Are you trying to connect to email from Outlook on your device but it’s not working? One of the main causes could be your Outlook mail profile. However, there are other issues like your internet or network connection, POP/IMAP account settings, firewall blocking the connection or even incorrect user credentials and an unavailable server.
If you’re getting an error message or having the same problem, we’ll cover each cause and offer possible fixes to resolve the issue.
Fix Can’t Connect To Email From Outlook? Try These Fixes
Use the Support and Recovery Assistant
This tool for Office 365 can find and resolve several issues in Outlook including your profile. To repair the profile, do this:
- Open outlook (2010/13/16)
- Click File
- Select Account Settings>Account Settings
- Go to the Email tab and select your profile
- Click Repair (if unavailable, connect to an Exchange account if you’re on Outlook 2016)
- Follow the on-screen prompts and restart Outlook
Run Windows Update
This ensures you have the latest updates for Office 365 desktop apps including outlook.
Connect to the internet
If you don’t have a connection, you can’t connect to email from Outlook. Use your browser to check if the connection works, or see if you can get into intranet sites. Also check if Outlook is online by going to Menu and uncheck Work Offline.
Turn on SMTP authentication
If your IMAP/POP email accounts need authentication to use the SMTP or outgoing mail server, turn SMTP authentication on using these steps:
- Open Tools>Accounts
- Select your account from the left pane
- Select More Options in Outgoing server section
- Under the Authentication menu, select authentication type
- Enter your user credentials and try to connect again
Get an alternative SMTP server
If your firewall is blocking connections to the SMTP server, you can ask your ISP or network admin for an alternative, and then enter its address in your settings using these steps:
- Go to Tools>Accounts
- Select your Account
- Enter server name or address in Outgoing server section
Verify user credentials
You may have entered the wrong account credentials or using wrong settings. To verify them:
- Go to Tools>Accounts
- Select your account and enter the correct credentials. If it won’t work, ask your email provider how to configure it
Specify mail proxy server under System Preferences
If your network uses a proxy server to connect to mail server, you can specify one by asking your network admin for the right settings.
Check if the server is online
If your email server is unavailable, you may not be able to connect your email from Outlook. Check if your server is online and if not, ask your network admin or provider if it’s available.
Elsie is a tech writer with 8+ years professional experience. For Tech News Watch, she brings rich experience contributing to topics such as Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS among others. In her spare time, she loves checking out the latest tech trends, gadgets, and news, listening to music and cars.
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