Sending, receiving, and organizing email in Outlook.com
Open the mailbox directly at https://outlook.live.com/mail/ in a private or Incognito browser window; if it opens there, the normal browser session’s cookies, cache, or extensions are likely interfering.
Try these steps in order
- Open a private browser window
- Edge: Settings and more (…) → New InPrivate window
- Chrome: Menu (⋮) → New Incognito window
- Enter
https://outlook.live.com/mail/manually.
- If Outlook works privately
- Clear cookies and cached data for Outlook and Microsoft sites.
- Temporarily disable ad blockers or pop-up blockers.
- Close and reopen the browser, then sign in again.
- If it still does not open
- Try another supported browser.
- Try your phone using mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, or connect the computer temporarily to a mobile hotspot.
- If Outlook works on the other network, the original network, DNS, firewall, or filtering service is the likely path to investigate.^2^
Check whether Outlook.com is unavailable
Open Microsoft’s Service Health Status page:
https://status.cloud.microsoft/m365/referrer=serviceStatusRedirect
Microsoft directs Outlook.com users there when the website cannot be accessed.^3^
- If it reports an Outlook incident, wait for Microsoft to restore the service.
- If service health is normal but Outlook fails on every browser, device, and network, proceed to support.
If the problem is signing in
If the page opens but rejects the account or password, use the Microsoft account sign-in helper. Outlook.com support cannot recover sign-in access directly.^4^
If you can sign in but the mailbox does not load:
- In Outlook.com, select Help → Help.
- Search for the displayed error.
- At the bottom of the Help pane, under Still need help?, select Yes to contact support.^4^
Record the exact error message or HTTP code before contacting support; it distinguishes a browser problem from an account or service-side failure.
References