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I want to delete items form my sent folder in outlook

Kerry Bryan 0 Reputation points
2026-06-19T08:27:18.5133333+00:00

My Sent Items folder in outlook is full and I cannot delete them

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
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  1. Hani-Ng 11,835 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-06-19T09:02:20.34+00:00

    Hi Kerry Bryan

    To better understand your situation, could you please share some information:

    • What happens when you try to delete a message from Sent Items? Do you receive any error message?
    • Are you able to delete messages from other folders, such as Inbox or Deleted Items?
    • Does the same issue occur in Outlook on the web (OWA)?
    • Is your mailbox close to or over its storage quota?

    Also, are you a normal user or do you have administrator access to your Microsoft 365 organization? If you are a normal user, your IT administrator may be able to check whether mailbox storage limits, retention policies, or other organizational settings are affecting your ability to delete items from the Sent Items folder.

    You can refer this document to your IT: (Mailbox is full) warning when it hasn't reached quota - Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

    I hope this information is helpful, and I look forward to your response!

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-06-19T08:27:40.3566667+00:00

    To free space in the Sent Items folder and successfully delete messages in classic Outlook for Windows, use these steps and checks:

    1. Delete messages from Sent Items
      1. Go to the Sent Items folder.
      2. Select the messages to delete (use Ctrl+click for multiple, or Ctrl+A to select all).
      3. Press Delete or right-click and select Delete.
      4. This moves them to Deleted Items.
    2. Empty Deleted Items to actually free space Deleting from Sent Items alone does not free mailbox quota until Deleted Items is cleared. To empty the entire Deleted Items folder:
      1. Go to the Deleted Items folder.
      2. Right-click Deleted Items and choose Empty Folder (or use the keyboard method below if preferred).
      Keyboard method (from the screen-reader guidance):
      1. Go to the Deleted Items folder.
      2. Press Shift+F10, then Y, then Enter to permanently delete all items in Deleted Items.
    3. Permanently delete specific folders or items from Deleted Items If only certain folders or items should be removed permanently:
      1. In Deleted Items, locate the folder or item.
      2. Right-click it and select Delete.
      3. Confirm when prompted; this permanently deletes that folder/item and its contents.
    4. Understand what happens when items are deleted
      • Items deleted from Sent Items go to Deleted Items and still count toward the mailbox quota until Deleted Items is emptied.
      • If Shift+Delete is used on items in Sent Items or other folders, they are soft-deleted and moved to the hidden Recoverable Items area; they can still be recoverable via Recover Deleted Items until retention limits are reached.
    5. If items still will not delete
      • If an error such as “store has reached its maximum size” appears when deleting, it can be because of limits and Recoverable Items/retention policies. In that case, an admin may need to review retention and archive settings as described in the referenced article.

    These steps ensure Sent Items is cleared and the mailbox quota is actually reduced by emptying Deleted Items and understanding how soft-deleted items are handled.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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