Sending, receiving, and organizing email in Outlook.com
Common causes for Hotmail/Outlook.com not working include:
- Check whether Outlook.com is having a service issue. If service status is not green, wait until it returns to normal and try again.
- If sign-in fails, the account may be temporarily blocked because of unusual sign-in activity. In that case, use the account recovery or unblock flow.
- If the password was changed recently, update it everywhere the account is used.
- If cloud storage is full, Outlook.com cannot send or receive email. Messages sent while storage was full are bounced back to the sender and are unrecoverable.
- If mail is missing after access is restored, check:
- the Other tab
- the Junk Email folder and junk settings
- message sort order: Filter > Sort > Date
- whether forwarding is enabled
- whether inbox rules are moving or hiding messages
- If using a shared or public device, sign out from the profile picture menu and use a private browsing window.
- If access still fails, use the Microsoft account sign-in helper or sign-in troubleshooter.
If the account has not been signed in to for more than 2 years, it may have been deleted.