Outlook.com appears to be forwarding/resending email when forwarding is turned off

Question

Outlook.com appears to be forwarding/resending email when forwarding is turned off

Tamzin Higley 0

Hello,

I believe this is a server-side Outlook.com issue rather than a mailbox settings issue.

What is happening

When someone sends an email to my personal Outlook.com account, the email is delivered successfully.

Immediately afterwards, some senders receive a non-delivery report stating that the message was rejected because of an SPF violation.

The sender only addressed the email to my Outlook.com account. They did not send it to my business email address.

The SMTP headers show a Resent-From: entry using my Outlook.com account and an SRS-rewritten sender address, which appears to indicate that Outlook.com is resending or forwarding the message after delivery.

Troubleshooting already completed

Automatic forwarding is turned OFF.
There are no Outlook.com inbox rules.
There are no Outlook desktop rules.
I completely removed my Outlook.com account from Outlook desktop.
The problem continued after Outlook desktop was removed.
Test emails are successfully delivered to Outlook.com, but the sender still receives the SPF failure afterwards.
My business email provider believes Microsoft is resending the message after delivery.
My Microsoft 365 Family subscription is active.

Additional issue

I have attempted to contact Microsoft Support through the official Contact Support portal.

Unfortunately, every attempt loops between the Contact Support page, Microsoft 365 and Office, Outlook.com/Hotmail and Outlook.com App Support, without ever providing the option to chat with or contact a Microsoft support engineer.

Request

Could a Microsoft moderator or Outlook.com engineer please investigate whether my Outlook.com account has:

hidden server-side forwarding
legacy forwarding settings
mailbox redirect rules
connected account routing
another Outlook.com mail routing configuration that is not visible in Outlook.com settings

Please do not suggest checking forwarding or inbox rules, as those steps have already been completed.

I am happy to provide the complete SMTP headers and my email addresses privately to a Microsoft representative if required.

Thank you.Hello,

I believe this is a server-side Outlook.com issue rather than a mailbox settings issue.

What is happening

When someone sends an email to my personal Outlook.com account, the email is delivered successfully.

Immediately afterwards, some senders receive a non-delivery report stating that the message was rejected because of an SPF violation.

The sender only addressed the email to my Outlook.com account. They did not send it to my business email address.

The SMTP headers show a Resent-From: entry using my Outlook.com account and an SRS-rewritten sender address, which appears to indicate that Outlook.com is resending or forwarding the message after delivery.

Troubleshooting already completed

Automatic forwarding is turned OFF.
There are no Outlook.com inbox rules.
There are no Outlook desktop rules.
I completely removed my Outlook.com account from Outlook desktop.
The problem continued after Outlook desktop was removed.
Test emails are successfully delivered to Outlook.com, but the sender still receives the SPF failure afterwards.
My business email provider believes Microsoft is resending the message after delivery.
My Microsoft 365 Family subscription is active.

Additional issue

I have attempted to contact Microsoft Support through the official Contact Support portal.

Unfortunately, every attempt loops between the Contact Support page, Microsoft 365 and Office, Outlook.com/Hotmail and Outlook.com App Support, without ever providing the option to chat with or contact a Microsoft support engineer.

Request

Could a Microsoft moderator or Outlook.com engineer please investigate whether my Outlook.com account has:

hidden server-side forwarding
legacy forwarding settings
mailbox redirect rules
connected account routing
another Outlook.com mail routing configuration that is not visible in Outlook.com settings

Please do not suggest checking forwarding or inbox rules, as those steps have already been completed.

I am happy to provide the complete SMTP headers and my email addresses privately to a Microsoft representative if required.

Thank you.

0 comments

1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Winnie-B 9,930 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Tamzin Higley

I understand why you suspect a mail-routing issue. However, Microsoft Q&A contributors and moderators do not have access to Outlook.com backend systems and cannot view hidden mailbox configurations, server-side routing, or internal mail flow settings for individual consumer accounts.

Please kindly note that this is a public community forum, I do not have the ability, tools to unblock, recover accounts or bypass security. Only Microsoft’s official recovery process can restore access.

If a mailbox-level configuration exists that is not exposed through the standard Outlook.com forwarding or rules interface, please try the following:

1, Review "Settings" > "Mail" > "Forwarding and IMAP" again and verify that:

Forwarding is disabled.
No destination address is shown in the forwarding field, even if forwarding is turned off.

2, If possible, compare the complete message headers from (Open in pop-out window > three dots (...) in the upper-right corner of the message > View message source or View message headers):

A message that generates the SPF-related NDR.
A message that does not generate the NDR.

Pay particular attention to any "Resent-From", "X-MS-Exchange", or forwarding-related headers that appear only in the affected messages.

If these checks do not reveal anything and the issue continues, the next step would be to contact Outlook.com support because only Microsoft support personnel can investigate account-specific mail-routing behavior.

For consumer Microsoft 365 subscribers, you can attempt to reach support through:

Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support
Select the product or service you're having issue with.
Click Get Home Support
Type a brief description of your issue in the search box.
Click Get Help and select Contact Support below.
Go to the Products and services tab and choose the appropriate product.
On the Category tab, choose the appropriate category or an alternative option.
Go to Confirm.
Look for and select "Chat with a support agent in your web browser" (during business hours) if available. Explain your situation clearly.

Since you have already ruled out the commonly visible forwarding mechanisms, further investigation would likely require access to account-side diagnostics that are not available through the public community forum.

I truly appreciate your precious time and understanding.

Tamzin Higley 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T04:46:45.98+00:00
Thank you for your reply and for explaining the limitations of the public community forum.

I have already completed the checks you suggested.

Forwarding is disabled.

No forwarding address is present.

There are no Outlook.com inbox rules.

The problem continued even after completely removing my Outlook.com account from Outlook on my computer and later re-adding it as a Microsoft Exchange account.

I have also compared the message headers.

The affected messages consistently contain a Resent-From entry using my Outlook.com account together with an SRS-rewritten sender address. These headers appear to indicate that Outlook.com is resending or redirecting the message after it has already been delivered to my inbox.

Unfortunately, I have also attempted to contact Microsoft Support using the Contact Support process that you described. After signing in with my Microsoft 365 Family subscription, the support website repeatedly loops between Microsoft 365 and Office → Outlook.com/Hotmail → Outlook.com App Support, and never presents the option to chat with or contact a Microsoft support agent. I have been unable to reach Microsoft Support despite multiple attempts.

Given that I have completed the visible troubleshooting steps and cannot access Microsoft Support through the official portal, could you please advise whether there is another Microsoft support channel available for consumer Outlook.com accounts, or whether this issue can be referred to the Outlook.com support team for review?

I am happy to provide the complete SMTP headers and non-delivery reports privately if required.

Thank you again for your time.
Winnie-B 9,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-23T07:45:29.58+00:00

Hi Tamzin Higley

Thank you for confirming that you have already completed the standard Outlook.com troubleshooting steps and reviewed the message headers.

Since the issue persists after all visible forwarding settings and rule checks have been ruled out, and because it appears to require account-specific investigation, the appropriate next step is to work directly with Microsoft Support.

If the standard support flow is not presenting a contact option, please continue using the Microsoft Support portal while signed in to the affected Microsoft account, following the steps provided in my original response.

Unfortunately, the public forum cannot refer cases directly to the Outlook.com engineering team or arrange the private collection of SMTP headers and account information.

Thank you for your patience. I hope Microsoft Support will be able to assist further with the investigation.
Tamzin Higley 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T23:15:58.6166667+00:00

Thank you for your response.

I understand that the public forum cannot investigate account-specific issues.

My difficulty is that the official Microsoft Support portal repeatedly loops and never provides any contact method despite my active Microsoft 365 Family subscription. Because of that, I have no way to reach the support team you have referred me to.

Could you please advise whether there is an alternative method of contacting Microsoft Support when the consumer support portal is unavailable, or where I can report that the support portal itself is failing?
Winnie-B 9,930 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-26T03:23:09.4633333+00:00
Hi Tamzin Higley

For consumer Outlook.com accounts, Microsoft Q&A contributors cannot create support cases, transfer cases to Outlook.com engineers, or report account-specific issues on a customer's behalf.

At this point, try accessing support from a different path while signed in to the affected Microsoft account:

Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Choose "Microsoft 365 and Office" > Home Support

Enter a brief description: "Outlook.com mail routing issue"

Scroll down and select "Contact Support"

Choose "Other Product" and "Outlook"

Click "Chat with a support agent in your web browser"

Unfortunately, the community forum does not have an alternative private support channel, direct email address, or escalation path to Outlook.com engineering teams. If the support portal is not offering a contact method, only Microsoft Support can address that service experience.

Thank you for your patience and for the detailed troubleshooting you have already performed. The information you have gathered, particularly the SMTP headers and NDR details, would be valuable if you are able to reach a Microsoft support representative.