No emails for days

Use Outlook.com in a computer browser now to recover the vanished messages, then check storage, rules, and forwarding to identify why new mail stopped arriving.

1. Recover the old messages first

1. Search for one known message by sender or subject, with the search scope set to All folders.
2. Check Other, Archive, Junk Email, and Deleted Items.
3. Select Filter → All, then Filter → Sort → Date. This rules out a view that is hiding or incorrectly ordering messages.^1^
4. In Deleted Items:
   • Select the missing messages and choose Restore.
   • If they are absent, select Recover items deleted from this folder above the message list.
   • Select the messages and choose Restore.

Use a PC or Mac for the recoverable-items step; it is unavailable in a mobile browser. Messages removed from Deleted Items are normally recoverable for 30 days, so do this promptly.^2^

2. Check why mail is no longer arriving

In Outlook.com, open Settings and check:

1. General → Storage
   Confirm that neither mailbox nor Microsoft cloud storage is full. When storage is full, Outlook.com cannot receive mail; messages sent during that period are returned to senders and cannot subsequently be recovered.^3^
2. Mail → Rules
   Disable or delete any unfamiliar rule that moves or deletes messages. Rules must be reviewed from a computer.^1^
3. Mail → Forwarding
   Turn off forwarding you did not configure.
4. Mail → Junk email
   Review blocked senders and the Junk Email folder. For legitimate mail, select it and choose Report → Not junk.
5. If another computer, phone, or email program accesses this account through POP or IMAP, temporarily disable that access and inspect the other device for local copies. A connected application can affect what remains visible in Outlook.com.^3^

Send a test message from another account. If it does not arrive anywhere, ask the sender whether they received a non-delivery report; its wording can identify a storage or delivery failure.

3. Secure the account if you did not make these changes

If rules, forwarding, deletions, or sign-ins are unfamiliar:

1. Run a full malware scan before changing the password.
2. Change the Microsoft account password.
3. Review recent sign-in activity and remove unfamiliar access.
4. Recheck forwarding, connected accounts, automatic replies, and rules.

Microsoft’s compromised-account procedure specifies scanning first, followed by changing the password and reviewing account settings.^4^

4. Escalate if the messages are missing from Outlook.com itself

If storage is available, the test message never arrives, and the missing mail is absent from both Deleted Items and Recover items deleted from this folder:

1. In Outlook.com, select Help on the menu bar.
2. Search for missing emails or cannot receive emails.
3. Scroll to Still need help? and select Yes.
4. Request browser chat support.
5. Provide the approximate date delivery stopped, when the old messages disappeared, affected senders, and whether senders received non-delivery reports.

Only Outlook.com support can investigate mailbox-side delivery or data that is no longer exposed through the recovery folders.^3^

References

1. Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox | Microsoft Support
2. Recover and restore deleted items in Outlook | Microsoft Support
3. Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com | Microsoft Support
4. How to recover a hacked or compromised Microsoft account