Outlook not working

Question

I cannot send or receive in my outlook account [Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]

Answer 1

Hi Ros,

I hope you're doing well.

From the thread's tag, I understand you're using New Outlook and are unable to send or receive emails. In this case, you may try the following steps:

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1/ Quick isolation test in Outlook on the web 

• Go to Outlook on the web and sign in with the affected account. 
• Send a test email to your own address and another to a colleague. 
• If this works, the issue is likely local to the Outlook app. 

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2/ Confirm license and Exchange service assignment (Admin Only) 

• Open the Microsoft 365 admin center. 
• Go to Users, select Active users, choose the affected user, then open Licenses and apps. 
• Ensure the user has a license that includes Exchange Online and that Exchange Online Plan 1 or Plan 2 is enabled under Apps. 
• Save changes, wait fifteen to thirty minutes for provisioning to complete, and retest in webmail. 

Note that plans such as Business Standard, E3, or E5 still require the Exchange Online app toggle to be on. 

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3/ Verify the mailbox exists and is active (Admin Only) 

• Open the Exchange admin center. 
• Go to Recipients, then Mailboxes, and search for the user. 
• Confirm the mailbox shows Active and is not soft deleted or inactive. 
• If it is missing, enable Exchange Online as described in Step 2, allow time for provisioning, and test again in webmail. 

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4/ Check domain DNS if your organization uses a custom domain (Admin Only) 

• At your DNS provider, verify these records. 
• MX should point to your Microsoft value that ends with mail protection outlook com. 
• SPF should include include colon spf dot protection dot outlook dot com. 
• Autodiscover CNAME should point to autodiscover dot outlook dot com. 
• Correct any inaccurate record, allow DNS to propagate, and then retest because DNS issues can block inbound mail and cause outbound rejections. 

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5/ Review mail flow restrictions and blocks (Admin Only) 

• In the Exchange admin center, open Mail flow and then Rules, and check for any rule that blocks this user. 
• In the Microsoft Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com, go to Email and collaboration, then Review, then Restricted entities or Restricted users. 
• If your account is restricted, remove the restriction and test again. 

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6/ If the issue persists (Admin Only) 

If the issue persists after completing the these steps, please contact your IT administrator and ask them to open a support ticket with Microsoft for further investigation. A technical support engineer can then initiate a remote session, review backend settings, and run diagnostics. If needed, they can escalate the case to specialized engineering teams who are well-equipped to perform advanced troubleshooting and provide targeted solutions.

As a fellow user, I don't have access to internal development details. While I may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, I’ll continue doing our best to support you.     

For guidance on how to request support, share this link with your admin: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin.

In case you do not know who your IT admin is, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

I hope that everything will be back to normal quickly. If you have any further questions or updates, please let me know.