Activation extra storage (that has been alteady purchased, charged and paid)

Hi @Emanuelle Dufour, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Thank you very much for reaching out regarding the storage alerts in Outlook and the extra storage purchase you made. I truly appreciate you taking the time to let me know what happened, and I’m sorry to hear that you’re still experiencing storage limits even after making a payment.   

In many cases like this, the issue comes from how Microsoft storage works behind the scenes: Outlook mailbox storage (email) is separate from OneDrive storage (files). It’s possible the purchase increased OneDrive, but not the Outlook mailbox, or it was applied to a different account, or it’s still pending activation. 

Since you haven’t specified your account type, I may not be able to provide an exact solution. To keep things moving, I’ll share guidance for both account types. Please choose the option that fits your situation. 

Option 1 - Personal account (Outlook.com: @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, etc.) 

1/ Confirm what you purchased and for which account 

Sign in at account.microsoft.com > Services & subscriptions and Order history. 

Check the product name and status: 

• Microsoft 365 Basic/Personal > increases Outlook.com mailbox (typically up to ~100 GB). 
• OneDrive additional storage > increases OneDrive only (does not increase mailbox). 

Make sure you’re signed in with the same email address as the mailbox that’s showing “full”. 

2/ Check your Outlook.com mailbox usage 

• In Outlook.live.com (web) go to Settings > View all Outlook settings > General > Storage to see what’s taking space. 
• Microsoft’s official limits for Outlook.com are summarized here: Storage limits in Outlook.com - Microsoft Support 

3/ If you bought OneDrive storage but need more email space 

• Request a refund from your Order history (time limits and eligibility apply). 
• Then purchase Microsoft 365 Basic or Microsoft 365 Personal (these increase the Outlook.com mailbox capacity). 
• After upgrade, allow a few hours for the new quota to apply, then sign out/in and recheck Settings > Storage. 

4/ Free up mailbox space immediately (recommended) 

• Empty Deleted Items and Junk Email. 
• Permanently delete items in Recoverable Items (the “restore deleted items” area). 
• Download large attachments or save to OneDrive, then delete the emails with large attachments. 
• Use Sweep to quickly remove older or bulk emails from the same sender. 

Option 2 - Work or school account (Microsoft 365 for business/education) 

For organizational accounts, mailbox size and storage policies are controlled by your company/school’s Microsoft 365 settings. Purchases made under a personal Microsoft account usually do not apply to your work/school mailbox. 

Please follow the steps below: 

1/ Contact your IT administrator 

Ask them to review your Exchange Online mailbox quota and options: 

• Enable Archive Mailbox (including auto-expanding archive) to offload older mail. 
• Review retention policies that may keep deleted mail. 
• If needed, assign a license that provides a larger mailbox (e.g., Exchange Online Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E3/E5). 

2/ About OneDrive for work/school 

If your issue also involves OneDrive capacity, your admin can change per-user OneDrive storage in the SharePoint admin center as documented here: Change a specific user's OneDrive storage space - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn 

3/ Immediate cleanup on your side 

• Empty Deleted Items and Junk Email; permanently delete items from Recoverable Items. 
• Move older/larger mail to the Online Archive (once enabled by IT), or save attachments externally and delete the mail. 

We kindly ask for your understanding that, as moderators, we do not have access to the administrative tools or permissions required to investigate or modify these configurations. We also do not have the capability to initiate remote sessions for direct assistance. Our role is to guide users to the appropriate resources and support channels.     

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out.   

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have any extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

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If you've purchased extra storage for your Outlook account but are not seeing the changes reflected, there are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Check Your Subscription: Ensure that the extra storage add-on is correctly linked to your subscription. You can do this by going to the admin center and checking your products.
2. Verify Payment: Confirm that the payment for the extra storage was successfully processed. Sometimes, payment issues can prevent the storage from being activated.
3. Clear Cache: Try clearing your browser cache or using a different browser to see if the changes appear.
4. Contact Support: If the issue persists, you may need to contact Microsoft support directly. Since you mentioned difficulty in reaching a human representative, consider using the support links provided in the Microsoft documentation to create a support request.

If you have an MCA or MOSA billing account, the steps to manage your add-ons can vary, so ensure you're following the correct process for your account type.

References:

• Buy the Office 365 Extra File Storage add-on
• Why am I getting billed for Microsoft 365 after I activate the benefit?