Outlook.com account not sending emails

Question

Outlook.com account not sending emails

Kathleen Bryne 5

Whenever I send an email, either from the new Outlook app on my PC, or from the online Outlook.com account, the email appears in the 'Sent' folder, but the email does not get sent.
I am receiving emails as normal.
Has anyone any idea as to what is causing this, and how to fix it?

3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Jhun Buala 4,980 Independent Advisor

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks for the update. I think this is a server-side outbound sending restriction on Microsoft’s side, not a device issue.

A. Try to navigate and check at https://account.live.com/Activity. Check specifically for the following:

“Unusual activity detected”.
“We blocked your account”.
“Verify your identity to continue sending”.

Even if my previous Method A looked fine, even one past unusual login can trigger send restriction.

B. Do another sending email test again. But this time send:

A plain text email.
No attachment.
Only 3 to 4 words.
To a Gmail address (if you have one).
If it still does not arrive > this confirms server-side block.

C. As a real and only fix, only Microsoft can manually remove the outbound block.

Use the specific form here: https://support.microsoft.com/home/contact (If you are in U.S.A. just make sure the page has en-us)
Choose > Outlook.com > Sending & receiving >“Messages aren’t being delivered”.
Let's hope chat option appears, use this. It's much faster than email.

In regards with almost same effect to your husband's:

Did you both recently changed password?
Did you use VPN? What VPN.
Send multiple similar emails?
Forward many emails?
Send to a distribution list?

Kathleen Bryne 5 Reputation points

2026-02-22T15:04:25.1566667+00:00
Hi Jhun,
Thanks again for your response.

A. Tried this on both mine and husband's account, all appeared normal.
However, when I used the link in your previous message on my husband's account (i.e. https://account.microsoft.com/security), there were a few attempted logins from around the world, but none successful, there were no messages about account being blocked, etc.

B. Tried this, no messages were received.
However, I realised we do use our own domain named email address to log into our Outlook accounts and on our sent emails this shows as the 'From' address. Before sending any email we can change this 'From' address to the one allocated by Outlook (i.e. ******@outlook.com), so we tried sending several emails using the Outlook address and all these were received. Therefore, it looks like our own domain name email address is the one being blocked!

At last it looks like we are getting somewhere, I'll use the instructions in C to report this in case it is Microsoft doing the blocking.

To continue with the rest of your questions:

Yes, we have changed passwords on both of our accounts in the last couple of days to try and solve this problem.

We have been using NordVPN for the past year, but it's not on all the time as it does interfere with our access to some websites.

No.

Occasionally we forward emails to each other or associates.

No.

Again, thanks very much for your help, I feel we might be getting somewhere, I don't know why we didn't think about our own domain email being an issue before! (Although it has worked fine for many years.)
Kathleen Bryne 5 Reputation points

2026-02-22T15:24:08.94+00:00

Further to my previous message:

I've tried using the specific form in the link you provided to contact Microsoft but all this does, after answering a series of questions, is return me to Outlook.com and its associated help link.
There doesn't appear to be anyway I can contact Microsoft either by chat/email/phone.

Edit: I found a way to make contact, go to https://admin.cloud.microsoft/?culture=en-gb#/support explain the issue, some solutions will be provided, click the "Contact Support" button at the bottom of the page and you'll be offered contact by phone or email. I chose email, so hopefully someone will email or phone me regarding a fix.

Another edit: I have given up the will to live. After thinking I was making progress and actually got an email response from Microsoft, followed by a phone call, only to be told they can not help me as mine is a personal account, not a business account.

Instead I have to go back to the live.com page and seek help there. This doesn't give any help at all, one just ends up in an infinite loop of being asked a series of questions before being returned back to the original page, i.e. the outlook.com page!
It is a Catch 22 situation!
At this rate I can see me not renewing my Microsoft 365 subscription, leaving Microsoft altogether to use open source products instead, and find another Mailbox provider who actually gives support.
I have just wasted two days trying to get support from Microsoft, but thanks to Jhun for trying to help.

Answer 2

Jhun Buala 4,980 Independent Advisor

Hi Kathleen Bryne,

Good day. I'm Jhun an independent advisor. In regards with your Outlook sending problem, this is an account side issue and not on your PC local settings.

Try these methods and steps.

A. Check if your Microsoft has blocked your sending due to unusual login activity, suspected spam behavior, sending too many emails and etc. To check:

Go to https://account.microsoft.com/security
Click Review activity Look for: “Unusual sign-in activity” “Account temporarily blocked”
If you see a warning, follow the verification steps, this is usually SMS code.
If blocked, Microsoft requires identity verification from the user/owner.

B. Try to send mail to your other email address and see if it will arrive. Try to check also your Junk or Spam folders if it arrived there. If this didn't arrive, this will confirm a restriction on the account.

C. Check Junk Email settings. Sometimes Outlook silently fails delivery due to sending restrictions.

Go to Outlook.com
Click (gear icon) Settings.
Go to: Mail → Junk Email
Ensure: Your email address is NOT listed in “Blocked senders” Safe senders list looks normal

D. Check if your account is restricted.

Go directly to https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/mail/accounts
Look for: Connected accounts errors Sending restrictions notice

E. Try to use a different browser and do it in Incognito mode.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Jhun

Kathleen Bryne 5 Reputation points

2026-02-21T17:16:23.5733333+00:00

Hi Jhun Buala,
Thanks for your quick response:

A. all these checked and there doesn't seem to be anything untoward.

B. I've tried sending messages to 3 different email addresses that me and my husband have, none were received. Junk and spam folders are all clear.

C. Followed your instructions, everything looks fine.

D. Tried following your link (i.e. https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/mail/accounts), it takes me to a blank page in my web mailbox settings, there isn't an "accounts" option under the "mail" section.
However, I looked at "Account" in "Settings" - there are no errors showing.

E. I've tried two different browsers, and tried incognito mode, but nothing works.

My husband's outlook emails are working fine, it is just my account that is affected.
Kathleen Bryne 5 Reputation points

2026-02-22T09:43:16.7566667+00:00

Correction to the above regarding husband's email: Like me, he is receiving all emails, but not all his sent emails are going out (whereas none of mine are getting sent). For both of us, they all end up in the 'Sent' box with no indication, or message, that they've not been sent.

We really need to get this sorted out, it is causing us major problems. Does anyone know how we can contact Microsoft directly to ask them to look at our account?
We are paying for an annual family subscription to Microsoft 365 so we expect better than this, my husband has already spent several days trying to resolve it.

Thanks.

Answer 3

If your Outlook.com account is not sending emails but they appear in the 'Sent' folder, there could be a few reasons for this issue. Here are some potential causes and solutions:

Connection Issues: Ensure that your internet connection is stable. If you are on a metered connection, Outlook may restrict sending emails.
Outlook Configuration: Sometimes, the configuration settings in Outlook can cause issues. You may want to check your account settings to ensure they are correct.
Send/Receive Group: If you are using the Outlook app on your PC, the Send/Receive group might be misconfigured. You can create a new Send/Receive group to resolve this issue. For Outlook 2010 and later, you can do this by going to File > Options > Advanced > Send/Receive.
Corrupted Profile: If the issue persists, your Outlook profile may be corrupted. Creating a new profile can often resolve sending issues.
Email Size Limit: Ensure that the emails you are trying to send do not exceed the size limits set by Outlook.com.
Server Issues: Occasionally, there may be server-side issues with Outlook.com. You can check the service status on Microsoft's official support page to see if there are any ongoing problems.

If none of these solutions work, consider using the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant to diagnose and fix issues with sending and receiving emails.

References:

Share via

Outlook.com account not sending emails

3 answers

Your answer