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452 4.2.2: The recipient's inbox is out of storage space

The recipient's Google storage is full. Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos share one storage space, so a full Drive stops email too.

Wait and try again Mailbox is full

The recipient's Google storage is full.

  • Sent by: Gmail / Google Workspace
  • Temporary (soft bounce). The sending mail server retries on its own.

How Gmail words it (source):

The recipient's inbox is out of storage space.

Why it happens

  • The person used up their Google storage.
  • The account is no longer looked at and filled up over time.

What to do

  1. Do nothing at first. It is a temporary error and your mail system will retry for a few days.
  2. If you know the person, tell them another way that their mailbox is full.
  3. If the same address bounces as full on two or three mailings in a row, remove it: nobody is reading that mailbox.

Don't confuse it with

Gmail sends 552 5.2.2 ("out of storage space and inactive") when the mailbox is full and also unused: that one is permanent. At Microsoft 365, 550 5.2.2 is a sender limit and has nothing to do with a full mailbox.

Questions

Is 452 4.2.2 a soft bounce?

Yes. The code starts with 4.

Does the address exist?

Yes.

Got a different bounce?

Paste the whole message into the bounce code lookup. It reads the code and the words and tells you whose move it is.

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