Are you able to send emails in Hotmail, but can’t receive them? Are Hotmail emails not showing up in your inbox? The good news is you’re not alone!
Many people have raised these Hotmail issues across online forums and since this seems to be so common, I’m going to show you how to fix it.
I will run through some common solutions and you pick the one that works for your problem. So, let’s get started.
Check Your Hotmail Spam Email Folder
As a first step, go to your spam folder to see if your email has been marked as spam by Hotmail.
Hotmail and other service providers look for specific words in your email to determine if it is spam mail, and sometimes, even legitimate emails get caught in this filter.
To go to your Junk or Spam folder, go to the left-hand pane and click “Folders” and look for “Junk folder”. When you click, all the spam emails will get displayed.
Look through them and when you see the email you want, right-click on it, and choose “Mark as not junk”. This will move the email to your inbox and will ensure that these emails don’t go to the spam folder again.
Check Hotmail Inbox Storage Quota
In 2013, Migrated changed Hotmail to Outlook.com and migrated all users to this new service. It also added a 15GB storage limit.
However, Hotmail issues have persisted for users and many found that they were over the 15GB limit as soon as they logged in. The only way was to delete old emails to clear space for the new incoming emails or sign up for Office 365. It offers 50 GB storage space plus access to other tools like Office software.
You can choose either of the options if you exceed the 15GB limit.
Attachments to emails must also be within a certain size (10 MB).
Is Email Forwarding Enabled?
If your email is being forwarded to another email address, you obviously won’t get emails delivered to your inbox.
To check this, go to Settings > Mail > Forwarding
On the right-hand pane, see if the “Enable Forwarding” box is checked. If yes, uncheck it, and all emails should come to your inbox now.
Check Service Health Of Microsoft
Check if there are problems with Hotmail (Outlook.com) service offered by Microsoft.
To do this, go to https://portal.office.com/servicestatus and see if there is an issue with the Microsoft Exchange Server for Hotmail.
On the left-hand pane, see if there is a green checkmark against Outlook and if yes, Microsoft’s service is running fine.
Account Rule Configuration May Mean Emails Don’t Come Through
If Hotmail is not showing all the emails, you may want to check the account rules as these can filter an email from coming to your inbox.
To check these rules, go to Settings > Mail > Rules.
Look at each rule on the right-hand pane and see if itcan interfere with the email you are expecting. You can also edit the rules to allow some emails to come through.
Check ‘Other’ Tab
Sometimes, inboxes are separated into “Focused Inboxes” to direct your attention to important emails, typically those coming from frequently-interacted contacts and from those within the same organization.
But sometimes, emails are also sent to the “Other” tab. So, go to this tab, right-click the email, and choose “Move to Focused inbox” if you want these emails to be sent to your focused inbox only.
Has Hotmail Blocked Your Account?
Sometimes, Microsoft may block your Hotmail account, especially if it suspects any unusual activity in it. As a result, Hotmail may not show up all your emails.
To unblock your account, go to https://account.live.com/ResetPassword.aspx to recover your account and reset your password.
If you still can’t unblock your account, reach out to Microsoft.
Upgrade to Outlook From Hotmail
If Hotmail is not receiving some emails, it can be due to migration or storage space issues. Some Hotmail users faced problems when Microsoft migrated them to Outlook, and you could be one of them.
One way to overcome this problem permanently is to upgrade to Outlook (now Microsoft 365). Remember, you also get other benefits such as access to Microsoft Office, increased storage space, priority customer support, and more.
It could be a worthy investment, especially if you use Hotmail as your default email.
Are Your Connected Accounts Over 20?
You can only have a maximum of 20 connected accounts to your Outlook account. You may have overrun this limit without your knowledge, but don’t worry!
Simply remove some of these connected accounts, so you remain within the accepted limits and can avoid Hotmail issues in this regard.
Get The Sender To Check If Problem Is From Their Side
While we always assume that the problem is on your side, remember it can also be at the sender’s end!
So, make sure to reach out to the sender and ask him/her to test if there is a problem with their email service. It could be a usual problem like the error message, your request cannot be completed.
It’s also worth double-checking if you have been blocked by the sender. Read our guide on how to confirm if someone blocked your emails.
Send Microsoft A Request Form
If none of the above options resolved the problem, drop a note to Microsoft, so they can check the issue for you.
