I'm unable to receive emails or send emails.

Question

I'm unable to receive emails or send emails. I've tried everything. Please help.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

1. May I please know whether the affected account is a Personal or Work/school account?
2. What exact error message does the sender receive when they email your address?

You can try sending a test email from another account to the problematic address. If you receive any bounce-back error message, share it here.

Alternatively, make sure you have enough storage space to send or receive emails in Outlook.

With a free Microsoft account, you get 5GB of OneDrive and 15Gb of Outlook email storage

If you exceed any one of the limits, you will not be able to send or receive emails. So, open a private browsing tab on Edge and go to this link here to check if you have enough storage -

https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/accounts-category/storage

Answer 2

For Outlook.com, check these common causes in this order:

1. Check storage first. If Microsoft cloud storage is full, Outlook.com cannot send or receive email. Messages sent while storage was full are bounced back to the sender and are unrecoverable. Check mailbox storage and free up space if needed.
2. Check account access issues. If the password was changed recently, update it. The account can also be temporarily blocked because of unusual sign-in activity. If sign-in is failing, use the Microsoft account sign-in helper.
3. For sending problems:
   • Make sure attachments are smaller than 25 MB.
   • If a non-delivery receipt was received, review the reason in that message. Common causes include an invalid recipient address, the recipient mailbox being full, recipient server issues, or spam filtering.
   • If the Outlook.com account is new, a temporary low sending quota can apply until credibility is established.
   • Remove the email signature and try sending again.
   • Add recipients to Contacts.
   • The recipient may need to add the address to their safe senders list.
4. For receiving problems:
   • Check the Other tab and make sure filters are not hiding messages.
   • Check Junk Email settings and the Junk Email folder. If a message was marked as junk incorrectly, use Mark as not junk.
   • Restore sorting to chronological order with Filter > Sort > Date.
   • Check whether email forwarding is enabled.
   • Check whether mail rules are moving or hiding messages.
5. If the problem is on only one device: Removing the partnership between the mobile device and the mailbox often fixes sync issues.
6. If the error says "The recipient server did not accept our requests to connect": Update the email address alias.
7. If Outlook on Windows is also involved:
   • Confirm internet access by opening a browser and testing a site such as Microsoft or Bing.
   • In Outlook, use View > Sync to force a manual sync.
   • If the password changed recently, update the saved password in Outlook.
   • Start classic Outlook in safe mode with outlook.exe /safe to rule out add-ins.
   • If needed, repair the Outlook app or repair/create a new Outlook profile.
8. If a third-party mail app or connected service is being used: It must support modern authentication and IMAP to work correctly with Outlook Mobile and Desktop. If IMAP or POP are active, disable them and test again.

If none of these steps help, use the Outlook.com interactive troubleshooter or contact Outlook.com support from within Outlook.com.

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References:

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