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  • Writer's pictureBurton Kelso, Tech Expert

How to Fix Outlook When It's Not Sending or Receiving Emails From Your Free Email Account

Updated: Aug 21, 2022



For years, Microsoft Outlook has been the email client staple on Windows and Macintosh computers for those who wanted a program that would allow you to send and receive emails as well as keep track of all of your contacts, notes, and calendar appointments. It didn't matter that you were using AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail, you could have your emails from your favorite mail provider all show up in one program. The icing on the cake for Outlook users is that you could have all of your information synchronized between your computer and your smartphone and tablet to keep up with email and appointments. Have you been experiencing problems with Outlook lately? Check out these tips and tricks that will help you get to the bottom of your problem.


If you're having issues with sending and receiving emails in Outlook or syncing issues, you will need to place the blame on your favorite 3rd party email provider. Most of the problems with Outlook stem from the fact that your email provider no longer supports it. Right before the pandemic, many companies like AOL, Yahoo, Gmail ATT, and most Internet providers who supply email to their customers decided they would no longer support the sending or receiving of emails in Outlook as well as syncing between your devices. The reasoning is that spammers from all over the world were using the SMTP or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol servers to send out spam emails. This practice of using the SMTP servers was causing many mainstream email addresses to be rejected by companies because of the amount of spam that was coming from the SMTP servers of these known email providers.


The solution was to stop spammers and programs like Outlook, Windows Mail, Apple Mail as well as other 3rd party programs to have access to the STMP servers. Now your only solution is to go directly to the website of your email provider to check mail and manage contacts and calendars. If you want to access your email, contacts, or calendar on your tablet or phone, you will need to download the email app from your favorite 3rd party provider on your devices.


If your own a website and domain and use a Microsoft exchange server, you should still be able to use Outlook to have your email, calendar and contacts sync between your devices. If you have issues, you will need to contact your email provider to have them help you with making sure your IMAP and SMTP settings are correct in Outlook.


Before you get too angry about not being able to use that 3rd party email account with Outlook, understand that Microsoft Outlook at its core was designed to be for corporate use. Microsoft has just allowed it to be used by consumers as the Office suite became more popular in recent years.


I hope you can use these tips to you understand that you will probably need to migrate away from Outlook if you are trying to connect a free email to use with it. If you need further assistance, please reach out to me with any questions you might have. I am always happy to help!


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Want to ask me a tech question? Send it to burton@callintegralnow.com. I love technology. I've read all of the manuals and I'm serious about making technology fun and easy to use for everyone.


Need computer repair service near you? My company Integral offers the highest quality computer repair service nationwide. If you need on-site or remote tech support for your Windows\Macintosh, computers, laptops, Android/Apple smartphone, tablets, printers, routers, smart home devices, and anything that connects to the Internet, please feel free to contact my team. Our team of friendly tech experts organization can help you with any IT needs you might have. Reach out to us a www.callintegralnow.com or phone at 888.256.0829.


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