hotmail not receiving emails in focused or other

Question

hotmail not receiving emails in focused or other

Paul Thomas 20

About 5 days ago I opened an email from someone in my contacts list that said....

! High Importance (in bright red)

It would be an absolute pleasure to share this special occasion with you. You are someone I hold dear, and your presence would make the experience all the more meaningful.

Please open the attached PDF, Exclusive Invite.pdf, and follow the prompts to verify your email address. Once verified, your personalized digital invitation will include your name, along with the venue information and entry details for the occasion.

Thank you . I look forward to welcoming you, sharing a memorable experience, and creating beautiful memories together.

With love, appreciation, and warmest wishes, ❤️

I normally wouldn't open but it came from a friend and was in my focused email and this person was very sick and I thought it may be a notice of passing away sent by his wife through his email. I followed the prompts and it came back the page didn't exist, then called my friend and found out he'd been hacked. Now my hotmail isn't receiving mail only in my junk folder. I sent a trial email from my Gmail account that's in the safe sender list in hotmail, but it doesn't come through. I've reset passwords, and checked for unauthorized sign ins which I had one on the 23rd of October and notified microsoft. I'm lost. I've tried everything in settings and all looks normal and signed out and reset password, but still not receiving emails. I've had this email since hotmail first came out and I really don't want to go to gmail as my main one. Can anyone help me?

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Answer 1

Kai-H 30,480 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi, Paul Thomas

You’ve already taken important steps by changing your password and reporting the unauthorized sign-in. However, mailbox settings also need checking after an account compromise.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Open Hotmail in a computer browser, then check Settings > Mail > Rules and Mail > Forwarding specifically. Remove unfamiliar rules and forwarding addresses, even if the other settings look normal. These can redirect messages before you see them.

Next, review your account’s security information and sign-in methods, remove anything unfamiliar, and enable two-step verification.

Send another Gmail test and check Gmail for a delivery-failure notice. If one appears, share only the error text here, with email addresses removed. If nothing arrives and the settings are clear, contact Outlook.com support through Help, explaining the compromise and the checks already completed.

Paul Thomas 20 Reputation points

2026-10-28T16:36:24.68+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply. I found all my emails in the deleted folder unread, so I did all the things you mentioned and also restored all the deleted emails to my inbox then opened and read them. I also sent a test mail from my gmail account and it came through OK. I have one question....I used to have a "Focused and Other in my inbox, but now I only have an inbox. This is only on my desk top, I still have both on my Android phone when I open my Hotmail. Is this something I can recover, or did I do something when I followed your steps that changed this? Either way, thanks again and I hope this continues to work.
Paul Thomas 20 Reputation points

2026-10-28T16:43:50.5866667+00:00

I just looked into my deleted files and noticed that the time the new emails were received are 6 hours ahead of my time. I live on the West Coast and it's now 9:41 am and my emails that just arrrived are showing 5:47pm. What's going on?
Kai-H 30,480 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-29T08:55:37.2133333+00:00

Hi, Paul Thomas

Thanks for the update! The missing tabs can be switched back on, and the unusual times suggest a time-zone mismatch, not necessarily another unauthorized sign-in.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

If you open Hotmail in your desktop browser, go to Settings > Mail > Message List. Under Focused Inbox, select Sort messages into Focused and Other, then Save. If your settings show Layout instead, look there. Removing mail rules shouldn’t require turning this feature off.

In Outlook settings, check Calendar > View > Time zones and select the Pacific time zone for your location, then save.

If your desktop uses Windows, also check Settings > Time & language > Date & time. Confirm the time zone and enable automatic time and daylight-saving adjustments.

Refresh Hotmail and send another test. Are newly arriving messages staying in your inbox, or still going straight to Deleted Items?
Paul Thomas 20 Reputation points

2026-10-29T14:52:34.41+00:00

I did all the things you recommended and I'm up and running again. Thank you so much for your help. I've been a forever user of Hotmail and at 81 years old I really didn't feel like making a change. Again thanks you're the best. Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season.

Sincerely, Paul
Kai-H 30,480 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-01T09:08:45.08+00:00

Hi, Paul Thomas

Glad to hear that the issue has been resolved.

If you find my answer helpful, you can mark it as an Accepted answer so it can benefit other users with similar issue.

Have a nice day!