Not receiving outside emails

Question

Not receiving outside emails

Events with Chef’s Table Caterers 0

Good afternoon,

We are currently unable to receive external emails, and this issue is impacting our ability to receive important business communications, including requests and proposals. This matter is urgent, and we kindly ask for your immediate assistance in resolving it.

Please let us know the next steps or if any additional information is needed from our side.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Best regards,

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5 answers

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Answer 1

Hi @Events with Chef’s Table Caterers ,

This issue is likely related to DNS/MX configuration, mail flow settings, threat policies (such as anti-spam), or 3rd party email security solutions (since your question is tagged with Exchange Online but no detailed environment information was provided). To help isolate the cause and troubleshoot, please check the following:

Service health: Verify there are no ongoing service incidents or systemic issues affecting Exchange Online.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/view-service-health?view=o365-worldwide
Message trace: Run a message trace for external senders to confirm whether messages are reaching your tenant and where they are failing.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/monitoring/trace-an-email-message/message-trace-modern-eac
Accepted domains and MX records: Ensure your domain is correctly configured in Microsoft 365 and that MX record points to Exchange Online. Also confirm that there are no DNS issues on the registrar side.
Inbound connectors: Review connectors for restrictive IP ranges, certificate requirements, or misconfigurations that could block external mail.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow-best-practices/use-connectors-to-configure-mail-flow/use-connectors-to-configure-mail-flow
Threat policies and transport rules: Check all relevant threat policies in Microsoft Defender (anti-spam, anti-phishing, etc.) and transport (mail flow) rules in Exchange Online to verify their configuration and ensure messages are not being quarantined or rejected.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-office-365/anti-spam-policies-configure
Edge and/or 3rd party gateway: If you use a 3rd party email security solution, verify it is not blocking or misrouting inbound messages.

If message trace shows no inbound attempts at all, the issue is likely DNS/MX-related. If messages are received but not delivered, focus on connectors, transport rules, or filtering policies.

If the issue persists after these checks, please provide additional details about your Exchange Online environment (e.g., cloud-only vs. hybrid, any recent DNS/domain changes, connector setup) to help narrow down the root cause. If you require faster or one-to-one assistance, consider opening a support request with Microsoft Support for guided troubleshooting.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support?view=o365-worldwide
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/topic/customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2

Regards,
Burak V.

Answer 2

Events with Chef’s Table Caterers 0

Are you unable to receive emails from all external senders, or only specific domains/senders? All external
Can you still receive internal emails from users within your organization? No
Can you send emails normally to both internal and external recipients? Yes
When did the issue start? Today 06.16.26
Are senders receiving any bounce-back or non-delivery report/NDR messages? If yes, please share the error message or error code, while hiding any personal or sensitive information. No
Are the missing emails appearing in Junk Email, Quarantine, or Message Trace? If you have admin access, you can check this in the Microsoft 365 admin center or Exchange admin center. No
Was there any recent change to your domain, DNS records, MX records, mail flow rules, or security settings? No, we did not
Which email service are you using? For example, Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, Outlook.com, or another mail provider. Microsoft 365 Outlook Thanks in advance.

Kai-L 14,395 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-16T21:00:02.1333333+00:00

Hi @Events with Chef’s Table Caterers,

Thank you for the update and for answering those questions.

From what you shared, you are unable to receive both external and internal emails, but you can still send emails normally. Since the issue started today and appears to affect incoming mail generally, this may require checking mail flow, service health, Exchange settings, message trace, mailbox configuration, and possible tenant-side/backend behavior.

I can provide a few general troubleshooting steps to help narrow down what may be happening with incoming mail. However, since this affects email delivery and you need more direct support as soon as possible, I recommend that the Global Administrator in your organization create a service request with Microsoft Support. A technical support engineer can perform a remote session to investigate the situation, verify the backend configurations, and run any necessary synchronization tools to resolve the problem. If the issue requires further attention, they can escalate it to a specialized team for deeper analysis. For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin. If you don't know who your IT administrator is, please refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

For additional assistance, use this link to find the appropriate contact number from your region: Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

I truly hope this issue can be resolved quickly, especially since it is affecting your ability to receive emails. Please know that even though I can't directly intervene, directing you to the correct, specialized support is the most effective help I can provide from my position. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Please feel free to let me know if you need anything else. I wish you all the best.

Also, if the information provided is helpful, please consider accepting the answer and giving it an upvote. This can help other community members who may experience a similar issue find the guidance more easily.

Answer 3

Events with Chef’s Table Caterers 0

We are unable to receive emails can you please provide me with a customer service number.

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Answer 4

Events with Chef’s Table Caterers 0

We did follow all the instructions, and we are still not able to receive emails. Can you please provide a customer service number or if someone can call us at [Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed] ASP.

Thanks

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Answer 5

Hi @Events with Chef’s Table Caterers,

Good day, and thank you for reaching out to the Q&A Forum. I’m sorry to hear that you are unable to receive external emails. I understand how urgent this situation can be, especially when it affects important business communications. As a forum moderator, I truly wish I had the ability to access your account or backend environment to investigate and fix this directly. Unfortunately, our role here is limited to providing general guidance and solutions that users can try on their own. To better understand your situation and help narrow down the possible cause, could you please share a few more details?

Are you unable to receive emails from all external senders, or only specific domains/senders?
Can you still receive internal emails from users within your organization?
Can you send emails normally to both internal and external recipients?
When did the issue start?
Are senders receiving any bounce-back or non-delivery report/NDR messages? If yes, please share the error message or error code, while hiding any personal or sensitive information.
Are the missing emails appearing in Junk Email, Quarantine, or Message Trace? If you have admin access, you can check this in the Microsoft 365 admin center or Exchange admin center.
Was there any recent change to your domain, DNS records, MX records, mail flow rules, or security settings?
Which email service are you using? For example, Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, Outlook.com, or another mail provider.

Once you provide these additional details, I can better understand your situation and provide more targeted guidance. Thank you for your patience and understanding. I’m looking forward to your reply.

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.

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Not receiving outside emails

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