Sending, receiving, and organizing email in Outlook.com
Check your Microsoft cloud storage first, because Outlook.com cannot receive new messages when storage is full, and messages sent while it was full are returned to the sender and cannot be recovered.^1^
Check these items in order
- Check storage
- In Outlook.com, open Settings and search for Storage.
- If storage is full, delete unnecessary messages—especially messages with large attachments—and empty Deleted Items.
- Ask someone to send a new test message afterward. Messages rejected while storage was full will not arrive later.
- Look for mail outside the Inbox
- Open Junk Email, Other, Deleted Items, and Archive.
- Select Filter → All, then Filter → Sort → Date.
- In Deleted Items, select Recover items deleted from this folder if necessary.^2^
- Check forwarding and rules on a computer
- Select Settings → Mail → Forwarding and disable forwarding you do not recognize.
- Select Settings → Mail → Rules and delete or disable rules that move or delete incoming messages.
- Rules can only be reviewed and edited using a computer.^2^
- Determine whether all mail or only one sender is affected
- Send a test message to your Outlook.com address from another email account.
- If only one sender is affected, ask that sender whether they received a delivery-failure message. Also check Settings → Mail → Junk email for blocked senders.^1^
- If no senders can reach you, check whether your account was temporarily blocked after unusual sign-in activity. This is especially relevant if you recently changed your password or received a security alert.^1^
If messages still do not arrive
While signed in to Outlook.com, select Help (?) on the menu bar, describe the receiving problem, and complete the suggested troubleshooting. If it does not resolve the issue, scroll to Still need help? and select Yes to contact Outlook.com support.^1^
When contacting support, state:
- Whether you can send email
- Whether no mail arrives or only certain senders are affected
- When the last message arrived
- Whether senders receive a delivery-failure notice
- Whether storage, forwarding, and rules were checked
References