How to Stop Microsoft Outlook from Saving Sent Emails

By default, Microsoft Outlook saves a copy of every email you send in the Sent Items folder. While that’s helpful for most people, it can be unnecessary—or even a privacy concern—for others. If you want Outlook to stop saving sent emails, here’s exactly how to do it.

Why You Might Want to Stop Outlook from Saving Sent Emails

There are a few common reasons to disable this feature:

• You’re using a shared or public account and don’t want a trail of sent messages.
• You’re working with a mail server that already archives sent items automatically.
• You’re trying to reduce mailbox clutter or avoid duplication in synced accounts.

Whatever the reason, Outlook gives you a few ways to manage this setting depending on the account type and version.

How to Disable Sent Email Saving in Outlook

1. For Microsoft 365 or Outlook 2016/2019/2021 (Windows)

Here’s how to stop Outlook from saving sent messages for a specific email account:

1. Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
2. Select the email account and click Change.
3. Click More Settings.
4. Switch to the Sent Items tab.
5. Uncheck the box that says “Save copies of messages in the Sent Items folder”.
6. Click OK, then Next, then Finish.

Done. Sent messages will no longer be saved in the Sent Items folder for that account.

2. For Outlook with POP or IMAP Accounts

If you’re using a POP or IMAP account, the option might be in a different place:

1. Click File > Options > Mail.
2. Scroll down to the Save messages section.
3. Uncheck “Save copies of messages in the Sent Items folder”.
4. Click OK to save your changes.

Note: This change applies to all accounts in Outlook when done from the Options menu.

3. Using Rules to Delete or Avoid Saving Sent Emails

If you only want to stop saving certain types of sent emails (like those sent to a specific contact), you can create a rule:

1. Go to Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts.
2. Click New Rule.
3. Choose Apply rule on messages I send.
4. Set conditions (or leave blank to apply to all sent emails).
5. Choose an action like “delete it” or “move a copy to a different folder”.
6. Finish the rule setup and apply it.

Quick Tip for Outlook on the Web (Outlook.com / OWA)

Outlook on the web doesn’t have a direct setting to stop saving sent emails, but it also depends on your mail server. If you’re using Exchange or Microsoft 365, talk to your administrator—they can configure mailbox policies to skip sent item saving.

Final Thoughts

Turning off sent email saving can help you stay organized, protect sensitive information, or just keep things clean. Just be sure you understand the tradeoff: once it’s off, there’s no record of what you sent unless you BCC yourself or use another archiving method.

If you need to reverse the change later, just follow the same steps and re-enable the setting.

Need help setting this up? Drop a comment or reach out via our contact page—we’re happy to walk you through it.