How to increase daily message limit

Question

How to increase daily message limit

Sonja Ludwig 0

I use my outlook address as membership secretary of a club, which means I need to send emails to around 260 members. However, Outlook occasionally blocks my messages. How do I find out my message limit, and how can I increase it? I have a 365 subscription and all members are in my Contacts. Previously I was able to send emails to about 3/4 of members before reaching the limit, but today it blocked the first batch!

2 answers

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Answer 1

John Jefferson Doyon 61,635 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

This can happen if the system detects unusual activity, or if your account hasn’t been fully verified.

Can I ask if you’re using Outlook with a personal Microsoft account or through a work/school account?

For personal accounts, the best place to start is making sure your account is fully verified, check that your security info (like your phone number or alternate email) is up to date at https://account.microsoft.com Once that’s done, the limits often lift within 24 hours.

If it’s a work or school account, you may need to reach out to your IT admin since they control sending limits for your organization.

For more detailed guidance please see "How can I increase sending limits?" section here: https://support.microsoft.com/office/sending-limits-in-outlook-com-279ee200-594c-40f0-9ec8-bb6af7735c2e

I really hope this information is helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Regards,

John J.D.

Sonja Ludwig 0 Reputation points

2026-03-12T18:51:32.6433333+00:00

I think the problem might be that I ended up with 2 accounts, one for a different email address (which is assigned with my 365 subscription), and another one for my outlook.com email. So I can't add my phone number as it's already assigned to the other account! Is there any way to merge the accounts, and have one account for both emails?
Sonja Ludwig 0 Reputation points

2026-03-12T18:52:22.2633333+00:00

Forgot to mention - it's a personal account
John Jefferson Doyon 61,635 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-12T19:27:32.0533333+00:00

Thank you for letting me know.

Microsoft personal accounts cannot be merged. Each email address remains a separate Microsoft account.

Since you mentioned this is a personal account, the sending limits are managed automatically by Microsoft and cannot be manually increased. The limits can also change if the system detects unusual sending activity.

What usually helps is making sure the account you’re sending from is fully verified (phone number, security info, etc.). Once verified, the restriction often clears within 24 hours.
Sonja Ludwig 0 Reputation points

2026-03-12T19:45:00.7133333+00:00

I can't enter my phone number as this is associated with my other account
John Jefferson Doyon 61,635 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-12T19:57:04.4466667+00:00

A phone number can only be linked to one Microsoft account at a time.

If you remove it from the other account, it may not be available to add to another account for up to 30 days for security reasons.

Because of that, you may want to use another phone number you own, if possible, to complete the verification.

Answer 2

Outlook.com enforces sending limits to protect against spam, and these can vary based on usage history even for Microsoft 365 subscribers.

For Microsoft 365 subscribers using Outlook.com, the documented maximum limits are:

Daily recipients: 5,000
Maximum recipients per message: 500
Daily non-relationship recipients (people never emailed before): 1,000

However, actual limits may be lower depending on account reputation and recent activity, and new or less-established accounts can have temporarily reduced quotas.

To improve reliability and help increase the effective sending limits over time:

Ensure the account is fully verified and trusted
- Keep phone number and alternate email up to date on the Microsoft account.
- Complete and maintain profile information (name, photo, date of birth, gender, etc.).
- Use a strong password with upper/lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
- Use the Microsoft Authenticator app to secure sign-in.
Strengthen “relationship” status with recipients
- Make sure all club members are saved in Outlook.com Contacts.
- Communicate regularly with members (not only bulk sends). This helps the system treat them as relationship recipients instead of non-relationship recipients.
Adjust how messages are sent
- Keep each message under 500 recipients.
- If limits are being hit unexpectedly, split sends into smaller batches spaced out over time.
If the account is new or recently changed
- Temporary lower quotas are applied to new or recently created Outlook.com accounts and are raised automatically as credibility is established through normal, non-spammy use.

If “Quota Exceeded” or similar errors appear related to storage rather than sending, review the storage guidance for Outlook.com and free up space if needed.

For personalized investigation (for example, if blocking happens even when far below the documented limits), use the in-product Help in Outlook.com to contact support while signed in.

References:

Sending limits in Outlook.com

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How to increase daily message limit

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