Inbox Emails are not coming in/\

Question

I am not getting my emails. Some are going to deleted and junk but not inbox.

Answer 1

Hi Lisa Gilly,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. 

I understand how frustrating it is when emails don’t show up in the Inbox as expected.

To quickly identify what’s going on, please confirm the two points below:

• Which Outlook are you using to view your email: Outlook.com on the web (browser) or the Outlook app (New/Classic) / mobile?
  • Please sign in to Outlook on the web (Outlook.com) with the same account. Do the missing emails still not appear in the Inbox—for example, do they show up in Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, or the Other tab (if Focused Inbox is enabled)?
• Does this happen with all senders, or only specific senders / specific email threads?

Once I have that information, I can guide you through adjusting the specific settings so new emails consistently appear in your Inbox.

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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

Follow these checks in Outlook.com (web):

1. Check Focused/Other tabs
   • At the top of the message list, select the Other tab and see if messages are there.
   • If legitimate mail is in Other, select the message, then Move to > Move to Focused inbox so similar mail goes to Focused in future.
2. Check filters and sort
   • Above the message list, select Filter and choose All so no filter hides messages.
   • Under Filter > Sort, choose Date so messages appear in chronological order.
3. Check Junk Email folder and settings
   • Open the Junk Email folder and look for missing messages.
   • If a message should be in Inbox, select it and choose Not junk (or right‑click > Mark as not junk) to move it back and train the filter.
   • Also review Junk Email settings to ensure nothing is incorrectly blocked.
4. Check Deleted Items and recover if needed
   • Open Deleted Items and see if messages are there.
   • If found, select the message and choose Restore (or Move to folder > Inbox on mobile) to return it to Inbox.
   • If not visible, in Deleted Items select Recover items deleted from this folder, then select and Restore if available (within the 30‑day recovery window).
5. Check rules and Sweep
   • Go to Rules settings and look for any Inbox or Sweep rules that move mail to Deleted Items, Junk, or other folders.
   • Edit or delete any rule that is incorrectly moving messages out of Inbox.
6. Check for forwarding or other causes of missing mail
   • Make sure email forwarding is not enabled in a way that bypasses Inbox.
   • If using other mail apps or services (e.g., mobile apps, ISP webmail), check they don’t have their own filters or rules moving messages before Outlook.com receives them.

If, after these steps, messages still skip Inbox, temporarily set Incoming mail handling under Settings → Email → Junk Email to Strict, save, sign out, sign back in, then set it back to Standard and wait a few hours; this can reset junk handling so spam goes to Junk and legitimate mail goes to Inbox.

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References:

• Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox
• Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com
• Outlook.com doesn't send any emails to junk folder - Microsoft Q&A
• All Outlook 2024 email going to Trash instead of Inbox - Microsoft Q&A
• Stopped receiving emails on my account. - Microsoft Q&A