How to Empty Deleted Items Folder when exiting Outlook

In this post, I will show you how you can empty deleted items folder when exiting the Outlook app. Automatically emptying the deleted items folder when you sign out in Outlook 365 saves a lot of time.

When you permanently remove an item in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook on the web, the item is moved to a folder Recoverable Items > Deletions and kept there for 14 days by default. You can change how long items are kept and specify a maximum duration of 30 days.

Outlook users have two options to empty the deleted folder items: manually remove the items or empty the deleted items folder during signing out. You can also create a custom messaging records management (MRM) policy to automatically move items to an archive mailbox but that is for enterprises.

Manually empty deleted items in Outlook

To manually empty the ‘Deleted Items‘ folder in Outlook, right-click the Deleted Items folder in the folder list. Select Empty Folder.

You’ll be prompted to confirm that you want to permanently delete the items. Select Yes. The items are now permanently removed from the Deleted Items folder.

Automatically empty deleted items folder in Outlook

To avoid manual deletion of emails from the deleted items folder, you can configure Outlook to delete them when you exit the app.

Outlook.com

When accessing emails using the Outlook web:

1. Sign in to the Outlook account.
2. Click on the Settings icon and select Email.
3. From the list of Email Settings, select Message Handling.
4. Under Message options, when signing out, checkbox Empty my deleted items folder.

Outlook app

If you have Outlook installed as an app with a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription or Outlook 2024, you can configure the items to be removed from the Deleted Items folder with the below steps.

Note: If you have multiple accounts configured in Outlook, the below configuration will apply to all the accounts. In other words, the deleted items folders will be emptied for all the accounts that you have configured.

Launch the Outlook app and click on File. Select Options.

Click on Advanced. Under Outlook start and exit, enable “Empty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlook.”

When you exit the Outlook app, you get a message box asking whether you want to delete everything from the Deleted Items folder for all accounts. Click Yes.