Cannot Receive Emails

Question

Cannot Receive Emails

Honorary Clerk 0

I have recently taken over an account and was supplied with the login details from the previous admin. Since then, I have not received a single email but I am able to send them. I know there are emails coming in as I have startedt using a third party client (Thunderbird).

The previous admin has no idea why this is happening as they had no problem with the account. forwarded

Does anyone know why this would happen?

Thanks,

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Hani-Ng 13,470 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Honorary Clerk

Since you can see new messages in Thunderbird, it appears that the mailbox is receiving email successfully. This suggests the issue may be specific to Outlook on the web rather than mail delivery itself.

Find and fix email delivery issues as a Microsoft 365 for business admin - Exchange | Microsoft Learn

To better understand your situation could you please share some information:

Are the messages appearing in another folder such as Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, or a custom folder?
Are there any Inbox Rules, Sweep rules, or Forwarding settings configured that could be moving messages out of the Inbox?
Does Outlook on the web show all folders correctly, and do the missing emails appear when you use the search feature?

If you are a Microsoft 365 administrator, it would also be helpful to run a Message Trace in Exchange Online to confirm how the incoming messages are being processed and where they are being delivered.

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.

Honorary Clerk 0 Reputation points

2026-07-30T02:04:06.8566667+00:00
Thank you for your response. To answer your questions:

Are the messages appearing in another folder such as Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, or a custom folder? NO

Are there any Inbox Rules, Sweep rules, or Forwarding settings configured that could be moving messages out of the Inbox? NO

Does Outlook on the web show all folders correctly, and do the missing emails appear when you use the search feature? Yes, and I can see previous emails, but nothing past my assuming the admin position. They do not show up in searches.

I will read through the article you linked and try the suggestions. I am only using Outlook on the Web as my desktop client will not accept business accounts.

Thanks,
Honorary Clerk 0 Reputation points

2026-07-30T02:07:12.7566667+00:00
Thank you for your response. To answer your questions:

Are the messages appearing in another folder such as Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, or a custom folder? NO

Are there any Inbox Rules, Sweep rules, or Forwarding settings configured that could be moving messages out of the Inbox? NO

Does Outlook on the web show all folders correctly, and do the missing emails appear when you use the search feature? Yes, and I can see previous emails, but nothing past my assuming the admin position. They do not show up in searches.

I will read through the article you linked and try the suggestions. I am only using Outlook on the Web as my desktop client will not accept business accounts.

Thanks,
Hani-Ng 13,470 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-30T06:05:41.9333333+00:00

Hi Honorary Clerk

Thank you for your information. The issue is less likely to be a mail flow problem and may be related to the mailbox configuration, permissions, or how the account was transitioned when you took over from the previous administrator. Outlook on the web is reading directly from the mailbox, so if messages are visible in Thunderbird but not in Outlook on the web, additional investigation will be needed.

Could you confirm whether this is a Microsoft 365 Business mailbox or a mailbox hosted by another provider? Also, are the new messages shown in Thunderbird definitely being delivered to the same mailbox, or could Thunderbird be connected to a different account or profile?

If this is a Microsoft 365 Business mailbox and you have admin access, I would also recommend running a Message Trace for a few of the missing messages to verify where Exchange Online delivered them.