Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on outlook com

This article is for Outlook.com. If you're using Outlook for Windows, see Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Windows.

If you're having problems accessing Outlook.com, you can see the status of Microsoft Office Online Services at the Service Health portal.

If you're having problems sending or receiving email, read how to Fix Outlook.com email sync issues.

Last updated: 12 May 2021

Outlook.com issues affecting email messages, attachments, and features

Last updated: 12 May 2021

ISSUE

We are aware of and have released a fix for the current issue with Outlook. It might take a few hours for your computer to get the update.

STATUS: FIXED

Please restart your computer to receive the update. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Last updated: 6 January 2021

ISSUE

We're aware of an issue where some users see the error message "Your message can't be displayed right now".

STATUS: WORKAROUND

To resolve this, please clear your browser's cache & cookies:

• Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

• Clear cache & cookies in Chrome

• Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Last updated: 7 December 2020

ISSUE

If you access your Outlook.com account through the iOS Mail app, you may be repeatedly asked to enter your username and password.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

We recommend using the Outlook for iOS app instead.

Get the app

Last updated: 10 November 2020

ISSUE

Users with Outlook.com accounts are seeing emails they delete from the Inbox reverting back to the Inbox.  

STATUS: INVESTIGATING

The Outlook Team is investigating the issue for a fix.  We will update this article as soon as we have more information on a fix.

In the meantime, if the emails being reverted are coming from connected accounts you may be able to go to the Inbox of the originating account and delete the email to workaround the issue.  For example, if you have a Gmail connected account, go to Gmail.com and delete the email from there.  

Last updated: 7 September 2020

ISSUE

A recent change to the Family Calendar also removed some functionality that allowed the calendar to be viewed as a shared calendar in other applications like the Windows 10 Mail app and the Outlook desktop app as well as some third party apps. 

WORKAROUND

None of the events or information was lost in the move to the new calendar. The Family group calendar now appears in the Outlook.com groups area in the left nav on Outlook web and in the groups area of the Outlook mobile app. It is also added to your favorites automatically.

Learn more about using the Family Calendar in Outlook.com.

Last updated: 13 August 2020

ISSUE

We are aware of an issue where some customers cannot see images or pictures in their emails, or they are corrupted.

We are currently investigating and apologize for the inconvenience.

WORKAROUND

Ask the sender to resend the picture as an attachment.

Some customers may see a News folder. This is a limited experiment for a sample of customers. Although it's not possible at the moment to turn the feature off entirely, you can choose to remove it from your favorites list by right clicking the folder and selecting Remove from Favorites.

Last updated: 12 May 2020

ISSUE

Some users may not be able to see the left folder pane. 

SOLUTIONS

1. Sign out of Outlook.com

2. Clear your browser cache. Learn how to do that for Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

3. Close all browser tabs and windows.

4. Sign in again at www.outlook.com.

Tips: When viewing on a small screen, you may still need to:

1. Maximize your browser window, or scroll left to view the folder list.

2. Expand the folder pane only when you need it. Select the three line icon in the left side bar to show or hide folders.

3. Open your layout settings and select Hide reading pane then Save. This will give the screen more space to show the folders.

ISSUE

We are aware that some users may not be able to get support in the Outlook.com Help pane when using the Safari browser.

WORKAROUND

1. In the Safari app on your Mac, choose Safari > Preferences > Privacy.

2. Uncheck Website Tracking: Prevent cross-site tracking.

3. Uncheck Always allow cookies: Block all cookies.

For more information, read Apple's guide to Manage cookies and website data in Safari on Mac.

ISSUE

We are aware that some users may not be able to receive email from Gmail accounts. We are investigating a possible problem.

WORKAROUND

Check that you have not accidentally blocked the Gmail domain when blocking one Gmail user.

1. Open your Blocked Senders list.

2. If Gmail.com is in the list, select the next to the entry and press Save.

ISSUE

Some users may not be able to empty their Deleted Items folder.

SOLUTIONS

• If you have deleted a lot of email, it may take some time for those items to move to or be deleted from the Deleted Items folder - leave the browser window open while the deleting takes place.

• If the email still fails to delete properly, select a smaller batch to delete.

• If deleted email comes back, it could be because you have deleted a lot of email recently. Please try again later.

ISSUE

Some customers may not be able to see their Profile, Account or Sign Out options when selecting their picture on the top toolbar.

WORKAROUNDS

Some Firefox users may be able to solve the problem by clearing cookies and site data. Learn how.

If not, you can access your Microsoft account Profile at https://account.microsoft.com/profile/.

You can see all other aspects of your Microsoft Account at https://account.microsoft.com/.

You can also Sign out manually then close all browser windows.

ISSUE

Some customers may experience a delay when trying to create a new email address, or alias, for their Outlook.com account.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

1. Please sign out of Outlook.com and close all browser windows.

2. Sign in to start using your new email address/alias.

ISSUE

Customers using the contact support buttons at the foot of the support pages, or the "email us" links in support Virtual Agent, are unable to open the Help Pane.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

1. Sign in to get Outlook.com support.

   Important: If you can't sign in, go to Account support.

2. Select the ? at the top of the Outlook.com window. Once you have signed in and have a browser window open, then the links will work.

3. Learn more about how to contact support when using the Help Pane.

Blocking an item already in your Junk Email folder won't delete it. If you're still receiving email from a sender you blocked, see Receiving email from blocked senders in Outlook.com.

Blocking someone doesn't stop their email from coming to your mailbox, but it does automatically move the message to your Junk Email folder where you can review it (in case it was blocked in error). 

Learn more about Receiving email from blocked senders in Outlook.com.

ISSUE

Some browsers will have problems loading emails, time-out or run very slowly if advert and pop-up blockers are enabled, specifically:

• AdBlock

• Ublock

WORKAROUND

1. Use Microsoft Edge or another web browser.

2. Exclude Outlook.com from the AdBlock settings. At the top right corner of Google Chrome, select AdBlock and then select Don't run on pages on this domain. Refresh your browser to load Outlook.com again.

3. Remove the problematic ad-blockers by managing extensions in Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome. or Safari.

ISSUE

Certain add-ons in the Firefox browser may prevent your Outlook.com Inbox from loading.

WORKAROUND

Visit Firefox support to learn how to Disable or remove Add-ons.

ISSUE

If you are having issues sending email, this might be due to validation issues with your Microsoft Account.

WORKAROUND

1. Go to https://account.live.com/reputationcheck to validate your Microsoft Account.

2. Ensure your Microsoft Account profile is up-to-date and complete. Make sure you accept the Terms Of Use, if requested.

If you're still unable to send or receive email, read how to Fix Outlook.com email sync issues.

Outlook issues after connecting Outlook to Outlook.com

ISSUE

After adding an email account to Outlook for Windows (Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010 versions) you may experience the following:

• Your email account name shows up as outlook_[long series of letters and numbers]@outlook.com in the Folder Pane and when composing emails using Outlook for Windows.

• Recipients will also receive the email from the sender with the outlook_[long series of letters and numbers]@outlook.com format.

• When recipients reply to the email, the email bounces and you may receive the message "Undeliverable message when you send Internet mail in Outlook."

This issue can occur when you register a 3rd party email address (e.g., an email address that is not Outlook.com or Hotmail.com) for your Microsoft Account and don't use Outlook.com for sending and receiving email.

If you typically use an Outlook.com account for email, this issue can occur if there are multiple aliases on the account and the 3^rd party email address is the primary alias. Please see the ALTERNATIVE WORKAROUND section below.

WORKAROUND

Set up your account manually as an IMAP or POP account in Outlook.

1. Close Outlook

2. Use Windows Key + R then type "outlook /profiles" (omitting the quotes) in the Run window and hit "OK" Note: There is a space between outlook and the forward slash (/)

3. In the launched "Choose Profile" box, select Options > New

4. Type a new, unique profile name and select OK

5. Choose Advanced options > Let me set up my account manually.

6. Enter your account password, then choose Connect.

7. If setup fails, select Change Account Settings. Update the account information with the one you received from your email provider or from the POP and IMAP server name reference topic. Choose Connect then then select Done.

8. In the Choose Profile window, select Set as default profile and select OK.

ALTERNATIVE WORKAROUND

Switch your alias to an Outlook.com or Hotmail.com account.

Note: If you do not have another alias, select the link on the page to create one. Choose Add email and a new alias and then choose the option Create a new email address and add it as an alias.

1. Go to https://account.live.com/names/Manage and sign in to your Outlook.com account.

2. Set your Outlook.com email as the primary alias.

3. In Outlook for Windows, remove and re-add the account. See the steps in this article: Add your Outlook.com account in Outlook for Windows

Last updated: February 8, 2017

ISSUE

If Outlook is connected to a primary Outlook.com account that is also connected to other secondary non-Microsoft accounts (such as Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), when sending an email in Outlook, you are not able to choose the other secondary connected account as the "From" sending account.

If you manually type in the secondary connected account email address in the "From" field, the email is sent as "On behalf of" your primary Outlook.com account.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

Outlook supports sending from a secondary connected account for Microsoft owned domains such as @outlook.com, @live.com, @hotmail.com but has not implemented this functionality for third-party domains.

The Outlook team is listening to your feedback and investigating adding this functionality to future updates. To learn more about how to provide feedback, see How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office. In the meantime, please use the following workaround:

WORKAROUND

You can also add the secondary connected accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) in Outlook.com as additional accounts in the Outlook profile.

1. In Outlook, choose the File tab.

   

2. Under Account Information, choose Add Account.

   

3. On the Auto Account Setup page, enter your name, email address, and password, and then choose Next.

   Note: If you receive an error message after choosing Next, double check your email address and password. If both are correct, see the next section.

4. Choose Finish.

For more information, please see Outlook email setup.

Last updated: May 2, 2017

Currently, you can't use Outlook on Windows to edit calendars that are shared with your Outlook.com account, even if you've reconnected your Outlook.com account to Outlook. We're working to make it possible to edit shared calendars in Outlook 2016 for Windows.

To edit a shared calendar, go online to your own Outlook.com calendar, open Calendar for Windows 10, or use a mobile device. Read how to Add your Outlook.com account to another mail app.

Last updated: May 2, 2017

ISSUE

When you try to accept a shared Outlook.com calendar using your Microsoft 365 for business account in Outlook 2016, you might receive the "Something went wrong" error or your sign-in might fail.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

To access the calendar shared with your Microsoft 365 for business account, you'll need to accept the invitation from Outlook on the web, iOS, or Android. If you've already clicked the Accept button in Outlook 2016, you won't be able to re-accept the invitation from another Outlook application. The person who sent you the invitation will need to remove your permissions and then send a new invitation.

Still need help?

Note: You will need to sign in first to get support. If you can't sign in, go to Account support.

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