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Mail app not syncing with Microsoft Exchange (outlook mail)

phuklok1

phuklok1

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 28, 2023
60
228
Has anyone been experiencing a recent problem syncing mail with MS outlook/hotmail mail accounts using the built in sequoia mail application? This problem seems to have cropped up in the last couple of days. I've even tried removing the account and re-adding it. The account shows green status in settings, but for some reason it will not download messages. iPhone still syncs normally to this account. Also, gmail still works normally.
 
I haven't had that problem.

Removing the account and setting up again is one of the things I would have tried, too. I guess, obviously, you shut down and restarted the Mac, as well?

Thinking about things you can try easily:

Log into Outlook in web browser, work through any verifications or whatever may be necessary. Then go to settings > account > mobile devices and see what you see and go from there. Perhaps there is an issue evident in the states column that will need to be resolved.

Are you running a VPN? If so, turn it off and test?

May seem weird thought, but could wifi be the issue somehow, assuming you are connecting via wifi? Can you use your phone as a hotspot and connect that way, and test? Or, else test another connection? Another step, reset wifi or delete configuration and set it up again?
 
thanks very much for the responses!

For anyone in the future who may run into this problem, I think i have resolved the issue.

  1. Quit the Mail application
  2. In Finder go to your 'user account'>Library>Mail>v10 folder and delete all contents.
  3. Restart mac (probably not necessary)
  4. Open the Mail application re-sync each account

so far it looks like the messages are finally downloading. (i guess just removing and re-adding the accounts through the GUI leaves some gunk behind, since this brute force method appears to have cleared the blockage.)

Not sure what caused this problem as it has worked fine for a long time and this only impacted outlook/hotmail accounts.
 
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FYSA I had to turn on view hidden files in Finder to see the Library path. Took me a minute to figure this out, so I hope this helps someone searching in the future.

@phuklok1 Thanks for posting the solution you found. (Many don't follow up.)
 
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for me it is different story, from time to time mail.app stops syncing and asks for password but doesn't accept OTP code saying wrong all times so I have to delete the account and re-add it and then it works
 
yep svkrzn, i've seen that bug too occasionally, but this time the password was fine and it just would not update any exchange based mail account. pop and gmail were not affected, so not sure if something happened on the microsoft side or it was just another apple mail bug, but the above method did clear the problem and it has been ok since.
 
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phuklok1 said:
yep svkrzn, i've seen that bug too occasionally, but this time the password was fine and it just would not update any exchange based mail account. pop and gmail were not affected, so not sure if something happened on the microsoft side or it was just another apple mail bug, but the above method did clear the problem and it has been ok since.
Click to expand...
never happens with outlook for Mac so not sure if it is Microsoft fault
 
phuklok1 said:
thanks very much for the responses!

For anyone in the future who may run into this problem, I think i have resolved the issue.

  1. Quit the Mail application
  2. In Finder go to your 'user account'>Library>Mail>v10 folder and delete all contents.
  3. Restart mac (probably not necessary)
  4. Open the Mail application re-sync each account

so far it looks like the messages are finally downloading. (i guess just removing and re-adding the accounts through the GUI leaves some gunk behind, since this brute force method appears to have cleared the blockage.)

Not sure what caused this problem as it has worked fine for a long time and this only impacted outlook/hotmail accounts.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this, but I am worried about trying it - will it delete all the mail that I wish to keep? I use my personal email for some voluntary work and at the moment I am stuck since the update. Thank you. If anyone can help I would be very grateful!
 
Caroline, the only way to know is to check that your mail is still on the mail server or service that you are using. If it exchange, it typically will not delete an email unless you do - it tries to keep the server and the client in sync. If you have web access to the email account you are using, i would check there before this process. Make sure you see your old mail there. If it is, you should be ok.

This process will forcibly remove *all* e-mail from your mac and then re-sync/re-download them again from the server, which in my case must have cleared some corruption, a bug or changes on the server - not sure but it worked. If in your case, your emails are not archived on the server this would definitely delete them with no way to recover. Good luck!

It would be nice if apple made real and robust cleanup tools for their OS and apps, but alas it is what it is.
 
hope it helps whatever problem you are having. *just definitively take your time to make sure your old mail is still on the server first*
 
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