How to sign out of Outlook (Office 365) on Windows 10?

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Outlook informed me it is making a local copy of my Inbox (why
would anyone want to store a local copy of all their email?)
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If you use IMAP or Outlook.com/Exchange, outlook will sync a copy of the mail. Changes in the mailbox or outlook sync back and forth. Of you use an Exchange account, you may be able to disable cached mode and use online mode. (Some Exchange providers disable the option.)

If you use POP, it downloads a copy.

If you don't want to keep a copy of mail on the computer, use web mail.


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What possible benefit could there be in allowing a user to sign in to a program but then not letting them sign out? Crazy.
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To make it easier for the user. Most people save their passwords.
The passwords are saved in the Credential manager (type it on the start menu to find) - you would need to delete it from there to "sign out" and be asked for the password the next time you used outlook. You should be able to delete the account from Settings > Email and accounts - this won;t delete it from outlook.

The outlook passwords are stored under microsoftoffice on the windows credentials tab in the credentials manager.

I'm unsure what protocol it's using as I wasn't given the option to configure it, my Microsoft account was pre-populated and I just clicked a blue button beneath it said something to effect of 'sign in'. 

I prefer to configure all my email as Exchange accounts (regardless of whether it's an Office365 or Google Apps account) on my all my devices, (OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Blackberry, etc) as I find that provides the most reliable push email. (Except in certain situations where there's a native platform benefit better than EAS, like Gmail/Google Apps on Android or iCloud email on iOS) 

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What possible benefit could there be in allowing a user to sign in to a program but then not letting them sign out? Crazy.
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To make it easier for the user. Most people save their passwords.
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I don't see any connection between saving passwords and the idea of a program allowing a user to sign in, but then never allowing them to sign out. I've never encountered this with any software before. I can't think of a single piece of software that does this. It's a radical idea. Outlook on Windows is the only program I'm aware of that does this. I save all my passwords. Saving passwords is very different from not being able to sign out of something that you have signed into. When you sign in to email account on iOS or Android or any webmail service or desktop email client that I've ever used, you are always given the option to sign out. As far as I'm aware, this isn't just true for signing into email, but for any app/website/service/software that allows you to sign in. You are always given the option to sign out. It's a universal concept. Outlook on Windows is the first time I've ever encountered a situation where I've signed into a piece of software and not been allowed to sign out.

Apple's native Mail app on OS X is a fitting analogy, it will also sign you in by default using the Apple ID that you signed into your Mac with, (exactly like how Windows 10 signs you into Outlook using your Microsoft account) the only difference is I can sign out of Apple Mail at any time. Another scenario where the email provider also controls the entire stack being used is Google automatically signing you into Gmail if you are using Chrome and you're signed into your Google Account, but again you can always sign out. I can't think of any possible scenario where not being able to sign out of something would be easier or beneficial to the user, it seems this was design to benefit Microsoft and force users into using Outlook. If people are already logged into their email in Outlook and not given any way to log out, they may be less inclined to use alternatives and instead continue using Outlook and paying Microsoft for it.

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The passwords are saved in the Credential manager (type it on the start menu to find) - you would need to delete it from there to "sign out" and be asked for the password the next time you used outlook. You should be able to delete the account from Settings > Email and accounts - this won;t delete it from outlook.

The outlook passwords are stored under microsoftoffice on the windows credentials tab in the credentials manager.

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Thanks for this.

I don't have a 'microsoftoffice' in my Credential manager, but under 'Generic Credentials' I have: MicrosoftAccount, OneDrive, WindowsLive, SSO_POP_Device, SSO_POP_User & XboxLive. Should I delete the two POP credentials to sign out of Outlook?

Would you happen to know how to delete all the local copies Outlook has created on the system without deleting anything from the server? I imagine there would be a way to do this from file explorer? I don't want to lose any of my email, but I also don't want redundant copies floating around somewhere on the local machine posing a potential security issue and wasting space. 

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I'm unsure what protocol it's using as I wasn't given the option to configure it, my Microsoft account was pre-populated and I just clicked a blue button beneath it said something to effect of 'sign in'.
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If its on an Exchange server, outlook will default to exchange protocol with autoaccount setup - you can check in File > Account Settings - open the account settings dialog and the account protocol is on the right of the account name.


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When you sign in to email account on iOS or Android or any webmail service or desktop email client that I've ever used, you are always given the option to sign out.
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I don't remember a sign out option in the mail clients - i delete the account or disable syncing (this doesn't sign me out though). I can sign out if i use Outlook on the web on my device.

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If people are already logged into their email in Outlook and not given any way to log out, they may be less inclined to use alternatives and instead continue using Outlook and paying Microsoft for it.
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I don't see it that way - logging out of a client doesn't mean you can't set it up in another client.

In Outlook, there wasn't a log out option - never has been - it was the option to save or not save the password so it was required to log into mail. When you use cached Exchange, IMAP, or POP3, a password is not required to see mail already downloaded, so not saving the password only protected you from someone accessing new mail. The recommendation has always been separate windows users account to protect data.


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I don't have a 'microsoftoffice' in my Credential manager, but under 'Generic Credentials' I have: MicrosoftAccount, OneDrive, WindowsLive, SSO_POP_Device, SSO_POP_User & XboxLive. Should I delete the two POP credentials to sign out of Outlook?
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Does it have the address of the account listed with it? If its not a microsoft account, delete the password value from the registry - which you can do using a reg file. (I mistakenly thought you only had exchange accounts. ) You might want to leave the windows account in credential manager - if you sign into windows with a microsoft account.

Profiles are at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook - the accounts should be under this key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676 in folders named 000000* (if not look for one with > to expand)

The folder names will not change unless you delete the account and add it back - so a reg will work everytime.... but if my quick test matters - you can set this dialog to not save pop/imap passwords and the password won't be saved - the save password checkbox will be checked every time though. Just don't repair it via the 'simplified account setup dialog'.



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Would you happen to know how to delete all the local copies Outlook has created on the system without deleting anything from the server? I imagine there would be a way to do this from file explorer?
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For Exchange and IMAP - the data file are in %localappdata%\microsoft\outlook - if an imap account has folders named 'this computer only' deleting the ost will delete any calendar and contacts in those folders too. Outlook will need to resync everything when you reopen it - this can be slow if you have a large mailbox. Metered connections will be a problem too.

POP data files are in Documents\Outlook data files - but if you delete mail from the server, everything is in the pst. Deleting the pst is not recommended.