2026-10-06 · 13 min read

Does Microsoft delete inactive accounts? Rules by service

Does Microsoft delete inactive accounts? Yes: two years for your account, one year for Outlook and OneDrive. See each service's clock and how to stay active.

Yes. Microsoft closes a Microsoft account after two years without a sign-in, or after it has been locked for more than two years, under its account activity policy. The Outlook.com inbox and OneDrive run on a shorter one-year sign-in clock under the Microsoft Services Agreement, and once an account is closed, Microsoft says it can't get your content back.

What is Microsoft's main inactivity rule?#

The Microsoft account activity policy requires at least one sign-in to your Microsoft account in any two-year period. Microsoft published the policy on July 1, 2019. It took effect on August 30, 2019, and was last updated on November 6, 2020.

The policy has two triggers:

No sign-in for two years. Microsoft treats the account as inactive and closes it.
Locked for more than two years. A locked account is also considered inactive and closed, even if its owner keeps trying to get in.

Section 4(a)(ii) of the Services Agreement applies the same two-year rule to your account "and associated Services (unless specified otherwise)." The inbox, OneDrive and Rewards are the services it specifies otherwise, and each has a 12-month clock.

How long does each Microsoft service wait before closing?#

Service	Inactivity clock	What happens	Source
Microsoft account	2 years without a sign-in, or locked for more than 2 years	Account closed; its data deleted or disassociated from you	Activity policy, Services Agreement
Outlook.com / Hotmail inbox	1 year without signing in to the mailbox	Mailbox closed, all email deleted	Outlook.com support
OneDrive	1 year in the Services Agreement; 2018 and 2019 deletion notices said 2 years	Frozen as read-only, may be deleted after six months	Services Agreement, frozen account page
OneDrive over its storage limit	Ignored notices about exceeding storage	Frozen; Outlook.com email also stops sending and receiving	Frozen account page
Xbox gamertag, Gamerscore, purchases	Follows the Microsoft account: 2 years	Lost when the account is deleted	Reopen page
Xbox subscriptions (UK first)	Contact after 12 months unused; billing stops after another 12 months unused	Recurring payments stop, account stays	Engadget on the CMA agreement
Minecraft	Follows the Microsoft account: 2 years	License lost if the account is deleted	Microsoft Q&A
Microsoft Rewards	12 months without earning or redeeming points; 12 months without signing in to your Microsoft account	Points expire; the Rewards account may be cancelled and points forfeited	Services Agreement 14.m

Does Microsoft delete inactive Outlook and Hotmail accounts?#

Yes, and there are two separate deadlines. The Outlook.com support page says Microsoft closes the mailbox and deletes all its email if nobody signs in to the mailbox at least once in a one-year period. The same page applies the two-year rule to the Microsoft account itself.

That makes "mailbox closed" and "account closed" two different outcomes. In a Microsoft Q&A thread, a community member (not Microsoft staff) explains that signing in to a mailbox after the one-year mark still works, but the inbox will be empty.

An active inbox has short deadlines too. According to Outlook.com support, messages removed from Deleted Items stay recoverable for 30 days, while Junk Email is purged automatically after 30 days with no recovery at all.

Closing a Hotmail address on purpose means closing the whole Microsoft account. Microsoft's closure page says this deletes your email and contacts from its servers permanently, and also cuts off Xbox, Skype, OneDrive and any BitLocker recovery keys saved to the account.

Does Microsoft delete inactive OneDrive accounts?#

Yes, though Microsoft's own documents have disagreed on when. The current Services Agreement, effective September 30, 2026, requires a separate sign-in to the Outlook.com inbox and to OneDrive at least once in a one-year period, or Microsoft closes both. In a Microsoft Q&A thread, one user posted deletion notices from 2018 and 2019 that cited two years without use, and a responder repeated the two-year figure without reconciling it with the one-year rule. Treat one year as the deadline, since it's the clock that runs out first.

Closure usually starts with a freeze. Microsoft's frozen account page says an account freezes after a long stretch without a sign-in. A frozen OneDrive is read-only: no uploads, edits or syncing. After six months frozen, Microsoft may delete the OneDrive and every file in it, with no recovery.

Going over the storage limit triggers the same freeze, and it reaches your email. The same page says a frozen account can't send or receive Outlook.com email, even when the mailbox is under its own quota. Section 14.k of the Services Agreement lets Microsoft close the account and delete or disable your OneDrive content if you ignore a notice about exceeding the limit.

Does Microsoft delete inactive Xbox accounts?#

Not as a separate account. Your gamertag, Gamerscore and purchased games live on the Microsoft account, and the reopen page lists them among what comes back when a closed account is reopened. If the account is deleted under the two-year rule, they go with it.

Xbox has freed up old gamertags in bulk before. In May 2016, it released nearly one million gamertags from original-Xbox accounts that never moved to Xbox 360.

Subscriptions have their own rule, and it touches only billing. The Services Agreement lets Microsoft switch off recurring billing in select countries for an unused Xbox subscription, after notifying you. Under a voluntary agreement with the UK Competition and Markets Authority, reported on January 27, 2022, Microsoft committed to contacting Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass subscribers who hadn't used their subscription for a year, and to stop charging them after another 12 unused months. The UK went first, with a global rollout planned; the Xbox subscription inactivity FAQ lists the current terms.

Does Microsoft delete inactive Minecraft accounts?#

Minecraft has no clock of its own; the license rides on the Microsoft account. In a Microsoft Q&A thread, a Microsoft moderator explains that once that account is permanently deleted, whether after the 30- or 60-day reopen window or through inactivity, it can't be restored. A new account on the same email doesn't bring the purchase back.

Old Mojang accounts hit a hard cutoff earlier. Minecraft completed account migration on September 19, 2023, and unmigrated Mojang accounts lost the ability to sign in and migrate from that date.

The activity policy exempts an account from inactivity closure if any of these apply:

It was used to buy, redeem or access a current Microsoft product or service. Gift cards, certifications and subscription purchases don't count here.
It has an active Microsoft subscription. The protection lasts only while the subscription runs; the two-year clock applies again once it ends.
It was used to publish apps, games or game DLC to the Microsoft Store, or to register a Partner Center account.
It was used to earn a Microsoft certification.
It holds an unspent balance, such as a Microsoft gift card or credit.
Microsoft owes the account holder money.
It gave consent for an active minor's account.
The law requires Microsoft to keep it active, or Microsoft has told you otherwise.

Do these exemptions also protect the inbox and OneDrive? Microsoft doesn't say. The exemptions are written for the Microsoft account, while the one-year inbox and OneDrive rule sits separately in the Services Agreement. Assume a Game Pass subscription or a gift card balance keeps the account alive but not the email or files inside it.

What counts as activity, and how do you check?#

A sign-in is the activity that counts. The activity policy lets you check your status on the Microsoft account site, but warns that recent purchases or other activity can take up to 30 days to appear there.

A once-a-year checklist that resets every clock in the table above:

Type account.microsoft.com into your browser, sign in, and check the account's activity status.
Open the Outlook.com inbox itself, since the Services Agreement times it separately from the account.
Open OneDrive separately, for the same reason.
Confirm OneDrive is under its storage limit, because a frozen OneDrive also stops email.
If you use Rewards, earn or redeem at least one point to keep points from expiring at 12 months.
Wait up to 30 days before trusting the activity status page.

Is the Microsoft inactive account email real or a scam?#

It can be either, so check the sender before anything else. Microsoft says genuine mail from the Microsoft account team comes from the @accountprotection.microsoft.com domain, and the message headers will confirm it.

Genuine notices have still gone out in error. In early 2023, "Account closure notification due to inactivity" emails from account-security-noreply@accountprotection.microsoft.com, with closure dates in late March 2023, reached wrong recipients, including at least one person using the account. Many recipients assumed they were phishing.

A Microsoft Q&A thread about an "account is scheduled to be closed" email shows how split the reaction is: the first responder called it phishing, while later replies confirmed the sender domain was Microsoft's. One step settles it either way: ignore the link, type account.microsoft.com yourself and sign in, which also resets the two-year clock.

Can you reopen a closed Microsoft account or get the address back?#

You can sometimes reopen the account, but a deleted address is gone for good. Closing an account yourself means picking a 30- or 60-day window, which the Services Agreement calls a suspended state; Microsoft deletes your data when it ends. Reopen inside the window and Microsoft restores subscriptions, profiles and content, including Rewards points, gamertag, Gamerscore and purchases, though not the subscription time that ran out while the account was pending closure.

Inactivity closure leaves no such window. The same page says an account with no sign-in for more than two years may already be deleted and can't be reopened. Section 4(a)(iv)(2) of the Services Agreement says closure ends access immediately, deletes the account's data or disassociates it from you (unless the law requires Microsoft to keep it), and can cost you access to things you paid for.

Microsoft also says addresses used for Microsoft accounts can't be reused, no matter how long ago the account closed. A stranger can't claim your old Hotmail address, and neither can you.

Can you stop a relative's silent account from closing?#

Not through Microsoft. Its support page for families says that, for privacy and legal reasons, it generally can't release information to anyone but the account holder, and it asks for a valid subpoena or court order, with separate procedures in regions such as Germany and China. It describes no way for relatives to keep the account open. The page restates the clocks: Outlook.com and OneDrive freeze after one year with data deleted afterward, the Microsoft account expires after two years, and a family member who has the sign-in details and closes it gets a 60-day window to reopen.

The one Microsoft tool that helps has to be set up by the account holder in advance:

Feature	Google Inactive Account Manager	OneDrive Digital legacy
Covers	Your Google account data, all or selected types	OneDrive files and photos; email isn't mentioned
Who gets access	Up to 10 people	A next of kin or trusted contact, who needs a Microsoft account
Access type	Data shared with contacts, deletion optional	Read-only, through a code and a 72-hour wait
Stops inactivity closure	You set your own waiting period	Microsoft doesn't say
Source	Google Account Help	OneDrive support

Google's inactivity policy also allows deleting accounts unused for two years, but Inactive Account Manager lets the owner decide what happens first. Microsoft offers nothing comparable for the whole account, so the inbox, Xbox library and everything outside OneDrive depend on what the owner wrote down beforehand. The step-by-step for families is in our guide to what happens to your Microsoft account when you die.

Proceedly covers the part Digital legacy leaves out. You check in on a schedule; miss it past a grace window and a person you named confirms (or, on a paid plan, it releases automatically), and your encrypted handoff plan reaches the people who depend on you. The plan holds instructions and where keys are kept, never the passwords themselves.

FAQ#

Does Microsoft delete Hotmail accounts after one year?#

The mailbox, yes. Outlook.com support says a Hotmail or Outlook.com mailbox is closed and its email deleted after one year without a sign-in to the mailbox. The Microsoft account itself lasts two years.

Does a paid subscription stop my account from closing?#

Only while it's active. An active subscription exempts the Microsoft account, and the two-year sign-in rule applies again once it ends. Microsoft doesn't say whether it also protects the inbox or OneDrive.

Can someone else take my old Hotmail address after it's deleted?#

No. Microsoft says addresses used for Microsoft accounts can't be reused, and that rule blocks you from re-registering it too.

How long after closure is my data deleted?#

If you closed the account yourself, Microsoft deletes the data when the 30- or 60-day window you picked runs out. However the account closed, the Services Agreement says Microsoft can't retrieve your content or data afterward.

Is the "Account closure notification due to inactivity" email real?#

It can be. In 2023 these notices came from @accountprotection.microsoft.com, and some reached the wrong people or accounts still in use. Phishing copies also circulate, so sign in at account.microsoft.com directly instead of clicking the email's link.

Can I get my Minecraft back after the account is deleted?#

No. The license is tied to the original account, and a new account on the same email doesn't restore it.

Do Microsoft Rewards points expire?#

Yes. Under section 14.m of the Services Agreement, points expire after 12 consecutive months without earning or redeeming any. Microsoft can also cancel the Rewards account and forfeit the points after 12 consecutive months without a sign-in to your Microsoft account.