Hi Russell Bowyer,
If Microsoft Outlook on your Apple iPhone is stuck showing “Updating” and emails remain in the Outbox, it usually indicates a temporary sync, network, or account connection issue.
To better understand the situation, could you please help confirm the following:
- Is the account a personal Microsoft account or a work/school account?
- Are all Microsoft accounts affected, or only one?
- Does email send and receive normally on the web?
- Does the same issue occur if the account is configured on another device?
In the meantime, you may try the following steps that might improve the issue:
1/ Check for Storage Space
Please also check if your iPhone has sufficient available storage, as low storage may affect the mail syncing process and cause issues.
2/ Update the Outlook app
Please ensure the Outlook app is fully updated from the Apple App Store, as older versions may contain sync-related bugs.
3/ Check the email in the outbox
A message stuck in the Outbox can sometimes block synchronization.
- Open the Outbox folder.
- Check if there are emails that:
- Contain large attachments
- Failed to send
- You may try:
- Editing the email and sending it again, or
- Deleting the message from the Outbox.
4/ Clear the app cache
Clearing cached data may help if the local Outlook data becomes corrupted.
- Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
- Select Outlook.
- Tap Offload App.
5/ Reset the Outlook account
Sometimes the local account cache may become corrupted.
- Open Outlook > Profile icon > Settings.
- Select the affected account.
- Scroll down and tap Reset Account (if the option is available).
6/ Remove and Re-add the account
If the Reset Account option is not available, removing and re-adding the account can achieve a similar result.
- Open Outlook > Profile > Settings.
- Select the email account.
- Tap Delete Account.
- Restart the Outlook app.
- Add the account again.
I hope the information above is helpful. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out.
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