space. For attachments you want to keep, consider saving them to a team site, to OneDrive, or to folders on your computer.

For the most efficient support experience, please submit a ticket using the "Get Help" button, or call 531-622-2900.