CANNOT SEND / RECIEVE EMAILS

Question

I renewed my subscription but unable to send / receive emails

Answer 1

Hello

Did it give any specific error message?

Did you exceed the free 5GB of OneDrive storage, and did the subscription expire and have a gap before you renewed?

If possible, please provide some context/specific information so whoever is trying to help you here doesn't have to guess what the scenarios might be.

If it is indeed related to storage, it can take up to 48 hours for the changes to be reflected in your account after the renewal.

If it has been more than 48 hours, you would need to contact Microsoft billing support. To get help, open the "Get Help" app on your computer (just search for it in the Start menu). Or go to https://support.microsoft.com/contactus, Type "Billing," and press Enter. On the next screen, click "Contact support" at the bottom of the page, then choose "Microsoft 365" > "Manage my subscription." You’ll then see the option to chat with a Microsoft support agent who has access to your account to help review the issue.

Answer 2

If the subscription was renewed but email cannot be sent or received, the most common causes are storage limits, password/account issues, or profile/client problems. Use these checks in order:

1. Check Microsoft cloud storage and mailbox quota
   If Microsoft cloud storage is full, sending and receiving email is blocked and messages sent to the mailbox while it was full are bounced and unrecoverable.
   • Check mailbox and cloud storage usage using the storage page linked from Outlook.com guidance.
   • If full, delete or move items (especially large email attachments and OneDrive content) until under the limit.
2. Verify account status and sign-in
   • If Outlook.com is used, confirm the account is not blocked due to unusual sign-in activity. Follow the steps to unblock the Outlook.com account if needed.
   • If sign-in fails, use the Microsoft account sign-in helper to restore access.
3. Confirm password and app password (if applicable)
   If the email account password was changed on the provider’s website, update it in Outlook:
   • New Outlook for Windows:
     1. Select the icon next to the email account name.
     2. In the pop-up, select Continue and sign in with the current password.
     3. Follow the prompts to complete sign-in.
   • If Outlook shows a message like “Please create an app password for Outlook on your email provider's site”:
     1. Generate an app password on the email provider’s site.
     2. Copy and paste that app password when Outlook prompts for the account password.
   • For setup details, see Add an email account to Outlook for Windows.
4. If using Outlook.com in a browser and still cannot send/receive
   • Confirm storage is not full as above.
   • If one device is not syncing, remove the device partnership from the mailbox and let it resync.
   • If an error appears such as “The recipient server did not accept our requests to connect”, update the email address/alias as described in Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com.
5. If using classic Outlook for Windows (desktop)
   • If password is correct and storage is fine but messages still do not send/receive:
     • Repair the Outlook profile using Fix your Outlook email connection by repairing your profile.
     • If needed, create a new Outlook profile and re-add the account.
   • If Outlook will not send messages but opens:
     • Start Outlook in safe mode to rule out add-ins: press the Windows key, type outlook.exe /safe, then Enter.
     • If email works in safe mode, create a new Outlook profile and disable problematic add-ins.
   • If Outlook itself seems damaged, run an Office repair using Repair an Office application.
6. Check antivirus email scanning
   Some antivirus products block email sending/receiving when they detect a problem. If antivirus email scanning is enabled and issues started recently, contact the antivirus vendor’s help desk or temporarily disable email scanning per their guidance.

If these steps do not restore send/receive, use the Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 support entry points from the articles to contact support while signed in.

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References:

• Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com
• I can't send or receive messages in Outlook