Troubleshoot Outlook email setup
Jared Gottschalk edited this page 1 month ago

Things changed on February 1st, 2024 when Google and Yahoo started applying new email sender standards in an attempt to improve their users’ experience. Even with the correct SMTP details, the server might be down or malfunctioning. Understanding the specific error codes returned by the SMTP server can help diagnose the issue. Mistyped usernames or passwords can prevent successful authentication with your SMTP server, leading to failed email sends. 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.

Fortunately, with the right Outlook troubleshooting strategies, many of the most common Outlook problems are quite straightforward to troubleshoot. Below, you will see some of the most common issues that users run into, and what the most efficient way to troubleshoot Outlook is. You can create a new Outlook Data File and drag the items in the Lost and Found folder into the new data file. After you've moved all the items, you can remove the Recovered Personal Folders (.pst) file, including the Lost and Found folder. To create a new Outlook Data File, go to Create an Outlook Data File. In the Folder Pane, you might see a folder named Recovered Personal Folders that contains your default Outlook folders or a Lost and Found folder.

If you're having problems setting up your email in classic Outlook, we want to help. Find solutions to common problems or get help from a support agent. If you can't open Outlook, or Outlook disappears or crashes, one of your add-ins may be to blame or you may need to update Outlook. You can give feedback by selecting Help from the top menu, then Feedback. If your mailbox is full, we won't be able to reply to your request.

After October 14, 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance, or security fixes for Windows 10. Your PC will still work, solutions for Outlook loading issues but we recommend moving to Windows 11.

To get support in Outlook.com, click here or select Help on the menu bar and enter your query. If the self-help doesn't solve your problem, scroll down to Still need help? Switch your alias to an Outlook.com or Hotmail.com account. 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. Check that you have not accidentally blocked the Gmail domain when blocking one Gmail user.

For example, writing gamil.com instead of gmail.com is a common typo that will cause problems with delivery. 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. Refer to our comprehensive list of common SMTP settings or consult your email provider for the correct parameters. Incorrect SMTP parameters are a frequent cause of email sending issues. Your email client needs the correct settings to communicate with the SMTP server. To access the calendar solutions for Outlook loading issues shared with your Microsoft 365 for business account, you'll need to accept the invitation from Outlook on the web, iOS, or Android.

Not something you want to take on lightly, but sometimes you have to. Similar to our earlier suggestion of repairing Office (see #3 Repair Your Microsoft Office above), perform the same steps except choose to Uninstall. Be aware that you may need your product key if you received one. You can read how to fix your Outlook problem on the internet, but sometimes the suggestions don’t work for your specific case.

Also, '-g' represents the default location of Outlook installation and the address after '-d1' describes your profile folder's default path. Therefore, if you installed your Outlook application in a custom location, you'd have to substitute '-g' for the custom location. For users who have the discontinued free email client Windows Live Email, you're likely finding it's high time to export your email to Outlook.

Get Help has troubleshooters for classic Outlook for Windows you can run for many common scenarios, solutions for Outlook loading issues such as Outlook startup or profile setup problems. These often help resolve issues without the need to contact support. Get Help has troubleshooters for Microsoft 365 you can run for many common scenarios. If a troubleshooter is available for your issue, select Start to run that troubleshooter. Microsoft has its own tool for automatically scanning and correcting Office when things go awry. You can read about it and then run the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant to see if that helps.

Sometimes you’ll open Outlook and solutions for Outlook loading issues then for no apparent reason, it will freeze or shut itself down. There are quite a few different causes for this, but one of the most common is a defective add-in. Here’s how to disable add-ins in Outlook even when it keeps crashing. This option could be useful if you constantly have to wait for Outlook to rebuild its data file when you restart. Outlook crashes are never good, but you do not have to face them unprepared.