Microsoft's Hotmail service offers users up to 500GB of online storage space. Although it would be difficult to exceed this limit in an account limited strictly to storing e-mail, you might be curious about how much space you are using and whether you are approaching your storage limit. Hotmail does not show how much space you are using when you sign in through the Hotmail home page, but you can use Microsoft Outlook to find out how much storage space your saved e-mail is using.

  • Microsoft's Hotmail service offers users up to 500GB of online storage space.
  • Hotmail does not show how much space you are using when you sign in through the Hotmail home page, but you can use Microsoft Outlook to find out how much storage space your saved e-mail is using.

Download and install the Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector from Office.Microsoft.com.

Launch Microsoft Outlook. Outlook will ask if you want to add a Hotmail account. Click "Yes."

Type your name, Hotmail address and password. Click "OK." Wait a few minutes for your Hotmail account to synchronise with your computer.

Click the "File" tab in the upper left corner of the screen.

Click the drop-down menu under "Account Information" and select your Hotmail account.

  • Type your name, Hotmail address and password.
  • Click the drop-down menu under "Account Information" and select your Hotmail account.

Click the "Cleanup Tools" button and then click "Mailbox Cleanup." A new window appears.

Click the "View Mailbox Size" button. A pop-up window shows how much storage space you are using on Hotmail next to the readout for "Total size (including subfolders)."

Click "Close" twice, then click the "Home" tab to return to the main Outlook window.

TIP

The steps in Section 1 refer to Microsoft Outlook 2010. The Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector is also compatible with Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.