How to Access, Download or Erase Your Personal Data from Microsoft

This is certain that most of the online services store the personal data of their users. These include many social media sites, browser, as well as other companies. Recently Microsoft is in the news for how much information they collect. And, the company confirmed that their employees and contractors might hear the Cortana queries and Skype calls (audio recording). After hearing this, many of you want to know or view their data stored by Microsoft. And, maybe many users want to delete their data immediately. Although, the company has itself provided an online tool to the users to view or delete their collected data. If you’re also concerned about the privacy, then you can use this tool to see and delete your personal information stored by Microsoft.

How to view your personal data stored by Microsoft

The Microsoft online tool allows you to access and erase, your search history, location activity, browser history, voice activity, some apps and services data, media contents, and more. In order to view and manage your stored data, Microsoft asks you to sign in to your account. If you know your account credentials, then you can view your personal data stored by Microsoft right now using the below points.

• You have to start a browser on a device to use Microsoft’s online tool for privacy.
• Then, go to “account.microsoft.com/account/privacy” to open the privacy section of the Microsoft account.
• Now, click the large blue ‘SIGN IN WITH MICROSOFT>’ button. This loads and opens the sign-in form of Microsoft.
• Fill the details and sign in to your account.
• Select the ‘Overview’ tab, after entering to your account. If it is open already, then skip this point. You’ll now see several data options that are stored on Microsoft.
• Choose a data type that you want to view, such as voice, search, browse, media, or location.
• On this option, you can see the complete data that Microsoft has stored on your screen.

If you’ve chosen voice activity, then you can also listen to the individual audio recording instantly without downloading.

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How to delete your personal data stored on Microsoft

Microsoft account’s privacy section allows the users to erase their data from Microsoft. You need to follow the given procedure to erase your search history, location activity, browser history, voice activity, and more from Microsoft.

• Go to “https://account.microsoft.com/account/privacy” to open the privacy section of the Microsoft account.
• Click the large blue ‘SIGN IN WITH MICROSOFT>’ button and open your Microsoft account.
• Make sure you’re on the Overview tab after entering to your account. You should now see several data options on your screen.
• Select a data type that you want to view and delete, such as voice, search, browse, media, location, or other. This will open the complete data list on the screen.
• Click ‘Clear’ on data entry you want to delete. If you want to erase them all, then click ‘Clear Activity’ option.

Doing so clears the entire stored files from that data type. If you want to delete another data type, then you have to select it and click the ‘Clear Activity’ option for it.

How to download your data stored by Microsoft

If for any purpose you want to download the stored data on your device, then it is simple. Here is how.

• Go to “https://account.microsoft.com/account/privacy” to open the privacy section of the Microsoft account.
• Open your account by clicking the large blue ‘SIGN IN WITH MICROSOFT>’ button and entering the account credentials.
• The next page may load with the Overview tab. You have to open ‘Download your data’ tab to download the data from Microsoft.
• After that, click on the ‘CREATE NEW ARCHIVE’ button.
• Select the data you want to download by clicking their box.
• Then, click ‘Create Archive.’

The archives will be created and expire after a week. During this duration, you are not allowed to delete them.

Howdy, I’m JEANNE E. WINFIELD. I’m a software engineer living in Manhattan, New York. I am a fan of technology, photography, and design. I’m also interested in music and blogging. You can visit my website mcafee.com/activate.

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