Follow these steps in Outlook.com / Outlook on the web to troubleshoot missing verification and password‑reset emails:
- Check Focused/Other and filters
- In the Inbox, check both Focused and Other tabs.
- Select Filter above the message list and choose All so no filter hides messages.
- If messages appear out of order, select Filter > Sort > Date.
- Check Junk Email and mark as not junk
- Open the Junk Email folder and look for verification/password‑reset messages.
- If found, select the message and choose Not junk / Mark as not junk to move it back to Inbox and train the filter.
- Remember that messages in Junk are automatically removed after 30 days and cannot be recovered.
- Check Junk Email settings and rules
- Open Junk Email settings and review any blocked senders, safe senders, and filters that might block automated emails.
- Go to Rules settings and check for Inbox or Sweep rules that move or delete messages (for example, rules sending messages to another folder or RSS feed). Edit or delete any rule that affects these messages.
- Check blocked senders list
- Sign in to Outlook.com.
- Go to Settings > Options/Mail > Blocked senders or Block and allow.
- If the website’s address or its domain (for example, @facebookmail.com, @service.example.com) is listed, select it and remove it from the blocked list.
- Check forwarding and connected apps
- Make sure email forwarding is not enabled to another address.
- If using third‑party mail apps, ensure they support modern authentication and IMAP. If IMAP/POP are active and causing issues, try disabling them as described in the POP/IMAP settings article.
- Ask the sender to check their side
- If only specific services (like Facebook or other sites) fail to reach the mailbox, contact those services’ support.
- For senders using Outlook.com infrastructure, they can use the guidance in Sender Support in Outlook.com or postmaster.live.com to investigate delivery problems.
- Check account status and recent activity
- Ensure the Outlook.com mailbox and Microsoft cloud storage are not full; if storage is full, new mail is bounced and lost.
- Review the Recent activity page for unusual sign‑ins that might indicate account issues.
If, after these checks, verification emails from multiple different services still never appear in any folder (Inbox, Junk, Archive, other folders) and are not blocked by rules or blocked senders, the senders must investigate on their side using their own mail logs and delivery tools.
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