Bounce codes › Microsoft 365
550 5.2.2: Submission quota exceeded
At most mail servers 5.2.2 means "mailbox full". At Microsoft 365 it means something else: you, the sender, sent more recipients or more messages than your mailbox is allowed.
Wait and try again You hit your own sending limit
You sent more recipients or messages than Microsoft allows. In Microsoft 365 this is about the sender, not a full mailbox.
- Sent by: Microsoft 365 / Outlook
- Permanent (hard bounce) by its code, so your mail system will not retry by itself. The cause passes: a new message later can get through.
How Microsoft 365 words it (source):
Submission quota exceeded
Why it happens
- Too many recipients in 24 hours.
- Too many messages in a short time, for example a script that sends one email per row of a spreadsheet.
- A hacked account sending spam. Microsoft names this as a possible cause.
What to do
- Stop sending for a while. The limit resets on its own.
- Slow automated sending down: add a pause between messages.
- Check Sent Items for mail you did not send, and change your password if you find any.
- Move bulk sending to a service made for it.
Don't confuse it with
552 5.2.2 from Gmail and most other servers is a full mailbox on the recipient side. Look at who sent the bounce: if it is Microsoft and says "Submission quota", the problem is on your side.
Questions
Is the recipient's mailbox full?
No, not with this wording. Microsoft uses this text for sender limits.
Should I remove the address from my list?
No. The address was never tried.
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.
Related codes
550 5.1.90Daily limit for message recipients reached (Microsoft 365)452 4.2.2The recipient's inbox is out of storage space (Gmail)