I cannot receive emails. I can send them without issue. How do I fix this?

Good day @Ricky Tipps

Welcome to Q&A forum!

To ensure we're aligned and I can provide you with better support, could you share a bit more information? Your details will help me assist you more effectively 

1. Do you have the administrator rights?
2. Is this happening with all incoming emails or just from specific senders?
3. Have you checked your spam/junk folder or any inbox rules that might be redirecting emails?
4. Do you have any email forwarding or redirection rules set up?
5. Have you recently changed your domain, DNS settings, or MX records?
6. Can you confirm if your domain is hosted with Microsoft 365 or another provider? Is your domain properly verified and active in your Microsoft 365 admin center?

During confirmation step, I want to offer you some troubleshooting steps to check it. If I understand correctly, this usually means that your mail server is rejecting incoming connections, due to some reasons:

• DNS or MX (Mail Exchange) record misconfiguration
• Firewall or ISP blocking connections
• Mail server not responding or misconfigured

Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can try to see if it helps:

Step 1: Check Your MX Records

Your domain’s MX records tell other mail servers where to deliver your emails.

1. Go to a DNS lookup tool (you can search it easily to find this tool)
2. Enter your domain name (e.g., yourcompany.com)
3. Check if:
   • MX records exist
   • They point to the correct mail server (e.g., Microsoft 365)
   • There are no errors or warnings

If you're using Microsoft 365, your MX record should look like:

yourdomain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com

Step 2: Run Message Trace in Microsoft 365 Defender

Check if Microsoft 365 is receiving the message at all.

1. Go to Message trace - Exchange admin center
2. Navigate to Start a trace
3. Enter your email address and time range.
4. Review the delivery status.

Step 3: Test Inbound SMTP with Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer

Use Microsoft’s own tool to test if your server is reachable.

1. Go to Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer
2. Select Inbound SMTP Email test.
3. Enter your domain and mail server details.

Review the results for connection or banner errors

Please kindly ask your IT Admin to support you to do these steps.

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