How can I delete my Outlook account or how can I close my Outlook.com account? Probably you’re thinking about deleting your Outlook account and don’t know how to do it. Maybe your email inbox is no longer under your control, you may be seriously considering taking this action. In some situations, deleting an email account may seem to be a good option. On the other hand, it is not a good idea because you’ll finally lose access to that account. Thus, deciding on if you should delete or close your Outlook account might be a difficult one. Here, we’ll provide you with a step-by-step process of deleting your Outlook account. Before that, let me give you a few details about Outlook.
Outlook is a webmail service owned by Microsoft. Meanwhile, Outlook was formerly known as Hotmail. But in 2013, Hotmail.com was rebranded and upgraded into the new Outlook email service to give it a better look. On the contrary, Hotmail.com is the same as Outlook.com. Only the name was changed. So, this implies those who have a Hotmail account will now have their account moved to Microsoft’s new webmail service Outlook. As a result, Outlook.com is the website where both Hotmail and Outlook users can access their accounts. Due to this change, Hotmail users are not privileged to switch back to Hotmail.com.
Nevertheless, Hotmail’s successor, Outlook comes with great and amazing features. This includes a huge storage capacity for emails, a captivating interface, better editing features, and support for other social media sites. But as an Outlook.com user, you may wish to close or delete your Outlook account. To do that, kindly read on.
How to Delete Your Outlook Account
If you want to delete or permanently close your Outlook account, you need to close your Microsoft account. But you need to know the implication of closing your Microsoft account. When you close your account, your contacts and emails are obliterated or erased from Microsoft servers and you can’t recover them. Thus, if your Microsoft account is used with Skype, Xbox, OneDrive, and other Microsoft services, your access to these services will be forfeited.
How to Close Your Microsoft Account
When you close your Microsoft account may be because you don’t longer need it or you just feel like closing it. Microsoft takes the following into consideration;
- The first thing is that Microsoft will make sure it’s you and not someone else trying to close your account.
- Also, Microsoft ensures you’re not leaving any necessary things behind that you’ll need later.
So, to make sure that your account is not closed by someone else, Microsoft will ask you to provide your identity and intent. For instance, if you cannot remember your account details and have to reset it, you have to wait for sixty days before your account can be closed.
To delete your Microsoft account;
- Launch a web browser and visit the Microsoft account closure page.
- To close your Microsoft account, you have to sign in to your account. But make sure it is the account you want to delete.
- If it is not the account, click ‘Sign in with a different Microsoft account’. And if you are finding it difficult to log in to the Microsoft account you want to delete, visit the Microsoft help center to fix the issue.
- Then check the page that displays the right Microsoft account and click ‘Next’.
- Now read the list and click the checkboxes to admit that you’ve read each item.
- From the drop-down list, choose your reason for closing the account.
- Finally, click ‘Mark account for closure’.
However, your account will not be deleted immediately when you click the ‘Mark account for closure’ button. You have a grace of sixty days before your Microsoft account is permanently deleted should you change your mind or need to check something before it is finally gone. During that period, your account still exists and you can still log in within that sixty days.