Outlook (web interface - private use, non commercial), no longer receiving NDR (Postmaster Failure) messages.

Martin 0 Reputation points
2026-09-02T13:56:51.3466667+00:00

As a public use (non subscription) web interface may render several Outlook features out of reach or disabled, it only struck me as 'this should not be happening even if using the free plan of Outlook' today. My last NDR Postmaster Failure message from Microsoft servers received ultimately within days of sending to a wrong address was received in April 2023, none since then, and I did err a few times since then I found out late, usually in the name section, less frequent in the domain section: ******@domain.dot .

When the 'domain.dot' section is inaccurate or incomplete, Microsoft ought to send NDR Postmaster Failure. Can this registered omission in functionality be configured by myself somehow, or is something off.

-Outlook's web interface is parsed by me to no avail for such function on both Windows 11 Edge [current] and identical looking interface of Outlook -web- via Windows 7 Edge 109/ Firefox 115 ESR. I reproduced the omission of Microsoft servers by sending five consecutive bogus emails with varying bogus user names and dito domain names, both via Windows 7 and via Windows 11, and none bounced, currently counting hours since.

-My internet provider is unaware of any grief between them and Microsoft servers, couldn't come up with a valid argument why I would not receive Postmaster Failure messages.

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy
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  1. Hendrix-V 18,525 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-03T03:59:14.4866667+00:00

    Hi Martin,

    Based on your description, it does seem unusual that messages sent to clearly invalid addresses are not generating any NDRs, especially when this behavior was previously observed on the same Outlook.com account.

    One possibility is that the receiving domain or mail-routing process is handling these messages differently than expected, resulting in delayed or suppressed failure notifications rather than an immediate bounce. Since you reproduced the behavior with multiple test messages and across different browsers and devices, the issue is less likely to be related to the local Outlook web interface itself.

    As a quick check, you could try these steps:

    1. Review the Junk Email folder for any delayed NDR messages.
    2. Confirm the test messages remain in Sent Items and note whether any delivery status updates appear after 24-72 hours.
    3. Test using an address with a clearly non-existent domain to compare the results.
    4. Check the Outlook.com Rules and blocked sender settings to ensure automated delivery reports are not being redirected.

    If the behavior continues across multiple tests, it may be worth monitoring for a few days to determine whether the delivery reports are delayed rather than absent. I appreciate the detailed testing you've already performed, as it helps narrow down the possible causes.

    Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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