I can't receive all my emails on hotmail

Dear Yvonne Dykes

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand this is a critical issue that prevents essential communication.

The steps you've already taken (clearing the mailbox, resetting the password, and checking connectivity) confirm we need to look deeper into the account-level filtering and capacity settings.

1. Storage Capacity Verification

Microsoft differentiates between Email Storage and Cloud Storage (OneDrive). If your OneDrive quota is full, it can halt all incoming email, even if your mailbox itself appears empty.

• Log into your account via a web browser and navigate to the Storage section.
• Verify that both the "Microsoft storage" (often tied to OneDrive) and "Email storage" are below 90% capacity.
• If Microsoft storage is full, delete large attachments from your email and large files from your associated OneDrive folder. It can take up to an hour for the system to recognize the freed space.

2. Automated Rule and Forwarding Inspection

A common cause of "invisible" email is an automated rule or a forwarding setup you may have forgotten about.

• Inbox Rules:
  • Location: Settings (gear icon) > Mail > Rules
  • Diagnostic Check: Review all rules. Look for any rule that uses the actions Delete, Move to Junk, or Move to an obscure folder. Delete or temporarily disable suspicious rules.
• Email Forwarding:
  • Location: Settings (gear icon) > Mail > Forwarding
  • Diagnostic Check: Ensure Forwarding is completely disabled. If it is enabled, verify the forwarding address is correct and yours. If the external address is full or incorrect, your emails disappear.

3. Comprehensive Junk Mail and Safe Senders Review

While basic spam checks are done, we need to ensure legitimate contacts haven't been erroneously classified.

• Action: Go to Settings > Mail > Junk Email.
• Blocked Senders: Carefully review the list of Blocked Senders. If a necessary sender is listed, remove their address immediately.
• Safe Senders and Domains: If you are missing emails from a specific organization (e.g., your bank, a service provider), add their full email address or domain (e.g., @examplebank.com) to the Safe Senders and Domains list.

4. Test Email Validation

After performing steps 1-3, please perform a controlled test to isolate the failure point:

• Test 1 (External): Ask a contact with a different email provider to send you a simple test email.
• Test 2 (Internal): Send yourself an email from an external account (not the one you are troubleshooting).
• Observation: If the test email is still not received, the issue is likely a persistent server-side filter or a DNS record issue (if this is a custom domain). If you do receive the test email, the problem lies with the specific senders who previously failed.

Please let me know the status of your Microsoft Storage quota and the results of the Email Forwarding inspection. This information will determine our next steps.