Email Client Problems: Why Outlook Won't Connect, Send or Receive

Email is one of those things you never think about until it stops working. One morning Outlook won't connect to the server, messages sit stuck in the outbox, or a client tells you your emails have been landing in their spam folder for weeks. The frustrating part is that the error message rarely tells you what's actually wrong.

Below are the most common email client problems we come across, and what's really going on behind the scenes. Knowing the cause won't always make the fix quick, but it will stop you guessing.

1. Your email client won't connect to the server

This is the most common problem, and the most alarming, because it stops everything at once. You open Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird or the mail app on your phone, and it simply refuses to connect.

What's usually behind it:

• Incorrect server settings. Every mailbox has an incoming server (IMAP or POP) and an outgoing server (SMTP), each with its own hostname and port number. If any one of these is even slightly off, the connection fails, often with a vague error that doesn't point to the real cause.
• Encryption and port don't match. The port number and the security setting (SSL/TLS or STARTTLS) have to agree with each other. A secure port paired with the wrong encryption type is one of the most frequent reasons a connection that looks correct still fails.
• The server address has changed. If your domain, hosting or email provider has changed recently, perhaps after a website or email migration, your client may still be pointing at the old server.
• DNS problems on the domain. Your email client finds your mail server through your domain's DNS records. If those records are missing, wrong, or mid-way through being updated, the client can't find the server at all.

2. You can receive email but can't send it

Everything looks normal until you press send. The message sits in the outbox, or bounces straight back.

What's usually behind it:

• The outgoing server isn't authenticating. Sending and receiving use separate servers. Most outgoing servers require you to log in with your email address and password, and if that option isn't switched on in your client, incoming mail works perfectly while outgoing mail fails.
• The outgoing port is being blocked. Some internet providers and networks block certain ports to cut down on spam. If your client is set to use a blocked port, your messages never leave your computer.

3. Your emails are going to spam

You're sending normally, but recipients say your messages are landing in junk, or not arriving at all.

What's usually behind it:

• Missing or incorrect email authentication records. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are DNS records that prove to receiving servers that your email is genuinely from you. When they're missing or misconfigured, your messages look suspicious and get filtered. This is especially common after moving to a new email provider, where the old records are left in place and the new ones never get added.
• A brand-new domain. Mail providers are cautious with domains that have no sending history, so new businesses often see more of their mail filtered in the early weeks.

4. Your email keeps asking for your password

A password box pops up again and again, even though you're typing the right password.

What's usually behind it:

• A password changed in one place but not another. If you reset your password in webmail, every device and email client still holding the old one will keep being rejected.
• A security change at your email provider. Many providers now require modern sign-in methods, app passwords or two-factor authentication. Older clients, or accounts set up before the change, can get stuck in a loop of failed logins.

When it's worth getting help

Most of these problems come down to a small number of settings that all have to line up exactly: server names, ports, encryption, authentication and DNS records. Get one wrong and nothing works, and it's easy to lose an afternoon trying different combinations.

If your email has stopped connecting, sending or receiving, or your messages are disappearing into spam, that's exactly what we sort out every day. Get in touch and we'll get your email working properly again.