Not receiving emails is one of the most stressful IT problems — but in the majority of cases the cause is a simple setting, not a serious technical fault. Work through the checks below in order before contacting IT. Most people find the answer within the first three steps.
1. Check your Junk Email folder
This is the single most common cause of “missing” emails. Outlook's spam filter sometimes incorrectly flags legitimate messages — particularly from new senders, bulk senders, or senders outside your organisation. Before anything else, scroll through your Junk Email folder.
If you find the email in Junk:
- → Right-click the email and choose Mark as Not Junk. This moves it to your Inbox and teaches Outlook to trust future emails from that sender.
- → Alternatively, open the email and click Not Junk or Never block sender in the toolbar at the top.
2. Check the “Other” tab (Focused Inbox)
If you use Outlook with Microsoft 365, your inbox may be split into two tabs: Focused and Other. Outlook automatically decides which emails are “important” and routes the rest to the Other tab — which many people never check.
Look at the top of your Outlook inbox for two tabs labelled Focused and Other. Click Other and check if the missing email is there. If it is, right-click it and choose Move to Focused — and if you'd prefer not to have this split at all, go to View > Show Focused Inbox to turn it off entirely.
3. Check that Outlook is not in Offline Mode
Outlook has a “Work Offline” mode that prevents it from sending or receiving emails. It's easy to accidentally activate and just as easy to miss — new emails simply stop arriving with no obvious explanation.
Look at the bottom status bar
At the very bottom of the Outlook window, check what it says. If you see "Disconnected", "Offline", or "Working Offline", that's the problem.
Turn off Work Offline
Click the Send / Receive tab in the Outlook ribbon at the top. If the Work Offline button is highlighted (pressed in), click it once to turn it off. Outlook will reconnect and your emails will start arriving.
Force a manual send/receive
Press F9 on your keyboard (or click Send / Receive All Folders in the ribbon) to force Outlook to check for new emails immediately.
4. Check whether your mailbox is full
When your mailbox reaches its storage limit, Microsoft 365 stops delivering new emails until space is freed up. You may receive a warning email from Microsoft before this happens — but not always.
How to check your mailbox size in Outlook:
- → Go to File > Tools > Mailbox Cleanup to see your current mailbox size.
- → If you're close to the limit, empty your Deleted Items and Junk Email folders — these both count toward your quota.
- → If the problem persists, contact IT — your mailbox quota may need to be increased.
5. Check for Outlook rules moving emails automatically
Outlook rules can automatically move, delete, or redirect incoming emails based on conditions like sender address or subject line. If a rule was set up accidentally — or by someone else — it could be silently routing emails away from your inbox.
How to check your Outlook rules
- 1. In Outlook, click File in the top-left corner.
- 2. Click Manage Rules & Alerts.
- 3. Review the list of rules. If you see any you didn't set up intentionally, untick them to disable them, or select and delete them.
If you find rules you didn't create, this could indicate your account has been accessed without authorisation. Contact IT immediately if that's the case.
6. Check your Blocked Senders list
If emails from a specific person or company are missing, you may have accidentally added them to your blocked senders list. Blocked emails go straight to Junk and are sometimes automatically deleted without appearing there at all.
To check in Outlook:
Go to Home > Junk > Junk Email Options > Blocked Senders. Review the list and remove any addresses or domains that should be allowed through.
When to call IT
If you've checked all of the above and emails are still not arriving, or if you notice anything unusual, it's time to contact IT.
- !Emails were arriving normally and then suddenly stopped — with no obvious setting change
- !You find rules you didn't create, or a blocked sender you didn't add
- !Senders report that their emails are bouncing back to them with a delivery failure message
- !You've cleared space but the mailbox quota issue persists
- !The problem affects multiple people in the office
Still not finding it?
If you're a StormDotCom client and emails are still going missing after working through this checklist, get in touch. We can check your mailbox settings, mail flow rules, and transport logs to find exactly where the problem is.
Contact the Help Desk