Not receiving email notifications - how to fix?

Question

Notifications not working for a new outlook work account. Original personal account still receives notifications and always has. Notification settings set to receive from 'All' inboxes, and DND is off, same settings for both accounts. Push notification test resulted in failed error message. New emails also don't show in new work account unless I pull down to refresh the inbox. Have tried resetting account to resync but didn't help.

Answer 1

Hi @kmck

Regarding your issue, may I kindly ask a few questions to help understand it better? 

• What iOS version are you using? 
• When a new email arrives, do you see it immediately on Outlook Web, but not on the mobile app until you manually refresh? 
• When you run Test Push Notifications, does it fail only for the work account or for all accounts? 
• Do notifications work if you remove and re‑add only the work account (without touching the personal one)? 
• Have you tried uninstalling and installing Outlook again to see if it helps solve your issue? 
• Do other users in the same organization reported similar notification issues? 

Hope to hear back from you soon.  

The initial response may not fully address your needs, but it will help me better understand your situation. Once I get the information, I will try my best to find the next steps. 

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Answer 2

Follow these steps to troubleshoot Outlook mobile notifications for the new work account:

1. Verify Outlook mobile notification settings
   • In Outlook for iOS/Android, open Settings.
   • Under Quick Settings, tap Notifications.
   • Make sure Allow notifications is turned On.
   • Under From, select All email (not just Focused Inbox Only or Favourite People) so that all inboxes, including the work account, are eligible for notifications.
   • Because notifications by default only appear for new messages in the Focused Inbox, confirm that the work account’s messages are actually landing in Focused (or change the setting to All email).
2. Check system notification settings on the phone
   • Open the device’s system Settings app.
   • Go to the notifications section (varies by device) and locate Outlook.
   • Confirm Outlook is allowed to send notifications (banners/alerts, sounds, badges).
   • Ensure any system-level Do not disturb or focus mode is turned off or configured to allow Outlook notifications.
   • On Android, also confirm battery optimization or power-saving features are not restricting Outlook in the background, as this can prevent both push notifications and automatic inbox refresh.
3. Confirm Focused Inbox behavior
   • Since Outlook mobile only notifies on Focused Inbox by default, if the work account’s messages are going to Other, either:
     • Move those messages to Focused so Outlook learns the preference, or
     • In Outlook Settings > Notifications, explicitly choose All email.
   • For more about Focused Inbox behavior, see what is Focused Inbox.
4. Re-check account-specific behavior
   • Compare the notification settings for the personal and work accounts inside Outlook to ensure they are identical.
   • If only the work account fails the push notification test, remove just the work account from Outlook and add it again, then repeat the push notification test.
5. If notifications still fail
   • Because the push notification test already shows a failure, and resync did not help, the issue is likely outside the app configuration (for example, device notification restrictions or server-side policies for the work account).
   • After verifying the device’s notification and battery/power settings, contact the work account’s Microsoft 365/Exchange administrator to confirm that mobile notifications are allowed for that mailbox and that no conditional access or mobile device management policy is blocking push notifications or background sync.

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References:

• Why don't I get new message notifications?