Email problems are incredibly disruptive — especially for businesses. Whether you can't send, can't receive, or can't log in, here are the most common issues and what to check.
Check your internet connection. Open a web browser and try loading a website. If the internet is down, that's your problem — not email itself.
Check webmail. Try logging into your email via a web browser (outlook.com for Microsoft 365, mail.google.com for Gmail). If webmail works but your desktop app doesn't, the problem is with the app configuration, not the email service.
Mailbox full. If your mailbox has hit its storage limit, new emails will bounce. Delete old emails or empty your Deleted Items and Junk folders.
Password changed or expired. If your password was recently changed (or expired under a company policy), your email app won't connect until you update the saved password.
Outlook stuck on "Connecting" or "Trying to connect": Try restarting Outlook. If that doesn't work, check if Outlook is in offline mode (look for "Working Offline" in the bottom status bar). Try creating a new Outlook profile if the problem persists.
Outlook keeps asking for password: This is common after Microsoft 365 security changes. Clear your saved credentials in Windows Credential Manager (search "Credential Manager" in Start menu, find Microsoft entries, and remove them), then restart Outlook and sign in fresh.
If your business is on Microsoft 365 and email stops working for multiple staff, the issue might be at the admin level — expired subscription, DNS changes, security policies blocking access, or a misconfigured conditional access rule. This is something we handle regularly for Townsville businesses.
If the basic checks above don't solve it, or if it's affecting your whole business, give us a call. Email problems often have simple causes that are hard to spot without experience — and the sooner it's fixed, the sooner you're back in business.