What’s that? You say you can’t send email with Outlook 2010? Well, don’t panic. There’s an excellent chance we can figure out what’s going on right here. There are a few possible causes for this problem, and because they occur in different situations we can figure out which one you are experiencing and get it fixed.

Let’s start with some questions that will enable us to narrow down the problem. They are:

 

• You can’t send or receive email at all?
• You are setting up a new account and can receive but can’t sent email?
• You can receive messages but you can’t send email even though it used to work?
• You can receive messages anywhere but can’t send email in certain locations?

You Can’t Send Or Receive Email At All

In my experience, the most common reason people can’t send email or receive it at all with Outlook 2010 is that they don’t have an email account configured. Outlook can work with all sorts of email accounts, but doesn’t come with any accounts pre-installed. To see if your copy is configured to work with one or more email accounts, try this:

 

No accounts are configured here.

1. Start Outlook 2010 if it isn’t already running.
2. Click the File tab on the ribbon. This takes you to the Outlook 2010 Backstage area.
3. In the menu running down the left side of the window, click Info if it is not already selected. This displays the Account Information page.
4. Click the Account Settings button. This opens a menu. Click Account Settings in that menu to open the Account Settings dialog box.
5. Click the E-mail tab if it is not already selected. This opens a page that displays the email accounts your copy of Outlook 2010 is configured to work with.

If your page looks like this, then the reason you can’t send email is that Outlook is not configured with an email account. You either need to talk to the people at your employer who are responsible for email, or go to THIS PAGE to find out about setting up a web-based email account you can use with Outlook 2010.

If an account does show up in this dialog box, then you need to confirm that it is set up correctly. To do that, you can visit my Outlook 2010 Webmail page and see if I have posted instructions for your type of account. If so, try working through them and confirm that your connection is configured properly.

If I haven’t posted instructions for your type of account, and you set up the account yourself, then you will need to work your way through the instructions you used once again and be sure that everything is set up per those instructions.

You Are Setting Up A New Account And Can Receive But Can’t Send Email

If you are setting up an account and it receives messages fine but you can’t send email, there are a few possibilities. I suggest you visit this New Account Can’t Send Email page.

You Can Receive But You Can’t Send Email Even Though It Used To Work

As Internet Service Providers, cable companies, and email services have become more security conscious, lots of people have seen this kind of problem. Visit this Can’t Send Email Anymore page for help.

You Can Receive Messages Anywhere But Can’t Send Email In Certain Locations