Microsoft 365 - What are the limitations for message size, recipient number, and mailbox storage?
The specifications below outline the mailbox storage capacity limits as well as message and recipient size quotas associated with Office 365. Email usage data collected by the Administrative Excellence Phase II team suggest that only a very small percentage of campus users have email capacity needs beyond these limitations.
Important: The limits discussed below are set by Microsoft and cannot be controlled by UW-Madison Microsoft 365 administrators. For example, if you exceed the sent message daily limit, your account will be blocked from sending any further messages for a period of 24 hours.
Mail size quotas / caps:
| Outlook on the web | |
| Outlook for Windows ** | |
| Other clients (Thunderbird, Apple Mail, SMTP relay, etc.) *** |
|
| All Clients |
** Client limits are set by Microsoft and cannot be altered by the UW-Madison Microsoft 365 team.
*** The Office 365 Technical Team is still in the process of determining whether there will be additional message size limitations for mobile devices. Some mobile clients may impose additional message or attachment size limits. These limitations can vary by device, client or settings selected.
These limits include all attachments, as well as the message itself. If an incoming message larger than 25 MB is sent to Office 365 recipient, the sender will receive a notification that the delivery has failed.
Other limits / caps:
| Max email mailbox storage | |
| Max recipients per message **** | |
| Max recipients per day | |
| Maximum number of distribution group members | |
| Limit sending messages to large distribution groups | |
| Maximum message size for large distribution groups | |
| Number of Attachments ***** | |
| Uncompressed Attachment size ***** | |
| File Archives/Zips ***** | |
| File Archives/Zips ***** |
**** Individuals who are eligible for Duo Multi-factor authentication but who have not yet enrolled are limited to 5 recipients per message. See MFA-Duo - How to Enroll for MFA Duo for your NetID Login Account for more information on how to enroll for Duo MFA.
***** Any message that exceeds these limits, inbound or outbound, will be returned to sender with the following error message: "552 5.3.4 a message attachment exceeds local limits".
Review Microsoft Exchange Online Limits and Microsoft Email non-delivery reports and SMTP errors in Exchange Online documentation for a more thorough and up-to-date details.
Important
When sharing data (attachments), due to security and ease of use - email is not the best tool to use. The UW-Madison Microsoft 365 service team recommends using a cloud based file sharing solution.