Cannot send or receive emails using Outlook / Outlook Express

Cannot send emails:

There are several common reasons for not being able to receive emails through Outlook (Express). These reasons include such as

1. Temporary mail server problems

2. Wrong Outlook Express settings

3. Incorrect MX records of the domain.

1. Check your mail server connectivity:

The standard server ports used for sending emails through SMTP protocols are port  25 respectively. If you have problems sending emails, we recommend that you perform a telnet check of the connection between your computer and the appropriate port depending on the email protocol your Outlook is set to use for receiving emails.

My SMTP server is refusing my connection attempts:

# telnet my-domain-name.com 25  <- for SMTP

If you get a message saying that the connection is refused because that  your Internet service(ISP) provider blocks this port. If this is the case we recommend that you use the alternative port 2525 for your email SMTP connection.


If the connection test shows server side problems, Check for log files in the server.
It may due following reasons such as:
1.  Check the mail Configuration files
2. Check the permission for the mail configuration file
3. Check the host to ip mapping file (/etc/hosts).

2. Use the correct Mail Client settings:

            Incoming mail server (POP3/IMAP server): mail.yourdomain.com

            Outgoing mail server (SMTP server): mail.yourdomain.com

Username: the full e-mail address like email@yourdomain.com

Password: If you are not sure what your email password is we strongly recommend

3. Check Email Quota:

If you have exceeded the quota of your email account, you will not be able to receive any more email messages. You should either remove some of the old messages or increase the space quota of your email account.

4. Check the MX record of your domain name:

The Mail Exchange (MX) record is a part of your DNS zone and it determines which server is currently handling your emails.

Cannot receive emails:

There are several common reasons for not being able to receive emails through Outlook (Express). These reasons include such as

1. Temporary mail server problems

2. Wrong Outlook Express settings

3. Exceeded space quota of the email account

4. Incorrect MX records of the domain.

1. Check your mail server connectivity:

The standard server ports used for receiving emails through POP3 or IMAP protocols are port 110 and port 143 respectively. If you have problems receiving emails, we recommend that you perform a telnet check of the connection between your computer and the appropriate port depending on the email protocol your Outlook is set to use for receiving emails.

My POP3/IMAP server is refusing my connection attempts:

# telnet my-domain-name.com 110  <- for POP3

# telnet my-domain-name.com 143  <- for IMAP

If the connection test shows server side problems, Check for log files in the server.

2. Use the correct Mail Client settings:

            Incoming mail server (POP3/IMAP server): mail.yourdomain.com

            Outgoing mail server (SMTP server): mail.yourdomain.com

Username: the full e-mail address like email@yourdomain.com

Password: If you are not sure what your email password is we strongly recommend

3. Check Email Quota:

If you have exceeded the quota of your email account, you will not be able to receive any more email messages. You should either remove some of the old messages or increase the space quota of your email account.

4. Check the MX record of your domain name:

The Mail Exchange (MX) record is a part of your DNS zone and it determines which server is currently handling your emails.

Please feel free to comment to make it more useful to everyone.