How to remove an Email account in Outlook, but keep its messages?

Let’s say you have created several email accounts in Microsoft Outlook before, but now some of them are in use rarely. You may want to remove these email accounts. Normally when an email account is removed from Microsoft Outlook, the email messages in this account disappear too. In this article, I will introduce some methods to remove email accounts from Microsoft Outlook but keep their email messages.

Remove an account but keep its email with saving original data file

Remove an account but keep its email with copying and pasting

Remove an account but keep its email with exporting as .pst data file

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Remove an account but keep its email with saving original data file

This method will guide you to remove an email account from Microsoft Outlook, but keep all items of this email account in Microsoft Outlook.

Step 1: Open the Account Settings dialog box,

1. In Outlook 2007, please click the Tools > Account Settings;
2. In Outlook 2010-2019 (365), please click the File > Info > Account Settings > Account Settings.

Step 2: In the Account Settings dialog box,

1. Go to the E-mail tab;
2. Click to highlight the email account that you will remove;
3. Click the Remove button.
4. Click the Close button at the bottom to exit the dialog box.

Step 3: Now you get back to the main interface of Outlook.

1. In Outlook 2007 and 2010, please click the File > Open > Outlook Data File.
2. In Outlook 2013-2019 & 365, please click the File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File.

Step 4: In the popping up Open Outlook Data File dialog box, find out the data file you will open, click to highlight it, and then click the Open button.

Note: It will open the default folder that Microsoft Outlook saves .pst data files in. If you have specified the location of .pst data file before, please go to the specified location to get the .pst data file.

Up to now, the email account has been removed from you Microsoft Outlook, but folders of this email account are still on the Navigation pane.

Note: This method only works with .pst data file. If the data file of an email account is saved as .ost data file, you can remove this email account and keep its emails with exporting.

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Remove an account but keep its email with copying and pasting

Actually, before removing an email account from Microsoft Outlook, we can save all of its emails into other folders with manually copying and pasting. The following is a step-by-step guidance.

Step 1: Click to open an email folder in the Navigation Pane, which belongs to the email account you will remove later.

In my case, I open the folder of Inbox under the [email protected]. See screen shot:

Step 2: Select all email messages in the opened folder with press the Ctrl + A keys at the same time.

Step 3: Copy these email messages with pressing the Ctrl + C keys simultaneously.

Step 4: Click to open an email folder that you will save this email messages into. In my case, I open the Inbox of another email account. See screen shot:

Step 5: Paste all copied email messages into this opened folder with pressing the Ctrl + V keys at the same time.

Note:
1) Repeat from Step 1 to Step 5 to move email messages in other folders of the email account you will removed to destination folders.
2) This method will ignore subfolders. If subfolders exist, you have to repeat from step 1 to step 5 to move email messages in these subfolders.

Step 6: Open the Account Settings dialog box,

1. In Outlook 2007, please click the Tools > Account Settings;
2. In Outlook 2010-2019 & 365, please click the File > Info > Account Settings > Account Settings.

Step 7: In the Account Settings dialog box,

1. Go to the E-mail tab;
2. Click to highlight the email account that you will remove;
3. Click the Remove button.
4. Click the Close button at the bottom to exit the dialog box.

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Remove an account but keep its email with exporting as .pst data file

Step 1: Open the Import and Export Wizard dialog box,

1. In Outlook 2007, please click the File > Import and Export.
2. In Outlook 2010, please click the File > Open > Import;
3. In Outlook 2013-2019 & 365, please click the File > Open & Export > Import & Export.

Step 2: In the Import and Export Wizard dialog box, click to highlight the Export to a file, and click the Next button.

Step 3: In the Export to a File dialog box, click to highlight the Outlook Data File (.pst), and click the Next button.

Step 4: In the Export Outlook Data File dialog box, click to highlight the email account that you will remove later, and click the Next button.

Note: Please keep checking the option of Include subfolders.

Step 5: In the new Export Outlook Data File dialog box,

1. Click the Browse button, and in the popping up Open Outlook Data Files dialog box, open a folder that you will save this file in, enter a name for exported data file in the File name box, and click the OK button.
2. Check the option of Do not export duplicate items.
3. Click the Finish button.

Step 6: Then the Create Outlook Data File dialog box comes out.

If you want to add password for exported data file, please enter the same password in both Password box and Verify Password box, and then click the OK button.

If you do not want to any password for exported data file, just click the Cancel button.

Then you can follow the same steps we describe in first method to delete an existing email account and keep original emails.

 

-Consolidated, updated, from source: “extendoffice.com”-