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Outlook Not Syncing Email: Step-by-Step Fix

Short answer: If Outlook shows old mail or says "Disconnected", the connection to your mail server or a damaged profile is usually to blame.

TL;DR: quick fix

Check if Outlook / Microsoft 365 is down for everyone.
In classic Outlook for Windows, check the status bar.
Click Send / Receive > Send/Receive All Folders to force a sync.

Is Outlook down?

Before you change settings, check Microsoft 365 Service health. If there's an outage, wait it out.

How to fix it: step by step

Check whether Outlook / Microsoft 365 is down for everyone: look at the Microsoft 365 Service health page (status.cloud.microsoft) or the Microsoft 365 Status account on X and recent posts from the service's official status account before changing anything on your device.
In classic Outlook for Windows, check the status bar. If it says "Working Offline", go to Send / Receive and toggle Work Offline off.
Click Send / Receive > Send/Receive All Folders to force a sync.
Restart Outlook and your computer, then confirm you have internet access in a browser.
Sign in to Outlook on the web (outlook.office.com or outlook.com). If mail is there but not in the desktop app, the issue is local.
Run Microsoft's Support and Recovery Assistant, or create a new Outlook profile from Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles.

FAQ

Will a new Outlook profile delete my email?

For Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, and IMAP accounts the mail stays on the server and downloads again. Back up any local-only PST files first.

More Outlook fixes

Last checked Oct 2026 against the official help page: Microsoft Support. Menus can differ by app version; follow the official page if a step doesn't match.