Top 9 Ways to Fix Outlook Web Not Receiving Emails Error

How do you know if your Outlook account is not receiving email? Just someone came up and said, “Hey, did you get my e-mail?” when he said. This is odd because you are opening the Outlook web app in a tab. You still won’t be able to see a new email. Only then do you realize something went wrong and Outlook web is not receiving email in your inbox.

There are many reasons why emails are not reaching your inbox. While the issue is present in other desktop and mobile apps of Outlook, we will only focus on the web client available on Outlook.com. Some of these solutions may also work on other platforms.

Let’s start.

1. Network Issues

There are many things that can go wrong on your part such as Wi-Fi not working, slow internet speed or some connection issues. Covering everything is beyond the scope of this guide. Just make sure you have an active internet connection or switch to mobile data. For this, follow the required shutdown and open routine. If that doesn’t work, you should fix that thing first.

2. Refresh Tab

If you haven’t already, try it once. It’s pretty simple but it might work. It is possible that the tab has not been reloaded or that the push notification is not triggering and updating the inbox count. Refreshing the browser tab can help get things moving and update the inbox.

3. Sorting Emails

Have you checked the Other tab? Maybe the email is there. Another thing you can do is sort through the emails to find where the lost email went. Maybe you got the email, but it’s buried under all the other emails you get.

Sort emails by date and time, unread etc. Click the Filter button on the right to sort by. All the options are self explanatory and very helpful at times like these.

4. Outlook Outage

This happens all the time. We recommend checking sites that help you check the service status of Outlook. One such reliable site is Down Detector. These individuals monitor many popular services worldwide and keep track of server outages, among other things.

Visit Downdetector

5. Junk Folder

Outlook may have accidentally filtered the email to the Junk folder. It is the same as the spam folder. If you find the email there, you need to do two things. First, move the email to the inbox or any other folder you want (just drag and drop).

Right-click the email to mark it as not junk. This will tell Outlook what to do when the next email from that address knocks on the door. Also, whitelist the email id to make sure this never happens again. You can do this under Settings > Outlook Settings > Email > Junk email and scroll to find Safe senders and domains.

Simply click Add to add the email address and save the changes. Just below you will find the option to whitelist mailing list IDs.

You can also add the email ID to your Safe Senders list from within the email. You will find the option under the three-dot menu icon on the right.

6. Appearance Rules

Do you have an Outlook rule set? Rules are probably one of Outlook’s most powerful features, allowing you to decide what to do with incoming email. You can set conditions and when these are met, emails will be automatically moved/sorted, filtered, flagged, etc.

You will find Rules under Settings > Outlook Settings > Email > Rules.

There is no set rule for my account, but it may be different for you. Check the rules to find out if some or any condition can change the destination or fate of the email.

Click the Edit button (pencil icon) to the left of the rule to see what it did to an idea.

7. Clear Browser Cache

The browser cache helps you load sites you may have opened before they load faster. They save time and make life easier. But not always. Sometimes they can lead to issues like Outlook web not receiving emails like you are currently facing.

Regardless of the browser you use to browse the web, there is a way to clear cache data under settings. Note that this will log you out of any apps and services you may have open in that browser. This affects all open tabs and windows. Therefore, save any pending jobs before proceeding.

8. Outlook Account Blocked

Can you send and receive emails from other users? If not, then it is not an isolated issue and your account may be blocked. This is done to protect your account from unusual login activity. You can easily unblock your account.

9. Over 20 Linked Accounts

You cannot add or ‘link’ more than 20 email IDs to your Outlook.com account. If this happens, you will not receive any emails. Uninstall some and wait a few minutes for the sync to work.

Look

Outlook Web is well designed, especially when you compare it to the user interface of the Windows desktop app. Windows users will be surprised to learn that everything looks completely different on Mac. Anyway, I hope your issue is resolved and you are now receiving emails normally. Let us know if you have any feedback or find another way to fix the problem.

Next: Also, are you using Outlook on your Mac and/or Windows? Click on the link below to learn 15 daily keyboard shortcuts that will make your life easier.