Forum Discussion

mikestock's avatar
mikestock
Explorer
May 26, 2021

Microsoft mail - Can send, can't receive

I have searched online until I'm turning blue but I can't find a resolution.

I have 4 email accounts that are all active. I set up Microsoft Outlook (that little envelope on the bottom of the home screen) on a new SSD laptop I purchased. It works on my previous laptop without a hitch. I got all four email addresses set up, 2 Gmail and 2 AOL I can send messages from any of the four but can't receive email on any. I know they send because I receive the test messages on my phone. I have read everything I can Google and even tried to get help from the concierge service that came with the new purchase but nobody can come up with an answer.

I figured my best last shot would be the experts on this forum. Thanks.
  • Ed_Gee's avatar
    Ed_Gee
    Explorer II
    May 26, 2021
    What does the return message for your failed email say when it comes back to the sender?
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    May 26, 2021
    Usually that indicates a configuration issue
    But Both Gmail (Gmail dot com) and yahoo mail (mail dot yahoo dot com)
    Have web based solutions.
    The advantage is that with web mail
    You are protected against malware-mail.. I once tried to download a known infected E-mail.. Gave up after a long series of "Do you really want to infect your computer" messages (I trusted my anti-virual to deal with it but we never got that far)
    All devices. your phone, your laptop(s) yoru desktop(s) the Kiosk computer at the library.. all have access (provided you don't forget your user name and password) to all accounts.
  • jcpainter's avatar
    jcpainter
    Explorer
    May 26, 2021
    Are you using Outlook.com or the Outlook program that comes with Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365)?

    They are two totally different animals.
  • mikestock's avatar
    mikestock
    Explorer
    May 26, 2021
    Ed_Gee wrote:
    What does the return message for your failed email say when it comes back to the sender?

    The email does not come back. They all go. I can see them on my phone or another laptop. I can also go to online Gmail or AOL and receive them.

    All the emails I have sent to myself are like "test" or "Testing". Nothing that would be interpreted as malware. I have tried going to "advanced" configuration and tried configuring according to instructions from the web but nothing works.
  • Ed_Gee's avatar
    Ed_Gee
    Explorer II
    May 26, 2021
    I agree with WA8YXM .... most likely a configuration error. Can't research on my own PC as not available at present. Perhaps someone else here can help although I'd think a Microsoft forum on their Windows 10 email program might be a better place. Good luck. I will follow this thread.
    One other thing you may have to do is change a security setting in Google to allow access to less secure apps. Google now considers the Windows Mail App a less secure app and therefore blocks it from doing some tasks. If you are concerned with this and while we wait for Microsoft to sort this out it might be safest to only use Gmail via a browser using mail.google.com
  • mikestock's avatar
    mikestock
    Explorer
    May 27, 2021
    Tonight, for the third time I deleted all my email addresses and reinstalled them. One by one they began downloading mail. I did nothing different than before, but they all acted like they were supposed to. One thing I noticed was that the little envelope on the bottom of my startup bar changed color from black to blue. I wish I knew but I have no idea what occurred.
  • iBird's avatar
    iBird
    Explorer
    May 30, 2021
    I googled and found several causes:

    network problem
    malware
    an Outlook plugin problem
    Outlook server down
    Wrong details for the configuration
    the email account not properly synced with Outlook
    the mail may be delivered to spam folder
    a system component may be blocking the outgoing email

    for more details, please check https://recoverit.wondershare.com/email-tips/fix-outlook-not-receiving-email.html as well.
  • mikestock's avatar
    mikestock
    Explorer
    May 31, 2021
    iBird wrote:
    I googled and found several causes:

    network problem
    malware
    an Outlook plugin problem
    Outlook server down
    Wrong details for the configuration
    the email account not properly synced with Outlook
    the mail may be delivered to spam folder
    a system component may be blocking the outgoing email

    for more details, please check https://recoverit.wondershare.com/email-tips/fix-outlook-not-receiving-email.html as well.


    I was sending and receiving one night. I thought all was fine. The next day I could neither send nor receive. I have tried for days everything I could Google for, including most of the ideas you have listed. I go to the AOL website and check the two AOL mailboxes every day. I am trying to make sure that everybody of any importance is changing my address to my Gmail address. Reasons 5,6 and 8 are good suspects but they cover a lot of ground.

    My old laptop, which also runs Windows 10, will send and receive without a hitch but it has several problems causing me to have to deep-six it. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of this but I'm not missing anything important.

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