I am not able to send or receive emails

Question

Need some help, please!

I have a business account and I can't send or receive emails.

I have changed password, switched accounts, used the browser vs app. I have taken the account off. Checked that I am not offline. It's just not doing anything.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Hi @Mark Heward,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum.

I understand how disruptive this is, especially when email is critical for day‑to‑day work.

Based on what you’ve described (business account, not working in any client, password already reset), this points away from a local Outlook app issue and toward a mailbox or tenant‑side problem.

The most important first step is confirming whether your mailbox actually exists and is active

With Microsoft 365 business accounts, it’s possible for the user account to exist without an active Exchange mailbox (for example, if the license was removed or failed to apply).

Please sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, check:

• Users > Active users > your account
• Confirm an Exchange Online license is assigned

If the mailbox doesn’t exist or the license isn’t properly assigned, the user will be unable to send or receive email. You may want to try unassigning and then reassigning the license to force the mailbox provisioning process to run again. This step is important because Outlook on the web connects directly to Exchange Online, and you mentioned that it’s already failing there.

Since switching accounts has not resolved the issue, I strongly recommend contacting Microsoft Support so they can verify whether your tenant or domain has been flagged or impacted by any underlying service-related issues. They can reach out to Microsoft Support through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center so Microsoft can collect logs and investigate. 

Microsoft also provides customer service phone numbers based on your region. You can find the appropriate contact number here: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support 

This route ensures that a Microsoft support engineer can initiate a remote session to investigate backend configurations, run advanced diagnostic tools, and, if necessary, escalate the case to specialized teams with access to internal systems and logs. These backend resources are essential for resolving issues that go beyond what’s visible in the user interface.

As community moderators, we’re here to guide you, but due to privacy and security limitations, we don’t have access to the backend tools required for a full resolution. For this reason, contacting Microsoft Support via the Admin Center is the most secure and efficient way forward.

 

I hope this helps you resolve the issue quickly. I’m glad to assist and truly hope the information provided has been useful. Please feel free to reach out anytime if you need further assistance.  

If you find my post helpful, kindly consider marking it as the accepted answer. Doing so can assist others in the community who may have similar questions in finding solutions more quickly.  

Thank you for your kindness and contributions to the forum.

---

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

Answer 2

Try these checks and fixes in order, focusing on new Outlook for Windows with a business (Microsoft 365/Exchange) account:

1. Confirm it’s not an Outlook.com / alias issue
   If this is an Outlook.com-based business address and it recently stopped working or was changed, verify that the email address is still valid and not removed as an alias. If an alias was removed from the Microsoft account, it is permanently deleted and cannot receive mail anymore. In that case, a different address must be used or a new alias created. See Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com.
2. Check whether the problem is Outlook or the mailbox
   Since the browser also shows no mail activity, verify the mailbox itself is working:

• Sign in to Outlook on the web for the same business account.
• If email appears and works there but not in the app, the issue is with the Outlook client/profile on the PC.
• If email does not arrive even in Outlook on the web, this is a service or account issue that an admin must investigate (rules, delivery, or tenant-level problems).

3. Run Support and Recovery Assistant (for Outlook client issues)
   For a single user with send/receive problems in Outlook for Windows, run Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant on the affected computer. It can automatically detect and fix:

• Profile corruption
• Wrong Outlook version/configuration
• Licensing or connectivity issues

Download and run it from Download and run Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant, then choose the Outlook scenario that matches “I can’t send or receive email.”

4. If only one address is affected, check for hidden rules
   If only this specific mailbox or address is failing to receive mail while others work, check for unexpected rules (either in Outlook on the web or the client) that might be diverting or deleting messages. A misconfigured rule can silently move all new mail to another folder (for example, RSS Feeds) and make it appear as if nothing is arriving.
5. If still failing, use admin tools for delivery issues
   Because this is a business account, if Outlook on the web also shows no new mail:

• Have the Microsoft 365 admin use the Exchange delivery tools described in “Find and fix email delivery issues as a Microsoft 365 for business admin” to trace messages and identify whether they are being rejected, redirected, or failing at the service level.

If none of the above resolves the issue, contact Microsoft support from the tenant using the business support channel so they can review the mailbox and service configuration.

---

References:

• Issues sending and receiving email
• Find and fix email delivery issues as a Microsoft 365 for business admin
• Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com
• Server settings you'll need from your email provider