Windows Live mail is stuck in 'working offline'

Anonymous
2013-04-02T10:57:39+00:00

Windows Live mail is stuck in 'working offline' and will not allow me to send or receive emails. 

No matter how many times I try to change it to working online, although I AM online and everything else works fine, I cannot receive or send emails.  The Globe at the bottom of the screen changes to online whne I click on it, but the option 'work offline' under 'File' in top left will not switch to online.  I am going mad as I cannot retrieve my emails or send any.

Windows for home | Other | Email and communications

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2013-04-04T00:09:08+00:00

Have a look at IE Tools | Work offline --- is it ticked? untick it, and WLM will be able to go online again.

For some idiot reason MS link IE and WLM Work on/offline settings.

This happened to me after upgrading to IE10 ... hours of frustration later (and I did not select to work offline in IE BTW!).

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Anonymous
2013-07-16T02:51:45+00:00

Hi everyone,

I know that you guys are having issues on:

Unable to send or receive emails, Windows Live Mail is stuck in ‘working offline’

We recommend that you follow the steps below as one of these steps may resolve your issue.

  1. Make sure that the default browser is IE. (Please see the link below)

Make Internet Explorer your default browser:

Internet Explorer 10

Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7

Internet Explorer 9

Internet Explorer 8

  1. You may try to reconfigure the account in Windows Live Mail:

How do I add an account to Windows Live Mail?

  1. Check your computer’s Internet Connection. Verify if Internet Explorer is offline.

a)    Open Internet Explorer browser.

b)    From the menu bar, click File. (If menu is not shown, press “Alt” + F button on your keyboard)

c)     Uncheck “Work offline” by clicking on it.

d)    From Windows Live Mail, click Send/Receive button. If you are being asked to go online, click Yes.

If you encounter the same issue even after following the steps in this thread, we recommend to create a new post under Windows Live Mail forum.

NOTE: I have locked this thread now since it's too long to manage. You may also find some workaround provided by the community on this thread.

Thank you.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-10T11:11:46+00:00

    my version 10 IE has no reference anywhere to on/off line

    On the desktop version, it's under the file menu (Alt-F W). I don't think it's ever been under Tools.

    It is absurd that the Livemail shell will not support third party email systems

    I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Windows Live Mail can handle accounts from just about any mail provider who allows for IMAP/POP3/SMTP.

    The online/offline problem arises because WLMail 2012 was released long before IE10. Online/offline is a Windows setting; it seems clear that Chrome interferes with on systems with IE10 installed. You can't expect a program's developers to make allowances for the possible effects of future changes in other programs, especially not third-party ones.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-10T06:36:36+00:00

    I have been frustrated all day attempting to set up gmail running under Livemail.  I finally arrived here and saw the tips.  I'm running Win8 and my version 10 IE has no reference anywhere to on/off line and I finally determined that IE had to be up and running completely in order for Livemail to function continuously online.  I use Chrome and find this imposition totally unacceptable.

    It is absurd that the Livemail shell will not support third party email systems and perform without this pettiness.  MS would get a lot more kudos for being adaptive and collaborative rather than being stupidly insular.

    Needless to say, Livemail is a no go for me and I have removed it entirely.  What a waste of an otherwise neat piece of programming over such a trivial issue.

    I also find that Outlook will not host gmail properly and maybe the same issue applies.  However I am not about to take the time or the effort to find out.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-07T12:44:11+00:00

    This problem occur if you update Internet Explorer to version 10. I found simple solution.


    Solution:

    a. Open Internet Explorer, click on Tools.

    b. Make sure there is no check mark on Work Offline.

    c. Then just close the Internet Explorer.

    d.Now Windows Live Mail client is working online.

    Please do the same if you accidently click on "Work Offline" button again.  This was work fine for me. If this is not work the please do let me know.

    Thank You.

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