My Outlook meeting invites come from Outlook_[string of characters]@outlook.com and recipient responses are blocked

Question

A new problem that began a few months ago is that when I invite people to meetings using Outlook, they get my meeting requests from "Outlook_[string of characters]@outlook.com" instead of either my regular Outlook.com email address or my alternative non-outlook email address.

Based on support databases I have tried both with my non-outlook email address as primary, and with my outlook.com email address as primary and the problem seems to continue both ways.

Answer 1

Hi again,

Based on what you described, it sounds like Outlook is misidentifying your account identities, possibly due to how the profiles and delivery locations are configured. Here are a few steps you can try to untangle this:

1. Check account aliases and default send-from address: Go to https://account.microsoft.com and check under “Your Info” and “Email aliases.” Make sure your enterprisecoach.net address isn’t set as the primary alias if you want Outlook.com to be the default.

2. Review Outlook profile settings: In Outlook, go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings. Under the “Email” tab, confirm which account is set as default. Also check the “Data Files” tab to see which mailbox is set as the default delivery location. If enterprisecoach.net is listed there, try switching it back to Outlook.com.

3. Recreate the Outlook profile cleanly: Since you mentioned creating a new profile, try doing it again but this time:

• Remove all accounts first.
• Add Outlook.com first and set it as default.
• Then add enterprisecoach.net. This order can help Outlook correctly associate the calendar and mailbox.

4. Check autodiscover and domain settings: If enterprisecoach.net is hosted on a custom domain provider, make sure autodiscover and DNS records are correctly configured. Misconfigured records can cause Outlook to mislabel accounts.

5. Use Outlook Web App (OWA) to test behavior: Log in at https://outlook.live.com and try sending a meeting invite from there. If the issue doesn’t happen in OWA, it’s likely a local Outlook client configuration issue.

Answer 2

Hi Mish,

This issue where Outlook meeting invites are sent from an address like Outlook_[random characters]@outlook.com instead of your actual email is usually caused by how Outlook handles calendar permissions and account configurations, especially when using non-Microsoft accounts or aliases.

Here’s what’s likely happening and how to fix it:

Why it happens: Outlook sometimes uses a hidden calendar service account to send invites when:

• You're using a non-Microsoft email (like Gmail or Yahoo) with Outlook.
• Your default calendar is linked to a Microsoft account, but you're sending from another email.
• Outlook can't match the sending account with the calendar owner, so it uses a proxy address like Outlook_[random]@outlook.com.

1. Match your default email and calendar accounts.

Make sure the email account you're using to send invites is also the one that owns the calendar. If you're using a non-Outlook email (like Gmail) with Outlook, Outlook might use a proxy address to send invites.

2. Set the correct “From” address manually.

When creating a meeting, click the “From” field and choose your actual email address. This forces Outlook to use the right sender.

3. Check your account settings.

Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings. Make sure your preferred email is set as default and that your calendar is linked to it.

4. Recreate your Outlook profile.

Sometimes, a corrupted profile causes this issue. Try creating a new Outlook profile and re-adding your accounts.

5. Use Outlook Web App (OWA) as a workaround.

Some users found that invites sent from OWA don’t have this issue. You can try sending invites from Outlook on the web to see if it helps.

Let me know if you're using a personal or work account, and if you're syncing with Gmail or another provider.

Answer 3

Hi Rez, thanks very much for your detailed response. You are right that I am using a non-Microsoft account. My intention is to be able to choose between my outlook.com address and my personal branded enterprisecoach.net address.

My calendar has always been linked to my outlook.com address. Overall your three unnumbered bullet points seem to be an accurate description of the situation, thank you.

Your numbered option 2 seems like the solution and was the solution consistently for the last about 5 years. It changed around the time I changed internet service providers for my personal enterprisecoach.net address. This fits with your diagnosis that Outlook is unable to correctly match this address and uses the long string instead.

However now, when I                 Set the correct “From” address manually

-- I still get the string. Can you suggest a way to untangle this?

I have just done your step 4 - as my regular laptop died and I created a new Outlook profile on a replacement laptop. The problem is not solved.

Answer 4

Your clear diagnosis helped me decipher this. The overall description you gave at the beginning as the most helpful. Indeed Microsoft was misidentifying my accounts, and things got much worse once it somehow started naming the Outlook.com address with the enterprisecoach name!

The thing I hadn't done frequently enough in the first few rounds of troubleshooting was restarting Outlook and often the whole Windows laptop. On one of the new and better cycles I managed to:

• remove the misidentified outlook account from outlook and restart
• Ensure that my outlook.com account was primary in my overall Microsoft account and restart
• Re-add the outlook.com account and restart outlook

Now, I have it working like it was for many years - I use enterprisecoach as my default email address, but in the calendar, it defaults to outlook.com which is what manages the calendar sync with my phone. Then, as far as I can see, I can use your option 2 in the first response - manually setting the "from" address - to modify my meeting requests to come from my enterprisecoach address.

Now to see if this helps the spam filters to recognize that I am not spamming, just setting business and social meetings with long term contacts.

Answer 5

Feel free to upvote and accept my answer if it helped you, so other users can find solutions. 

All the best, 

Rez