Is Outlook Down? Live status & outage reports

Service info and troubleshooting

Emails stuck in outbox and won't send

This usually comes down to a broken connection between the client and the mail server. First, check your internet connection — open any website to confirm it's working. Then go to Send/Receive and hit Update Folder. If the message is stuck, try moving it back to Drafts, deleting it, and composing it again. A corrupted email with a very large attachment can also block the entire outbox queue.

Inbox not receiving new messages

If messages from others aren't arriving, check your Junk Email folder first — filters sometimes catch legitimate senders. Then verify your storage quota under Settings > General > Storage. A full mailbox silently rejects incoming mail. Also confirm that no forwarding rules are accidentally rerouting everything elsewhere.

Sign-in errors and account lockouts

When login keeps failing, the usual suspects are:

• Cached credentials in Windows Credential Manager that have gone stale — remove the old entry and re-enter your password
• Two-step verification misfiring because the authenticator app clock is out of sync
• An outdated app password being used instead of the new one after a password reset
• The account being temporarily locked after too many failed attempts — wait 15–30 minutes before retrying

Attachments and images won't load

Slowly loading or completely missing attachments are often a browser cache issue when using the web version. Clear your cache, or try an incognito window. In the desktop app, check that your antivirus isn't scanning and blocking outgoing attachments in real time — some AV tools intercept mail traffic and cause timeouts.

Calendar invites not syncing

If calendar events aren't showing up across devices, the sync interval may be set too long. On mobile, go to the account settings and set the sync frequency to Every 15 minutes. On desktop, a corrupted OST file can cause persistent sync failures — rebuilding it by removing and re-adding the account usually fixes it.

Search returning wrong or no results

Outlook's local search index can fall behind, especially after a large mailbox migration. Go to File > Options > Search > Indexing Options and rebuild the index. On the web version, search issues are server-side and typically resolve within a few hours on their own.