outlook.com couldn't confirm that your message was sent from a trusted location.

Scarborough - Enquiry 0 Reputation points
2026-11-08T05:43:40.12+00:00

had the same email account for years without any issues.

now whenever we try to email anyone with a hotmail, msn, outlook or live address we get the following message. it has been 3 days now

outlook.com couldn't confirm that your message was sent from a trusted location.

Status code: 550 5.7.23 This error occurs when Sender Policy Framework (SPF) validation for the sender's domain fails. If you're the sender's email admin, make sure the SPF records for your domain at your domain registrar are set up correctly. Office 365 supports only one SPF record (a TXT record that defines SPF) for your domain. Include the following domain name: spf.protection.outlook.com. If you have a hybrid configuration (some mailboxes in the cloud, and some mailboxes on premises) or if you're an Exchange Online Protection standalone customer, add the outbound IP address of your on-premises servers to the TXT record. For more information and instructions about configuring SPF records see Customize an SPF record to validate outbound mail sent from your domain and also External Domain Name System records for Office 365.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Other
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  1. EmilyS726 278.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-11-08T06:17:53.34+00:00

    Hello

    I am seeing a sudden increase in similar reports from other users in this forum as well.

    Unfortunately, I cannot find any official information from Microsoft acknowledging this issue. Microsoft's published requirements for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC apply to senders sending more than 5,000 emails per day. However, based on the sudden increase in reports yesterday, I suspect these requirements may now be affecting low-volume senders as well. This is just my observation, not something Microsoft has officially confirmed.

    I helped several users with this issue yesterday in this forum. One interesting thing we noticed is that email headers may show DMARC as passing, even when the sending domain does not have a published DMARC record. We were able to identify this by checking the domain using a free tool such as https://mxtoolbox.com/.

    In some cases, once the missing DMARC record was properly configured and verified, emails started coming through again.

    For this reason, I strongly recommend setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for the affected sending domains. If you need help checking these records, I am happy to do so. I would just need to know the sending domain name. You do not need to share the full email address.

    For now, verifying and correcting these authentication records is the best troubleshooting step I can recommend until Microsoft provides more official information.

    Note: These are non-Microsoft websites. They appear to provide useful information, but be cautious of advertisements or downloads for potentially unwanted software. You do not need to download anything to use the domain-checking tools.

    If they are already configured correctly, but your emails are still being rejected when sending to Outlook.com or Hotmail.com users, I recommend submitting a report through Microsoft's sender support form. This will help bring the issue to Microsoft's attention.

    https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=614866

    Also, news article about this issue: https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-outlook-spf-validation-error-blocks-email-sending-and-receiving/

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