Not receiving email

Question

All of a sudden on 1/23/26 I stopped receiving emails from one specific email address. I checked my spam folder, made sure the address was not blocked, and even added the email address as a safe sender but as of today I am still not getting the emails. Another person who is put on these emails when they are sent to me as well is having no issues and is still receiving them no problem. Not sure why this is happening all of a sudden or if there are any other settings I can check? I read that outlook was down last week and people were having issues not receiving emails but I believe this has since been resolved.

Answer 1

Hi JGH,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

Since this is a personal Outlook.com scenario, you won’t be able to run a message trace (that’s an admin-only feature for Microsoft 365/Exchange organizations in the Microsoft 365 admin center).

For a personal account “not receiving” problem, please check these items on Outlook.com on the web first (it removes app/view variables):

1) Search all folders:

Use Search and set scope to All folders. Also check Junk Email and Deleted Items, and if Focused Inbox is enabled, check Other. Make sure your Inbox filter (top of the message list) is set to All, not Unread.

2) Confirm the sender isn’t being blocked/filtered:

(⚙️) Settings > Mail > Junk email

Verify the sender/domain is not in Blocked senders and domains and add it to Safe senders and domains.

3) Check mailbox storage quota:

A full mailbox can prevent new mail from being delivered. (⚙️) Settings > General > Storage then delete/empty Junk + Deleted Items and re-test.

Service status (if this started around an outage)

Note: The Service Health Dashboard at portal.office.com/servicestatus is designed for Microsoft 365 work/school accounts. For personal Outlook.com, Widespread issues are sometimes communicated via @MSFT365Status on X.

If you still can’t find the messages anywhere on Outlook.com web, ask the sender for either:

• any bounce/NDR they received, or
• the full message headers from their Sent copy of a test email, so we can confirm whether Microsoft accepted the message or it was blocked before reaching your mailbox.

Please let me know if this proves useful to you or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment”.   

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

I have no rules set up.

How would I run a message trace?

Answer 3

If you are not receiving emails from a specific address despite checking your spam folder and adding it as a safe sender, there are several other factors you might want to consider:

1. Email Rules: Check if there are any rules set up in your Outlook that might be diverting emails from that sender to another folder or the RSS feed.
2. Email Quarantine: Sometimes emails can be sent to quarantine due to spam filters. You can check the quarantine settings in your Microsoft 365 admin center if you have access.
3. Message Trace: You can run a message trace to see if the emails are being sent and if there are any delivery issues. This can help identify if the emails are being blocked or filtered for some reason.
4. Network Issues: Ensure that your network allows connections from the IP addresses used by Microsoft 365 datacenters. If there are restrictions, it may prevent email delivery.
5. Recipient Settings: Verify that your email address is correctly set up in your user profile if you are using Microsoft Entra or Microsoft 365.

If none of these solutions resolve the issue, you may want to contact your IT support or Microsoft support for further assistance.

---

References:

• Find and fix email delivery issues as a Microsoft 365 for business admin
• Message Trace FAQ in Exchange Online