3+ Fixes When Outlook Notifications Are Not Working

Microsoft Outlook sends timely notifications or alerts to keep you updated of your recent emails, meeting requests, etc. However, if Outlook fails to send the notifications, you may miss your important emails. The Outlook notification not working issue may occur due to a variety of reasons. In this post, we’ve discussed the causes that may lead to such an issue and some effective solutions to fix the issue.

Causes of Outlook Notifications not Working 

Following are the possible causes behind the issue:

• Rules are enabled
• Improper installation of the application
• Corrupted PST file
• Outlook notifications are disabled in Windows settings
• Outlook Offline mode is enabled
• Focus Assist is turned on
• Battery Saver mode is turned on
• Outdated Outlook application
• Corrupted Rules

Methods to Fix “Outlook Notifications not Working” Issue

You can try the below methods to fix the Outlook notifications not working issue.

Method 1: Check the Rules in Outlook

Outlook Rules are used for managing the inbox and automating actions in Outlook. You may not receive the notifications if you have set any rules regarding notifications. You can check the rules and disable any rules related to notifications. Follow these steps:

• Open your Outlook application.
• Click on the ‘File’ menu.
• Click Manage Rules & Alerts.
• A new ‘Rules and Alerts’ window will be displayed.
• Under E-mail Rules, you can see the rules applied.

 

• Check if you have set any rules that may be interfering with your Outlook notifications. If found, then disable them.

Method 2: Check the Notification Settings in Outlook

You may not receive notifications if email alerts are disabled in the Notification Settings. To check the notification alerts, follow these steps:

• Open your Outlook and then go to File > Options.

• In the Outlook Options window, under Message arrival, check the notifications set for the new messages that arrive. Enable the notifications and click OK.

Method 3: Update your Outlook

The Outlook notification not working issue may also occur if your Outlook application is not up-to-date. If this is the case, you can just update your Outlook. Follow these steps:

• Open your Outlook.
• Click on the File menu and then click on ‘Office Account’ from the left side panel.

• Click Office Options and then select Update Now.

Method 4: Check if Outlook Notifications are Disabled in Windows Settings

Sometimes, the Outlook notifications not working issue can occur if you’ve disabled the Outlook notifications in Windows. You can check the Outlook notifications in your Windows settings. Here are the steps:

• Press Windows + I keys to open the Windows Settings.
• Click on the System tab and then select Notifications & Actions.
• Make sure that the Notifications option is enabled.

• Now under the “Get Notifications from Apps and other senders” section, check if the notifications option for the Outlook application is enabled. If not, enable it.

Method 5: Turn Off Battery Saver Mode

The Outlook notifications not working issue may occur if you have enabled the Batter Saver mode on your system. The Battery Saver mode can stop Outlook’s data sync process in the background, resulting in the Outlook notifications not working issue. Follow these steps to turn off the Battery Saver mode:

• On the right side of your system’s Taskbar, click the battery icon.

• Click Battery Settings and turn off Battery Saver.

Method 6: Check Focus Assist Settings

You may not receive Outlook notifications if you have enabled the Focus Assist settings in your Windows. It is a powerful feature in Windows 10/11 to avoid distracting notifications. Check and disable the Focus Assist settings using the below steps:

• Go to Windows Settings.
• Click on System and select Focus Assist.
• Turn off Focus Assist.

• Also check that Focus Assist is not set to turn on automatically, under Automatic rules.

Method 7: Repair Outlook PST File

Your Outlook can stop sending notifications if your Outlook data file (PST) is corrupted or damaged. You can try Microsoft’s in-built tool “Scanpst.exe” to repair the PST file. Follow the below-mentioned steps to run the tool:

• Close your Outlook.
• Find the Scanpst.exe file on your system and double-click on it to open the Inbox Repair tool.
• Now select the PST file that you want to repair.
• Click on the Start button.
• The tool will start scanning the PST file. Once it completes, it will show the errors found in the file.
• Click on the Repair option.

If the Outlook Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) fails to respond or does not fix the corruption issues in the file, then you can try an advanced PST repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Outlook. This software can repair severely corrupted PST files of any size and recovers all the data with complete integrity. Also, it allows you to preview the recoverable items before saving them.

Conclusion

The Outlook notifications not working issue can occur due to several reasons. You can try the methods discussed above to fix the issue. If the issue is occurred due to corrupt PST file, you can use Outlook Inbox Repair tool or Scanpst.exe to repair the corrupt file. However, Scanpst.exe cannot repair severely corrupted or oversized PST files. In such a case, you can use a reliable Outlook PST repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Outlook. It can effectively repair severely corrupted PST files without any file size limitations.