Gmail 552 5.2.2
Inbox out of storage and inactive
Gmail 552 5.2.2 means: inbox out of storage and inactive. It is a permanent failure, so do not retry it unchanged. The Gmail user is out of storage and the account is inactive. Suppress the address; it is unlikely to come back.
Gmail’s exact wording
Quoted from Google Workspace Admin Help: Gmail SMTP errors and codes, checked 2026-11-05. Placeholders are Gmail’s own.
Reply text
The recipient's inbox is out of storage space and inactive. Please direct the recipient to Manage files in your Google Drive storage.
| Who sends it | Gmail and Google Workspace |
|---|---|
| Basic code | 552: Requested mail action aborted: exceeded storage allocation (RFC) |
| Enhanced code | 5.2.2: Mailbox full |
| Permanent or temporary | Permanent (5xx) |
| Verifying the list prevents it | Yes, verification catches this |
In practice
Gmail adds the word inactive here, which separates it from the temporary 452 4.2.2. An account that is both out of storage and inactive has not been used for a long time and is unlikely to be cleared. Sending services generally treat this as a hard bounce. Suppress the address rather than retrying it on later campaigns.
What the sender should do
The Gmail user is out of storage and the account is inactive. Suppress the address; it is unlikely to come back.
Would verifying the list have prevented Gmail 552 5.2.2?
Yes, verification catches this
A mailbox check asks the recipient's server whether the address and domain can receive mail, without sending anything, so the address is flagged before the send instead of bouncing against your domain.
Common questions
- What does Gmail 552 5.2.2 mean?
- Gmail 552 5.2.2 means: inbox out of storage and inactive. It is a permanent failure, so do not retry it unchanged. The Gmail user is out of storage and the account is inactive. Suppress the address; it is unlikely to come back.
- Should I retry after Gmail 552 5.2.2?
- No. It is a permanent (5xx) failure, so the same message to the same address will fail again. Fix the cause first. The Gmail user is out of storage and the account is inactive. Suppress the address; it is unlikely to come back.
- Would verifying my list have prevented Gmail 552 5.2.2?
- Yes, verification catches this. A mailbox check asks the recipient's server whether the address and domain can receive mail, without sending anything, so the address is flagged before the send instead of bouncing against your domain.
The same code elsewhere
Sources
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Gmail SMTP errors and codes (checked 2026-11-05)
- IANA: SMTP Enhanced Status Codes registry (checked 2026-11-05)
- RFC 5321: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, section 4.2.3 (reply codes) (checked 2026-11-05)
Registry and provider wording is quoted exactly; guidance is written by the SimpleVerifier Team.
SimpleVerifier Team · Last checked against the sources 2026-11-05