Problems with emails

Question

Hello,

I am having problems with my emails On my personal email address.

I dont think I am getting all my emails from companies and people.

Today I sent an email to myself.,and it bounced back with this message.

I have about 259,000 emails in my Inbox.

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

Your message wasn't delivered because the recipient's email provider rejected it.

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I have about 259,000 emails in my Inbox.

Can you tell me what is going on ?and what should I do to get this working again?

Answer 1

Hi Pana,

Hmmm... Are you able to check your mailbox storage in your Microsoft account to see if it still shows as full?

If you still get a postmaster bounce after deleting 500 emails, your mailbox is likely still over the limit. With around 259,000 emails, removing a small amount does not free enough space. It blocks sending and receiving when storage is full, so messages continue to fail. You need to delete a larger number of emails, including large ones with attachments, then empty Deleted Items and Junk since those count toward storage. After that, wait a short time for the mailbox to sync, then send a test email again.

Answer 2

Hi Pana,

I see you're having an issue with missing emails and the bounce message.

Are you using an Outlook.com account or another email service in Outlook for Windows?

This usually happens when your mailbox is full. With around 259,000 emails in your Inbox, your account likely reached its storage limit. When that happens, emails stop coming in and messages you send get rejected or bounce back. Check your storage in your Microsoft account, then delete or move old emails to reduce the mailbox size. Make sure you also empty Deleted Items since those still count. After that, send a test email again.

Let me know if that helps!

Answer 3

The bounce message indicates that the recipient’s email provider rejected the message. Since the message was sent to the same personal address, the “recipient’s provider” is effectively the same service that hosts the mailbox, so focus on mailbox/account limits and provider-side filtering.

Take these steps:

1. Check mailbox and cloud storage limits
   • If this is an Outlook.com / Microsoft account, a full mailbox or full Microsoft cloud storage prevents sending and receiving. Messages sent to a full mailbox are bounced and are not recoverable.
   • Use the mailbox storage page linked in the Outlook.com article to see if storage is full and delete or archive old mail if needed. With ~259,000 messages in Inbox, storage limits are a likely cause.
2. Review the full non‑delivery report (NDR)
   • Open the bounce message and scroll down to the diagnostic section (often called “Diagnostic information for administrators”).
   • Look for specific error text such as:
     • “mailbox full” or “over quota”
     • “blocked”, “listed in”, or references to blacklist sites like “spamcop”, “spamhaus”, etc.
   • If the error mentions “blocked” or “listed in” with those services, the provider is treating the account/server as a spam source.
3. If the error mentions “blocked” / “listed in” / blacklist
   • This means the message was intentionally blocked by a spam or blacklist filter.
   • Contact the support team for the email provider and request that the account or domain be unblocked, referencing the exact error text from the NDR.
4. If the error is a temporary connection issue
   • Errors like “can’t connect to remote server”, “message expired”, or “connection timed out” often resolve on their own.
   • If the NDR says the provider will keep trying, no action is needed. Otherwise, wait a short time and resend.
5. If not receiving some messages from others
   • Check Junk/Spam folders and any rules or filters that might move or delete messages.
   • If specific senders cannot reach the mailbox and there is no error on the mailbox side, ask them to review “Sender Support in Outlook.com” if they are sending to an Outlook.com address.
6. If the bounce is from ******@outlook.com / postmaster@microsoft.com / service.microsoft.com
   • These are legitimate system messages when properly authenticated.
   • Use the diagnostic section in that postmaster message to see the exact reason (wrong address, mailbox full, attachment too large, etc.) and correct accordingly (fix address, free space, reduce attachment size, then resend).

Given the very large Inbox and the fact that a self‑sent message is being rejected, first action should be to verify storage usage and free space. Then re‑test by sending a small, simple message to the same address.

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References:

• Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com
• Sent email in Outlook.com comes back "delivery failed"
• Failed delivery messages from the postmaster at outlook.com, microsoft.com, or service.microsoft.com