How to remove old email accounts from outlook

[CalebLarue]

Dear All,

I've been attempting in vain to delete old email accounts that are stored in outlook. Please view the 2 pictures that are attached.

1: After selecting "add account," (Picture 1) I can choose five to six outdated email addresses, many of which I no longer have access to in the drop-down list (Picture 2).

2: Even though I have activated two-factor authentication to logon the email account that is still active. Outlook immediately adds the email account and grants access to email content without requesting two factor authentication? (If trying to logon the email using the browser, it asks for two factor authentication)

How do I remove the saved accounts from the drop-down list in Picture 2?
Additionally, I want to make sure that two-factor authentication is required before any new accounts can be added to Outlook?

 

[ChatGPT]

Hello,
To remove the saved email accounts from the drop-down list in Picture 2, please follow these steps:
1. Open Outlook and click on the "File" tab.
2. Click on the "Account Settings" button and select "Account Settings" from the drop-down menu.
3. In the "Account Settings" window, select the "Email" tab.
4. Under the "Email" tab, select the email account that you want to remove from the drop-down list.
5. Click on the "Remove" button and confirm the action by clicking "Yes."
6. Repeat this process for all the email accounts that you want to remove from the drop-down list.
Regarding the issue with two-factor authentication not being required to access email content in Outlook, please check if the "remember password" option is checked in the account settings. If so, please uncheck it and try again. If the issue persists, you may want to contact the email provider's support team for further assistance.
To ensure that two-factor authentication is required before any new accounts can be added to Outlook, you may need to enable this setting in the email provider's account settings. Please refer to the email provider's documentation or support team for instructions on how to do this.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

[CalebLarue]

Hello,

To remove the saved email accounts from the drop-down list in Picture 2, please follow these steps:

1. Open Outlook and click on the "File" tab.

2. Click on the "Account Settings" button and select "Account Settings" from the drop-down menu.

3. In the "Account Settings" window, select the "Email" tab.

4. Under the "Email" tab, select the email account that you want to remove from the drop-down list.

5. Click on the "Remove" button and confirm the action by clicking "Yes."

6. Repeat this process for all the email accounts that you want to remove from the drop-down list.

Regarding the issue with two-factor authentication not being required to access email content in Outlook, please check if the "remember password" option is checked in the account settings. If so, please uncheck it and try again. If the issue persists, you may want to contact the email provider's support team for further assistance.

To ensure that two-factor authentication is required before any new accounts can be added to Outlook, you may need to enable this setting in the email provider's account settings. Please refer to the email provider's documentation or support team for instructions on how to do this.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

No, these measures have already been tried and were unsuccessful. I also made an effort to delete the Outlook file and that did not help either. Also tried to run online repair with the same result.

 

[ussnorway]

what kind of accout is this outlook account i.e, is it linked to a Microsoft account or a work managed account of some kind

 

[CalebLarue]

what kind of accout is this outlook account i.e, is it linked to a Microsoft account or a work managed account of some kind

There are different accounts, many of them are linked to private accounts ie. outlook.com

 

[CalebLarue]

I apologize for the inconvenience you are facing. Here are some additional steps that you can try to remove the outdated email accounts from Outlook:

1. Close Outlook and make sure it is not running in the background.

2. Open the Windows Registry Editor by pressing the Windows key + R, type "regedit" and press enter.

3. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676

4. Under this key, look for subkeys that have long numerical values. Each subkey represents an email account in Outlook.

5. To remove an email account from Outlook, select the subkey that corresponds to that email account and delete it. Please note that deleting the wrong subkey can cause data loss, so be careful while doing this.

6. Repeat step 5 for all the email accounts that you want to remove from Outlook.

7. Close the Registry Editor and open Outlook.

8. Check if the outdated email accounts are still visible in the drop-down list. If they are, try restarting your computer and then check again.

Regarding the issue with two-factor authentication, you may need to check the settings in your email provider's account settings to ensure that two-factor authentication is enabled. Additionally, you can try removing the affected email account from Outlook, then adding it back and re-entering your credentials to see if that helps.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

On point 4: Since there is no information in those subkeys that indicates that, how am I supposed to know what email account each one represents?

 

[CalebLarue]

I apologize for the confusion in my previous message. Here is a more detailed guide on how to remove the email accounts in Outlook:

1. Launch Outlook and go to the File menu.

2. Click on Account Settings and then on Account Settings again in the dropdown menu.

3. In the Account Settings window, click on the Data Files tab. Note down the name of the data file for the email account you want to remove.

4. Close the Account Settings window and close Outlook.

5. Open the Control Panel and go to Credential Manager.

6. Under the Windows Credentials section, find the credentials for the email account you want to remove. They will be named after the data file for that account.

7. Click on the credential and then click Remove.

8. Start Outlook again and repeat steps 1 and 2.

9. This time, go to the Email tab and select the email account you want to remove.

10. Click on Remove and confirm the action.

11. Repeat steps 1-10 for each email account you want to remove.

Regarding the issue with two-factor authentication, you may need to check the settings in your email provider's account settings to ensure that two-factor authentication is enabled. Additionally, you can try removing the affected email account from Outlook, then adding it back and re-entering your credentials to see if that helps.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

These steps did not help either.

 

[CalebLarue]

I apologize that the previous steps did not work. In that case, you can try creating and using a new Outlook profile. Follow the steps given below:

1. First, close Outlook and go to the Control Panel.

2. Open the Mail applet and click on the Show Profiles button.

3. Click on the Add button to create a new profile.

4. Give the new profile a name, and then click OK.

5. Follow the instructions to add your email account to the new profile.

6. Open Outlook and select the new profile when prompted.

7. Check to see if the outdated email accounts are still present in the drop-down list.

If creating a new profile does not work, you can try resetting Outlook to its default settings by following these steps:

1. Close Outlook and open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key + R.

2. Type "outlook.exe /resetnavpane" (without the quotes) in the Run dialog box and hit enter.

3. This will reset the Navigation Pane in Outlook. Restart Outlook and check the drop-down list to see if the outdated email accounts are still present.

I hope these additional steps help you remove the outdated email accounts from Outlook.

These steps did not help either.

 

[ChatGPT]

Thanks for clarifying, and it looks like you've taken all the logical initial steps to address this! Since the usual methods (removing accounts through Account Settings, deleting the Outlook profile, and running an online repair) haven’t resolved the problem, let’s dig deeper.

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1. Look Beyond Account Settings​

If the drop-down list still shows old accounts even after you think they’ve been removed, these accounts might be residual autofill entries or stale data stored in the Outlook or Windows registry.

Solution: Clear Cached Credentials​

• Close Outlook completely.
• Open the Windows Credential Manager (Win + S → type Credential Manager):
  1. Click on Windows Credentials and Generic Credentials tabs.
  2. Locate entries related to the old email accounts (they may start with Outlook or MS.Outlook:emailaddress).
  3. Remove these credentials.
• Restart Outlook and check if the accounts still appear.

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2. Clear Cached Auto-Complete Entries​

Sometimes, cached data stored in configuration files can propagate autofill options.

Solution: Delete the .dat File Manually​

1. Close Outlook.
2. Navigate to this path:
   C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook
3. Look for files like Stream[I]Autocomplete[/I]<GUID>.dat.
4. Rename or delete them (Outlook will recreate a clean file on next launch).
5. Open Outlook and check if the accounts are finally gone.

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3. Reset the Outlook Profile Completely​

If the problem persists, the issue might be linked to the Outlook profile itself, even though you’ve tried some profile-related fixes.

Solution: Fully Recreate the Outlook Profile​

1. Go to Control Panel > Mail (Microsoft Outlook).
2. Click Show Profiles.
3. Select the profile, click Remove, and confirm.
   (Don’t worry—your actual email and data are safe; this only resets configuration.)
4. Restart Outlook and create a new profile from scratch, re-adding only the accounts you currently use.

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4. Registry Check for Leftover Data​

If none of the above works, it’s time to check for possible leftover registry entries.

Warning: Proceed with caution or back up your registry first!​

1. Open Registry Editor (Win + R → type regedit).
2. Navigate to:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<YourOfficeVersion>\Outlook\Profiles
3. Inspect the keys for any traces of old accounts and delete ONLY the entries corresponding to them (do not delete generic Outlook or profile keys).

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5. Test in Safe Mode​

Corrupted add-ins could cause weird behavior like this. Launch Outlook in Safe Mode:

• Press Win + R → type Outlook.exe /safe.
• Test to see if the issue persists. If safe mode works fine, disable any suspicious add-ins under File > Options > Add-ins.

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Give these steps a try, especially clearing cached credentials and residual registry entries, and let me know if any of them work!