restarting my outlook email

Prater, Peggy 0 Reputation points
2026-11-12T19:43:17.7666667+00:00

How do I restart my outlook email to try to get exclamation mark off my emails will not send

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
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  1. AI answer

    2026-11-12T19:44:30.9166667+00:00

    Close Outlook completely, reopen it from the Windows Start menu, and then manually trigger Send/Receive to retry the unsent messages.

    Restart and resend

    1. In Outlook, select File → Exit.
    2. Wait about 10 seconds.
    3. Select Start, type Outlook, and open Outlook (classic).
    4. Select Send/Receive → Send/Receive All Folders, or press F9.
    5. Check whether the exclamation mark disappears and the message leaves Outbox.

    If the messages still will not send

    1. Check Outlook’s connection status
      • Look at the bottom of the Outlook window.
      • If it says Working Offline, Disconnected, or Trying to connect, select Send/Receive → Work Offline once to return Outlook to online mode.
      • Open the stuck message and select Send again.^1^
    2. Remove a message blocking the Outbox
      • Open Outbox.
      • Start with the oldest message.
      • If it has a large attachment—particularly one larger than 20 MB—remove or reduce the attachment, and then resend it. One oversized message can also block messages behind it.^1^
    3. Check for a changed password
      • If the email account password was recently changed through the provider’s website, update the saved password in Outlook as well.^2^

    Test Outlook without add-ins

    If Outlook is connected and the Outbox is not blocked:

    1. Close Outlook.
    2. Press Windows logo key + R.
    3. Enter: 
         outlook.exe /safe
    4. Select OK, open the normal profile, and send a small test message without an attachment.

    If sending works in Safe Mode, an Outlook add-in is likely interfering. In Outlook Safe Mode, go to File → Options → Add-ins, select COM Add-ins → Go, disable the add-ins, and then restart Outlook normally.^3^

    If none of these steps works, run Microsoft’s Classic Outlook troubleshooters. They apply to classic Outlook, not new Outlook for Windows.^4^

    References

    1. Classic Outlook
    2. Troubleshoot Outlook email setup | Microsoft Support
    3. Classic Outlook
    4. Issues sending and receiving email | Microsoft Support
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  2. Jose Benjamin Solis Nolasco 13,106 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-11-12T19:49:15.8666667+00:00

    Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

    Hello,

    What you are experiencing is currently linked to an active Microsoft 365 service incident tracked under ID EX1550543.

    Microsoft initially reported intermittent connectivity issues affecting Exchange Online mailboxes in the Americas, and has since updated the advisory to confirm that the issue may impact general Microsoft 365 service connectivity across any region.

    What this means for your environment:

    • Affected Services: Primarily Exchange Online / Outlook (desktop client, Outlook on the web, and mobile apps), along with potential authentication or connection timeouts across broader Microsoft 365 services (such as Teams, SharePoint/OneDrive, or the Microsoft 365 Admin Center) that rely on shared front-end connectivity infrastructure.

    Action Required: No configuration changes are needed on your tenant or client devices. Microsoft engineering teams are actively working on mitigation.

    How to track live status:

    Open the Microsoft 365 Admin Center using a Global Admin or Service Support Admin account.

    Navigate to Health > Service health.

    Search for incident ID EX1550543 for real-time mitigation progress and root cause updates.(You can also follow official updates via @MSFT365Status on X).

    Help make this community better for everyone: if this answer resolved your issue, please accept it or leave an upvote.

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  3. Ryan-N 16,955 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-11-12T19:49:25.22+00:00

    Hi Peggy,

    Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

    Microsoft has acknowledged the issue preventing users from accessing emails and sending messages via the Outlook desktop application and the web version, and is currently working on a fix.

    You can find more detailed information about this issue in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center using the incident ID: MO1550821

    Microsoft will continue to provide updates as soon as new information becomes available. You will also receive an automatic notification once the issue has been fully resolved.

    If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

    I look forward to continuing the conversation.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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