How to delete old emails in Outlook.com

Last reviewed: October 28, 2026 · Markdown version

Outlook.com has two built-in ways to clear old mail by age: the Storage page, which deletes by folder and is permanent, and Sweep, which works one sender at a time. Pick by how sure you are — one of them cannot be undone.

By folder and age: the Storage page (permanent)

Open Settings, “select Account, then select Storage.” Microsoft: “you should have a breakdown of how much space each folder in your mailbox is taking. Below, you should have 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.” (Microsoft Support, “Storage limits in Outlook.com”, read 28 October 2026) The key word is permanently: this skips Deleted Items. Use it on folders you have already looked through.

By sender and age: Sweep

Select a message from the sender, then Sweep. “Sweep gives you options to automatically delete all incoming email from a particular sender, to keep only the latest email, or to delete email older than 10 days.” and “Sweep rules run once per day.” (Microsoft Support, “Organize your inbox with Archive, Sweep, and other tools in Outlook on the web”, read 28 October 2026) Swept mail goes to Deleted Items, so it is recoverable — and so it still takes space: “Items deleted using Sweep will not count toward reducing your storage quota until they are also deleted from the Deleted Items folder.” (Microsoft Support, “Storage limits in Outlook.com”, read 28 October 2026)

Everything in a folder

“Select the check box above the message list.” then “In the reading pane, select Empty folder. All your email will be moved to the Deleted Items folder.” (Microsoft Support, “Delete email in Outlook.com”, read 28 October 2026)

A date you choose

For a cut-off other than 3, 6 or 12 months (or Sweep’s 10 days), the Microsoft pages we read are silent: neither Delete email in Outlook.com nor Storage limits in Outlook.com describes selecting mail by a date range of your own (Microsoft Support, “Delete email in Outlook.com”, read 28 October 2026). Sorting the message list and selecting by hand is the fallback.

Deleted vs gone

A normal delete is reversible for a while: “Email is automatically deleted from your Deleted Items folder after 30 days.” and “Items removed from your Deleted Items folder are recoverable for 30 days.” (Microsoft Support, “Recover and restore deleted items in Outlook”, read 28 October 2026) To erase for good, Outlook.com also has you purge Recoverable Items — “Items removed from your Recoverable items are permanently deleted and cannot be restored.” (Microsoft Support, “Delete email in Outlook.com”, read 28 October 2026)

Where our app fits

Adinand Email Cleaner works by sender, not by date: it groups your inbox by who sent it and moves a whole sender’s mail to Deleted Items in one tap, so the 30-day safety net above still applies. On iPhone and iPad it works with Outlook.com, Microsoft work or school accounts and Gmail; the Android app works with Gmail. Processing happens on your device, the app has no servers of its own, and it asks Microsoft for headers, never message bodies. It moves mail to Deleted Items and cannot delete anything permanently. The free tier caps how much it will clean and how many rules you can keep; the pricing section has the current numbers.