Sending, receiving, and organizing email in Outlook.com
There appears to be an active Outlook/Hotmail service incident today, November 12, 2026, affecting incoming email for some users, so avoid changing account settings and retry after Microsoft restores service.^1^
What to do now
- Check Microsoft’s Service Health Status site for the latest status. Microsoft directs Outlook.com users there for service-access problems.^2^
- Wait for the incident to be resolved, then refresh Outlook.com and send a test message from another email account.
- For anything urgent, use another email address or communication method temporarily. Messages may arrive late after service recovers.
If mail still does not arrive after recovery
Sign in directly to Outlook.com in a browser, then check:
- Storage: A full Microsoft cloud mailbox cannot send or receive mail. Messages sent while it was full are rejected and cannot be recovered.^3^
- Other and Junk Email folders
- Filter → Sort → Date, to restore chronological order
- Settings → Mail → Forwarding, for unintended forwarding
- Settings → Mail → Rules, for rules moving incoming messages
- Settings → Mail → Junk email, for blocked senders
If a test sender receives a non-delivery message, retain its complete error text. If storage is available and messages still do not appear, select Help (?) in Outlook.com, search for “cannot receive emails,” then choose Still need help? → Yes to contact Outlook.com support.
References