Outlook 365 no longer receiving emails via IMAP

[#1]

My (newish) laptop has Office 365 with Outlook.  This was set up to access by Plusnet account via IMAP and worked happily from August until early October.  It then stopped receiving email, although I could still access incoming mail via either Webmail or my Android phone (IMAP).

Have had a long online session with Microsoft Support who also failed to get the IMAP connection going but then set up another Outlook profile using POP3 which worked straight away.  He is convinced the IMAP problem lies at the Plusnet server end.

I really want to get back to using IMAP but am not sure what  to try next!!

HELP please!

[#2]

@MagpieH So IMAP mail still works on Android, it doesnt work on Outlook 365 and Microsoft say its a Plusnet problem! Not sure how they come to that conclusion but hey it's Microsoft so they must be right🙄

I dont use Outlook myself but you've only got to look at some of the other threads to see others with similar problems. It seems that Outlook insists on trying to 'guess' the correct server names and gets them wrong.

From other posts it seems the best option is to delete the mail account in Outlook ( although I'd be careful now its set to POP3 as the emails may only be stored locally!) and then start again ensuring that the manual setup option is used to force the correct server names. The correct setings are here :- https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/ under the 'What other settings do I need' section.

Hope that helps. If you still cant get it to work then post back with some screenshots of your settings and we'll try and help further

[#3]

I am with PlusNet for home and business.   I've just spent all day trying to get a customers PlusNet imap to work on her new Suface tablet, it is also not working in Windows 10 Mail app.

It has downloaded the folder list but won't show any emails in her Inbox, it is currently stuck on Syncronizing Folders 4 minutes. Custome doesn't want to use Thunderbird. HEEELP.

[#4]

> Custome doesn't want to use Thunderbird.

I use Thunderbird, other mailers and webmail. Nothing works and it's the server. It's been like that for weeks and it's getting worse by the day -- see other threads around here. Plusnet say they are working on it but clearly they are not. Plusnet can you tell us when IMAP will work again? I know email is not a supported service these days, but an ISP with a mail server like this is laughable.

[#5]

I'm having the same problem - lists folders, but won't sync emails - with one of my six Plusnet email addresses. The other 5 are fine, but one, when setup correctly with IMAP and on different computers, refuses to work with Windows Mail App, Outlook 2019 and Windows Live Mail. Even the Plusnet Webmail times out trying to list 900 emails in the Inbox. Only the latest version of Thunderbird has any joy, but it is SO slow.

Is there anything else we can do to escalate this issue?

[#6]

Maybe it'll all be back to normal after all the Plusnet email servers get a Reboot today.

[#7]

TBH I think it is MS 365 at fault as it took me ages to get Outlook to accept login settings and details.  I got around it by installing Outlook 2007 as it is comparatively easy to set up accounts using Outlook 2007.  These details were then transferred to Outlook 365 and I as then able to send and receive emails.  Outlook 365 is definitely not user friendly and I will not be renewing it when the time is due next year and I have been using Outlook since about 1998.

[#8]

Some customers are unable to access their Plusnet email at the moment. We’ve identified what’s causing this, and we’re working to fix this as quickly as possible. We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused. Some of this work will be completed overnight, to avoid any additional disruption, and we expect affected customers to be able to access their Plusnet email account by tomorrow morning.

Plusnet broadband and mobile services are not affected.

[#9]

You may know already, but for anyone else coming to this discussion, for Outlook 2016 and 2019 and Microsoft 365 you (may) have to configure Plusnet email addresses manually using the Mail (outlook) option found in the Control Panel.

This allows you to enter the username in the Domain+User format that Plusnet use, rather than simply using your email address as the username.

And yes, recent versions of Outlook look horrible and are buggy. Hopefully, the new Microsoft email 'product' due to arrive next year will give us an option that is usable and reliable.