Fortunately, there are several ways to fix this problem. So, let’s get started and discover the various ways for fixing Outlook’s notifications on Windows.
1. Disable Offline Mode in Outlook
First, you should get the most obvious fix out of the way. If you have enabled the Work Offline feature, Outlook will stop receiving any new emails from the servers. It’s one of the first few things you should check for if Outlook isn’t receiving any emails or showing notifications.
You can fix this by disabling offline mode in Outlook:
Open Outlook and switch to the Send / Receive tab. Click the option that says Work Offline to disable it.
2. Check Outlook’s In-App Notification Settings
If Outlook fails to send notifications even when it is online, you can check Outlook’s in-app notification settings to make sure email alerts aren’t disabled.
Follow these steps to check Outlook’s notification settings:
Open Outlook and click the File menu. Select Options from the left pane. In the Outlook Options window, select Mail from the left sidebar. Under the Message arrival section, enable desktop and sound alerts by checking the corresponding boxes. Then, hit OK to save changes.
Once you complete the above steps, you should start receiving Outlook notifications on Windows.
3. Enable Outlook Notifications in the Windows Settings
Windows allows you to manage notification preferences on a per-app basis. If you’ve previously disabled notifications for the Outlook app, here’s what you can do to re-enable them.
Press Win + I to open the Settings app. In the System tab, select Notifications. Make sure notifications are enabled on your PC. Scroll down to the Notifications from apps and other senders section and select Outlook. Enable Notifications toggle for Outlook. Then, check the boxes that read Show notification banners and Show notifications in notification center.
Optionally, you can also enable sound alerts for Outlook notifications from the same menu.
4. Turn Off Focus Assist
Focus Assist is a useful feature on Windows that allows you to work in a distraction-free environment. When enabled, Focus Assist silences notifications for all apps unless specified otherwise.
You can check the Focus Assist status from Action Center at the bottom right, but if the tile is missing, you can turn it off from Settings:
Open the Settings app. Navigate to System > Focus. Set the Focus Assist to Off, so you get all notifications.
Check the Automatic rules section to make sure Focus Assist is not set to enable itself automatically.
5. Turn Off Battery Saver
Another reason Outlook may fail to send you notifications is if the battery saver is enabled on your laptop. If it is, apps like Outlook will fail to sync data in the background, and you may not receive notifications from Outlook unless you open the app. To avoid this, you must disable the battery saver mode on Windows by following the steps below.
Open the Settings app and head to System > Power & battery. Click on Battery saver to expand it. Click the Turn off now button.
6. Check Outlook’s Rules
The rules in Outlook allow you to specify how different types of emails should be handled. If you have previously set any notification rules in the Outlook app, this may cause them to not show. If unsure, you can go through Outlook’s rules to disable any rules related to notifications.
Here’s how you can access Outlook’s rules:
Open the Outlook app and click the File menu in the top left. In the Info tab, select the Manage Rules & Alerts option. Under Email Rules, you’ll see all the rules that you’ve created for your emails. Find and disable any rule that may be interfering with Outlook notifications. Then, hit Apply followed by OK.
7. Clear the Outlook Cache
Outlook, like most apps, saves cache files on your computer to improve performance and reduce loading times. However, once this cache gets old or corrupted, it hurts more than it helps. Thankfully, you can get rid of the Outlook cache data fairly easily.
Follow these steps to delete Outlook’s cache data on Windows:
Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog. Type %localappdata%\Microsoft\Outlook in the Open field and press Enter. In the RoamCache folder that appears, select all the files and click the trash icon at the top to delete them.
Restart Outlook after this and check if the notifications are working now.
8. Update the Outlook App
Using an outdated version of the Outlook app can result in a variety of problems, including the one discussed here. You can try updating the Outlook app to the most recent version to see if that helps. Here’s how you can go about it.
Open Outlook on your PC and head over to File > Office Account. In the pane on the right, select Update Options > Update Now.
Wait for Outlook to find and install the latest updates on your computer. Once updated, check if the notifications are working now.
9. Repair the Microsoft Office Suite
Microsoft Office comes with a handy repair tool that can prove useful when Office apps fail to work correctly. You can repair the Microsoft Office suite in case the above solutions don’t work. Here’s what you’ll need to do.
Open Control Panel using the search menu. Go to Programs and Features. Locate and select Microsoft Office on the list. Then, click the Change button at the top. Select Quick Repair and then click Repair.
Wait for the process to finish and check if notifications are working. If the problem persists, repeat the above steps to perform an Online Repair. As the name implies, the process does necessitate an active internet connection. So, make sure your PC is connected to the internet.
Never Miss an Outlook Notification AgaIN
Being a Microsoft product, you’d expect Outlook to work flawlessly on Windows. However, that may not always be the case. Hopefully, going through the above fixes has helped you fix Outlook’s notification issue on Windows and things are back to normal.
However, if nothing works, you can consider switching to Microsoft’s Mail app for Windows.
