Gmail and Yahoo have their own advantages over Outlook’s mailing platform. A key advantage of Outlook over any other email platform is its security, ease of transferring emails, and integrated calendar. That’s why Outlook is preferred by most businesses today. Its slow refreshing rate is the only hindrance to its usage. Due to the slow syncing of emails, your emails may not get delivered instantly. Whether you are using Windows or Mac, learning how to refresh Outlook will help you overcome this issue.
How do I refresh Outlook on Windows?
Refreshing Outlook can be done in a number of ways. Manually, automatically, or forcefully, it can be done in accordance with your needs. What you need to do is as follows.
1. You can manually refresh the page
When receiving or sending an email, you should always refresh Outlook. Refreshing Outlook manually is not recommended since it takes a long time and needs to be done all the time. Users find this process cumbersome and unnecessary. To refresh Outlook manually, follow the steps below if you wish to do so.
- Outlook 365 can be refreshed by pressing F9 on your keyboard. Your outlook will be refreshed as a result.
The following steps can also be followed manually to refresh it:
- Outlook should be open. On the keyboard, press F9+FN Tab
- Go to the tab for sending and receiving
- All folders can be accessed by clicking on send / receive all
Emails will be sent/received instantly after this action. It must be done every time you want to refresh it.
By clicking Send/Receive All Folders or F9 control, you can manually refresh Outlook to download incoming messages and send them. The auto-refresh rate is not affected by it. After pressing F9, Outlook will automatically refresh again after 5 minutes if the auto-refresh rate is set to 5 minutes.
2. Automatically refresh
Similarly to other email managers, Outlook also automatically refreshes its inbox. Many users accidentally disable this feature even though it is enabled by default. As a result, Outlook reports that it is unable to receive email. Using auto-refresh, you can set the time interval after which it will refresh. As a result, you won’t experience any email delays. Using this method, outlook emails will automatically refresh in the background.
Using Outlook’s auto-refresh feature is the first method
- The Outlook program should be opened
- To send or to receive messages, click the Send/Receive tab at the top of the screen.
- Drop-down menu for Send and Receive groups
- You can now define your send and receive groups by clicking on the ‘Define Send/Receive Groups’ option. The window for sending and receiving groups will appear.
- Three checkboxes appear at the bottom of the page under ‘Settings for group “All Accounts”.
Secondly, you can change how often Outlook automatically refreshes when online. Make sure to check the box next to “Schedule an automatic send/receive every” and enter the refresh rate. Outlook automatically refreshes the inbox after this refresh rate. Keep the time frame under 10 minutes if you want it to refresh automatically. Keep the timeframe over 5 minutes to avoid duplication and repeat entries within your inbox.
The automatic send/receive when exiting this app can be enabled by checking the third checkbox.
As long as your computer remains connected to the internet, Outlook can also receive and send emails when you are offline. You can schedule an automatic send/receive each time Outlook is offline if you check the box under ‘When the Outlook is Offline’. Assign a timeframe to this one as well. If the computer is still connected to the Internet, then a periodic auto send/receive will be executed even if Outlook is offline
You can close the window by clicking the ‘close’ button.
Refreshing Outlook using the advanced option is the second method
- The Outlook program should be open.
- In the top left corner of the screen, click the File option.
- Select Options from the menu.
- Click ‘Advanced’ on the left side of the new window.
- Click the Send/Receive button under ‘Settings for the group all account’.
- The same window will open for Send/Receive Groups. The steps are the same as above.
- In the ‘Setting for group “All Accounts” and ‘When Outlook is Offline’ sets a refresh rate time frame, make sure you check all the boxes.
This will ensure that outlook connects to the server and updates the emails after that period.
How to Refresh Outlook Email on Mac?
If you are using Outlook on a Mac instead of a PC, the steps are slightly different. It remains a simple process, however. Refreshing Outlook on Mac is as simple as following the steps below.
- On a Mac, open the Outlook program.
- Gmail or Hotmail accounts are listed in the left section.
- Go to ‘Account settings’ by right-clicking your account.
- Your system will open a new screen. The ‘Advance’ button is located in the upper right corner of your screen.
- Sync all IMAP folders every _ minutes by clicking the second checkbox under ‘Server’. The number of minutes after which periodic refreshing should occur should be entered in the box.
- Once Outlook has been refreshed, click on ‘OK’.
‘Not Receiving Emails’ Issues: Other Causes
There might be other causes for ‘not receiving emails’ if refreshing Outlook doesn’t work.
- There may be a problem with the network
- Outlook server does not respond
- Firewall restrictions
- There is a possibility that the emails will end up in the spam folder
- A wrong password was entered.
These issues can be dealt with in a number of ways, including:
- Prior to sending out an email, make sure it’s going to the right folder by checking the credentials.
- If some emails are being blocked by the firewall, check it.
- Ensure that the spam folder is checked
However, Outlook sometimes delays receiving emails even if all these things are working fine.
