How to Fix Outlook When It's Not Receiving Emails

Tricia Goss has been a writer and editor for 10+ years. She's written tips and tutorials for Microsoft Office applications and other sites.

If you were expecting an email but it never arrived or are missing new messages in Microsoft Outlook, troubleshooting can help you pinpoint and resolve the problem.

Instructions apply to all versions of Outlook, including Outlook for Windows and Mac and Outlook.com.

How Do I Fix Outlook Not Receiving Emails?

Whether you're using Outlook on your computer or through the Outlook.com website, try these steps one by one. Test the app after each step to see if it solves the issue.

1. Check if Outlook is down. If you're not getting emails on Outlook.com, Microsoft could be having an issue on their end. When this happens, there's really nothing you can do but wait for them to fix it.

This step is only necessary if you're using Microsoft's email. If, for instance, you're not getting Gmail messages in Outlook, check if Gmail is having problems.

Over the years, we've encountered countless situations where Outlook won't open after it's been closed. We've created a whole guide on how to fix just that: What to Do When Microsoft Outlook Won't Open.

When you set up an IMAP email account on multiple devices, anything you do from one device is reflected on the others. This means if you delete an email from your phone, it'll also disappear from your computer, and vice versa.

All you're doing in this step is telling Outlook your new email password. You can skip this step if you didn't recently change the password to your email account.

Unblocking the person will let you get new emails from them, but the old ones they sent while they were blocked will not show up; they'll need to resend those.

Cause of Outlook Not Receiving Emails

There are a few reasons why you may not be receiving new emails. Here are some possible causes:

• Microsoft's servers are down
• Your internet isn't working correctly
• The email did arrive, but it's in a different folder
• Your password is outdated
• The sender is blocked
• Outlook is set to work offline
• The email profile is corrupt

Outlook automatically archives emails by default, but if you want to archive something manually you can. Select File > Info > Tools > Clean up old items and choose Archive this folder and all subfolders. Select which folders you want to archive.

To block someone in Outlook, right-click the message and select Junk > Block Sender (or Spam > Block depending on your version of Outlook). To mark an email as spam, select it and choose Junk > Junk (or Spam > Spam).

Select Settings > Mail > Forwarding. From here, select Enable forwarding, then enter the address you want to send your mail to and select Save. Tick the Keep a copy of forwarded messages box if you want to keep copies of your forwarded emails in Outlook.

The search bar is located above the Outlook ribbon. Use it to search for a name, subject, or phrase. Use quotation marks around a set of words to search for that exact phrase.

To create contact groups in Outlook, go to the Navigation bar and choose People, then go to Home > the arrow next to New Contact > Contact Group, and enter a name for the group. Next, select Add Members and pick from one of the offered options (From Outlook Contacts, From Address Book, or New E-mail Contact). Add contacts and select OK, then choose Save & Close.

Select File > Open & Export > Import/Export > Export to a file > Next > Outlook Data File (.pst) > Next. Choose the folder you want to back up and select Next, then choose a location and name for your backup file. Select Finish to complete the backup process.

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