Can’t send or receive email

Because the problem affects Outlook.com on every device, check Microsoft’s service status first and, if no incident is active, check the mailbox’s cloud storage and account-level settings rather than repairing an individual app.

1. Check for an Outlook.com service incident

Open the Microsoft service-health page and look for an Outlook or Outlook.com incident ^1^.

• If an incident is shown: no device-side repair is required. Monitor the page and test again after Microsoft marks the incident resolved.
• If Outlook.com is healthy: continue below.

There is a date conflict: today is November 13, 2026, so December 12, 2026 (12/12/26) has not occurred yet. If “yesterday” means November 12, 2026, a recent widespread disruption was reported around that date, but the live Microsoft status page is the appropriate place to confirm its current state.

2. Check Microsoft cloud storage

In Outlook.com on the web:

1. Select Settings (gear icon).
2. Go to General → Storage.
3. Check both mailbox and Microsoft cloud-storage usage.
4. If either is full, permanently remove unneeded mail—especially messages with large attachments—and clear Deleted Items and Junk Email.
5. Sign out of Outlook.com, sign back in, and send a short plain-text test message without an attachment.

When Microsoft cloud storage is full, Outlook.com cannot send or receive mail. Messages sent to the address while storage was full are returned to their senders and cannot later be recovered automatically ^2^.

3. Test the mailbox directly

While signed in to Outlook.com in a private/InPrivate browser window:

1. Send a plain-text message to another email account you control.
2. Note whether it:
   • appears in Sent Items;
   • remains in Drafts or Outbox; or
   • generates an error or non-delivery report.
3. Reply from the other account to the Outlook.com address.
4. Check Inbox, Other, Junk Email, Deleted Items, and Archive.

Also inspect:

• Settings → Mail → Rules: disable unfamiliar rules that move or delete mail.
• Settings → Mail → Forwarding: disable unexpected forwarding.
• Settings → Mail → Junk email: remove any incorrectly blocked senders.

Microsoft lists rules, forwarding, Junk Email, filtering, account restrictions, and storage as account-level causes of missing mail ^2^.

4. Escalate if status and storage are clear

If Outlook.com shows no outage, storage is not full, and the direct web test still cannot send or receive:

1. In Outlook.com, select Help.
2. Enter Can’t send or receive email.
3. Complete the offered troubleshooter.
4. Scroll to Still need help? and select Yes to contact Outlook.com support ^2^.
5. Include the exact sending error or non-delivery text, the corrected start date and time, and confirmation that the issue occurs in Outlook.com on the web and every connected device.

Do not post the email address, password, recovery codes, or other account identifiers publicly.

References

1. Microsoft service health status
2. Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com | Microsoft Support