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Respond to requests to close a Microsoft account

  • Article

The European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives significant rights to individuals regarding their data. Refer to the Microsoft Learn General Data Protection Regulation Summary for an overview of GDPR, including terminology, an action plan, and readiness checklists to help you meet your obligations under GDPR when using Microsoft products and services.

You can learn more about GDPR and how Microsoft helps support it and our customers who are affected by it.

  • The Microsoft Trust Center provides general information, compliance best practices, and documentation helpful to GDPR accountability, such as Data Protection Impact Assessments, Data Subject Requests, and data breach notification.
  • The Service Trust portal provides information about how Microsoft services help support compliance with GDPR.

Note

This article provides instructions for deleting personal data from the device or service and can help you meet your obligations under GDPR. For general information about GDPR, see the GDPR section of the Microsoft Trust Center and the GDPR section of the Service Trust portal.

The right to erasure allows data subjects to request the removal of their personal data, including system-generated logs but not audit logs, from an organization's customer data. When a user decides to close their Microsoft account, their underlying data is also deleted.

The following personal data is automatically deleted when a user closes their Microsoft account:

  • Product and service activity
  • Run history
  • Flows
  • Activity Feed
  • User details
  • Connections

Close a Microsoft account

The following steps describe how to self-serve account close requests.

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Account Close Portal with your Microsoft account.

  2. Read the list of actions you should take before you close your Microsoft account, and perform all that apply to you.

  3. When you've completed all the preclose actions that apply to you, select Next.

    Screenshot of the Microsoft Account Close Portal page.

  4. Acknowledge that you understand the consequences of closing your Microsoft account, and then select Mark account for closure.

    Screenshot of the Microsoft account close notification page.

Your account will be closed in 30 days. You may reopen it at any time during this 30-day period.

Learn more