Can’t send or receive emails

Microsoft currently reports a service degradation affecting consumer products, so the Outlook.com loading and Hotmail mail-flow failures should first be treated as a Microsoft-side incident rather than a Wi-Fi, airplane-mode, or cookie problem.^1^

What to do now

1. Open Microsoft’s Service Health Status page and check the consumer-services notice for updates.^1^
2. If Outlook is still shown as degraded, wait for Microsoft to mark the incident resolved. Repeated password changes, account removal, or app reinstallation will not correct a service-side outage.
3. After recovery is reported, open Outlook.com again and test:
   • Send a plain-text message to another address you control.
   • Reply from that address to your Hotmail account.
   • Check whether the messages appear in Sent Items, Inbox, or Junk Email.

Microsoft’s Outlook.com issues page directs users who cannot access Outlook.com to check Service Health first.^2^

If the service is healthy but Outlook.com still will not load

Since cookies have already been cleared, do not repeat that step. Instead:

1. Open a private/InPrivate window or a different browser.
2. Temporarily disable ad-blocking and privacy extensions for Outlook.com. Microsoft documents that AdBlock and Ublock can cause email loading failures or time-outs.^2^
3. Try another device or network. If Outlook.com works there, the problem is isolated to the original browser, extension, or connection.

If Outlook.com loads but mail still does not move

Check Settings → General → Storage. If Microsoft cloud storage is full, Outlook.com cannot send or receive mail; incoming messages sent while storage is full are returned to the sender and cannot later be recovered.^3^

If storage is available, check:

• Junk Email and the Other tab.
• Settings → Mail → Rules for rules moving or deleting messages.
• Settings → Mail → Forwarding for unexpected forwarding.
• Any displayed account-blocked or unusual-activity warning. Microsoft recommends the account sign-in helper when the account cannot be accessed.^3^

If it continues after the outage is resolved

Use Microsoft Support’s contact page:

1. Go to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact
2. Enter Outlook.
3. Select Contact support and choose the Outlook.com category.^4^

Record any error message before contacting support, but remove your email address, request IDs, or other personal information before posting it publicly.

References

1. Service Health Status - Microsoft
2. Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com | Microsoft Support
3. Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com | Microsoft Support
4. Can't open outlook.com - Microsoft Q&A