I’ve had emails sent to outlook.co.uk instead of .com

Question

I’ve had emails sent to outlook.co.uk instead of .com and I need to access them, Microsoft won’t let me add it as an alias and I’ve tried logging into the .co.uk but it’s sending a code which obviously I can’t see - any idea what I could do?

Answer 1

Hi Heather,

The reason for this is that the alias that you are trying to add to your account is already associated with another Microsoft account, which is the UK one. It is sending a one-time code to the recovery email associated with the Microsoft account.

I'm afraid there's not much you can do in this case - maybe try a cold email to the account and see if that helps.

I hope this information helps. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Otherwise, please take a moment to rate the answer. Wishing you good luck!

Answer 2

Emails sent to outlook.co.uk instead of outlook.com can only be accessed if outlook.co.uk is an existing alias on the same Microsoft account and still active.

Key points based on Microsoft’s alias behavior:

1. An email address like ******@outlook.co.uk is an alias on a Microsoft account, not a separate mailbox you can freely attach anywhere.
2. If that outlook.co.uk address was previously added to a Microsoft account and later removed as an alias, it is permanently deleted and cannot be:
   • Re‑added as an alias to any Microsoft account, or
   • Used to sign in or receive mail again.
3. When an alias from a Microsoft domain (such as @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, @msn.com) is removed, Microsoft explicitly states it “can’t be associated with any Microsoft account again.” This applies in the same way to other Microsoft mail domains such as outlook.co.uk.

Given the symptoms described:

• Microsoft will not let outlook.co.uk be added as an alias.
• Sign‑in to the outlook.co.uk address triggers a verification code that cannot be received.

This typically means either:

• The outlook.co.uk address is already tied to a different Microsoft account (and only that account can access those emails), or
• The outlook.co.uk alias was removed and is now permanently deleted, in which case emails sent there are no longer retrievable.

The only practical options are:

1. Try “Forgot your username?” on the Microsoft sign‑in page using the outlook.co.uk address to see which account it belongs to, then sign in with another alias on that same account (if any) and check the mailbox.
2. If the outlook.co.uk alias was removed from the account, there is no supported way to restore it or recover messages sent to it.

For future protection, when changing addresses:

• Add a new alias (for example, a different Outlook.com or third‑party email address) and make it the primary alias.
• Avoid deleting the old Microsoft‑domain alias if there is any chance it is still receiving important mail.

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References:

• Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com
• How to add an email address or phone number to your Microsoft account
• How to fix "This username has been turned off" error
• Deleted hotmail email address from account - can I get it back? - Microsoft Q&A
• MSN email issues - Microsoft Q&A