Outlook not showing new emails in inbox: How to fix

A well-organized inbox ensures you don’t miss deadlines or communications. It also means you can prioritize tasks for the upcoming weeks. But email organization can be impacted by new emails not showing in your inbox. So this article will explain why that may happen and how you can fix it.

If Outlook isn’t showing new emails but still shows email notifications, it could mean you have a “focused” inbox or have not sorted them by date. If you are not using the date filter or have the focused inbox turned on, it can affect how your emails appear. Please use the steps below to turn off your focused inbox and sort your emails by date.

Turning off focused inboxSorting inbox by date
1. Sign into Outlook.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Switch off the ‘Focused inbox
option.
1. Click on ‘Filter.’
2. Select ‘Sort.’
3. Ensure the options for ‘Date’ and ‘Newest on top’ have been checked.

Please continue reading for a complete and detailed guide on fixing Outlook not showing new emails in your inbox.

Why are new emails not showing in your inbox?

There are usually two reasons why you may not be able to see your new emails in your inbox. It is either because your computer is experiencing a technical issue preventing your new emails from reaching your inbox or something is wrong with your Outlook settings. Many Outlook may be confused by the difference between unsynched and missing emails.

When your emails are unsynched, it simply means that your inbox has not yet been updated, and therefore all your new emails are not visible. That usually happens when you have a poor internet connection or if there is an issue with the server. When your emails are unsynched, you don’t need to do anything to fix the problem. It will resolve itself once you have access to a better connection. Your emails will then start syncing, appearing in your inbox as usual.

Missing emails are usually the result of your Outlook settings. As explained previously in the blog post, missing emails could mean that you have not deselected the option for a focused inbox or you have not sorted them by date. The next section of this blog post looks at two ways to get your missing emails back into your inbox.

How to turn off the focused inbox

The first solution to fix new emails not showing in your inbox is to turn off the ‘focused’ setting. When the focused inbox is switched on, Outlook filters through your incoming emails. The emails it thinks are significant will be viewable, while insignificant ones are placed in the ‘others’ folder. It may be difficult to see your emails with the focused email switched on, as having them spread across two different inboxes can be confusing. The steps below outline how you can turn this setting off to have all your new emails in your inbox.

1. Sign into Outlook or access Outlook by signing in to your Office 365 account.

Sign into your Outlook account using your credentials if you are not already signed in.


2. Go to Settings

Once you are signed in, click on the settings cog on the top right-hand side of the page.


3. Switch off the bottom for a focused inbox

When the setting tab opens on the right-hand side of the page, switch off the option for ‘Focused Inbox.’

How to sort the inbox by date

If the method above doesn’t work, it may be that your emails have not been sorted by date, and therefore you can’t see your new emails. Follow the steps outlined below to sort your emails by date.

  1. Click on ‘Filter.’

In your inbox, click on ‘Filter’ from the panel at the top of the page.

2. Click on ‘Sort.’

Select the option for ‘Sort’ from the drop-down list.

3. Ensure the options for ‘Date’ and ‘Newest on top’ have been checked.

When the second drop-down list appears, change the setting to Sort by ‘Date’ and Sort order by ‘Newest on top.’

Conclusion

If you can’t see your new mail appearing in your inbox, but you can see that notifications for new emails are appearing, It may be that your emails are unsynched. That happens when you have a poor internet connection or an issue with the server. The problem usually resolves once you restore your connection, as your emails will automatically appear in your inbox when you refresh the page. However, if your emails remain missing, you may need to twitch off focused emails or filter them by date to allow new emails to be displayed at the top of your inbox. This blog post has outlined how you can do both of these methods to help you have access to the missing emails.

Siddra Afzal

Siddra Afzal has been a researcher and content writer at Business Tech Planet since 2021. Siddra formerly wrote newsletters for the NHS and was a PR and Communications Officer. She now combines her passion for photography and video editing with her knowledge of communications, writing, and research to the art of crafting the perfect tech guides for BTP. You can connect with Siddra on LinkedIn.

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