Outlook on android - receiving notifications, but emails don't show in inbox.

Anonymous
2016-12-15T21:51:08+00:00

I use outlook for android (Motorola Moto G running Android 5.1) and it worked great until a couple of days ago. Now I get notifications of new emails, but the messages don't show up in my inbox. If I click a notification to try and read the email, it says 'Couldn't open message', and takes me back to my inbox, which shows only old messages.

Please help!

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Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-04-08T14:54:19+00:00

    I have been receiving emails to my Samsung S8 with out issue using Outlook in Office 365 until a couple of weeks ago. I am receiving email pop-up notifications but when I go to open the email, I am unable to open the email and it does not display at all. I have deleted the app and reinstalled, which fixed the problem but then it started happening all over again. Has Microsoft got a fix for this?

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-04-09T00:02:32+00:00

    If they have, they are not sharing it with its users.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-04-09T00:33:52+00:00

    After working with my email provider, the problem appears to involve two-factor authentication (seems MS calls it "multi-factor authentication" in their documentation).  Now, we don't have a **** clue as to why that's the case, but it looks like their own Android app and their own Authenticator app, or any other MFA-supporting email client and authenticator app, just sometimes don't work on Samsung devices.  I think this may have something to do with Knox and/or giving Outlook/your mail client Administrative Rights to your device, but it's my device, so 1) No; and 2) It's optional in my case anyway and I aggressively do not care, so we didn't do any more research or do something like create an individual "app password" to bypass it.  I disabled MFA in my Office365 settings and the phone picks up emails fine now.

    If you want a broad overview of MFA, https://www.eastfieldcollege.edu/services/onlineservices/pass/pages/set-up-mobile-for-email.aspx has general details that apply to any device connecting to an Office365 account (not just the school's), plus links out to some MS troubleshooting and Office365 admin documentation.

    tl;dr -- If you are accessing an account which uses 2FA/MFA using Outlook for Android, ditch the 2FA/MFA or ditch Outlook.

    That said, anyone got a better free email client for Android that supports Office365? :/

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-09T04:43:06+00:00

    Yes GC, that's when my exact same problem began, as well.

    Something must have happened in one of the updates from either Microsoft or Android.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-04-12T08:41:47+00:00

    This exact same problem started on my S9 about a week ago.

    I've just turned off battery optimisation in Authenticator as suggested upthread and immediately my O365 emails appear as they should in Outlook.

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