Outlook Shows "Disconnected" in Status Bar But Internet is Working Perfectly

Hi @Jenifer Marakovich,

Thanks for using Microsoft product and posting in the Microsoft Q&A. I understand how frustrating it is when your Outlook app just won't connect, especially when everything else on your computer works perfectly fine.

The issue you're describing, where Outlook is stuck in a "Disconnected" or "Trying to connect..." state while the web version works, is a very common problem. It almost always points to an issue with the saved login information on your computer, rather than a problem with your internet connection or the mail server itself.

The solution is to clear out the old, possibly corrupted, login credentials that Outlook is trying to use. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do that:

Step 1: Close Outlook

First, make sure the Outlook desktop application is completely closed. This is important so that Outlook doesn't try to use the credentials while you are in the process of removing them.

Step 2: Access Credential Manager

Next, you need to open the Windows Credential Manager. This is where Windows securely stores all your login information for different applications and services.

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard.
2. Type "Credential Manager" and select the application from the search results.

Step 3: Remove Stored Credentials

Once inside Credential Manager, you will see two sections. You need to focus on Windows Credentials.

1. Click on Windows Credentials.
2. Look for any entries that are related to your Outlook or Microsoft Office account. These entries often have names like MicrosoftOffice16_Data or start with MS.Outlook.
3. Click on the down arrow next to each of these entries to expand them.
4. Click on "Remove" to delete the stored credentials. Confirm the action when prompted.

Step 4: Restart Outlook

After you have removed all the relevant credentials, re-open the Outlook application.

Outlook will no longer have the old information and will prompt you to enter your password again. This will force it to create a new, fresh, and valid authentication token. Once you enter your password and Outlook connects, the "Disconnected" status should be gone, and you should be able to send and receive emails again.

If for some reason this doesn't fix the issue, the next step would be to create a new Outlook profile, but clearing the credentials resolves this problem for most users. Please try these solutions in the order provided and let me know if any of them help resolve the issue. If the problem persists after trying all these methods, we can explore further troubleshooting steps.