How to Refresh Outlook Email? Steps to Refresh Outlook on Different Devices

| Updated on February 29, 2024

Outlook refresh is a very basic but important feature. If you suspect that you are getting a new email but haven’t received any, then this feature can help you out. 

You simply have to refresh all sent and received emails, and the messages you suspected weren’t getting updated will appear at the top of your inbox. Further, this not only solves the issue of receiving emails but also sends the ones stuck in the outbox. And with just one simple feature, all your difficulties with sending and receiving emails will be gone. If your Outlook is not working properly, you should refresh the app as this has very high chances of solving the issue.  

Now that you know this, you must be excited to see how to refresh your Outlook inbox. Well, as stated before, it is pretty straightforward to use this feature, and you will get to know how you can refresh Outlook from the very first section of the following write-up. So without further ado, let’s jump into it!

How to Refresh Outlook?

If you want to learn how to refresh Outlook email, you have landed in the right section. Well, there are two ways you can achieve that, but both of them are very easy to perform.

So, without talking much, here are the two processes by which you can perform the Outlook refresh inbox:

Manual Refresh:

  1. First off, open the Outlook app on your system.
  1. Then, from the top menu bar, go to the Send/Receive tab.
  1. There, click on the Send/Receive All Folders option.
    Go to the Send Receive tab
  1. Lastly, Outlook will start refreshing, wait for it to complete the process. Once it is done, you will see the latest received emails at the top of your Inbox emails list. Further, doing so can also resolve the ‘Cannot send emails from Outlook’ issue.

Keyboard Shortcut to Refresh Outlook:

  1. Begin by launching the Outlook app on your system.
  1. In the app, if you want to refresh Outlook Inbox, open it, or any other folder that you want to refresh.
  1. Once you are in that folder, press the F9 key from your keyboard.
  1. After that, Outlook will start refreshing. Wait for it till it’s done, and then you will see your newly received emails at the top of that folder.

Steps to Set Your Outlook to Refresh Automatically

If you remain inactive on your Outlook for a long time, it may stop receiving new emails, and you may start to worry about why your emails are not showing in Outlook. In such a case, you may spend hours looking for how to fix Outlook not receiving emails, while, in reality, it is just a refresh issue.

However, you need not worry about refreshing your Outlook anymore. You can learn how to refresh Outlook automatically, and it will update your inbox with newly received messages.

There are two ways from which you can refresh your mailbox on Outlook, both of which are given below:

Method-1:

  1. Start by launching the Outlook app on your system.
  1. Then, click on the Send/Receive tab from the top menu ribbon.
  1. Next, click on the Send/Receive drop-down box, and select the Send/Receive Every or Define Send/Receive Groups option. You may see either of the options depending on your Outlook version.
    Click on Send Receive Groups and select Define Send Receive Groups
  1. After that, click on the Schedule an Automatic Send/Receive option which is present under the All Accounts section.
  1. Thereafter, you have to set the refresh time for your Outlook inbox. Here, you can set the minutes’ value according to your preference. Your Outlook will refresh automatically after the specified time.
  1. Once you have set the refresh time, click on the Close button at the bottom of the window, and the changes will be saved.

Method-2:

  1. Launch Outlook on your System, and click on the File menu option from the top left corner of the screen.
  1. Then, click on Options from the bottom of the left sidebar of the next screen.
  1. Next, select the Advanced option from the left side pane of the following window.
  1. Then, scroll down to the Send and Receive section and click on the Send/Receive button.
  1. Then, check the Schedule an Automatic Send/Receive Every X Minutes option, and set the minutes you want Outlook to refresh your Inbox.
    Schedule outlook refresh and click Closee
  1. Finally, click on the Close button and the changes will be saved. Now, your Outlook will automatically send and receive new emails after every specified minute.

Steps to Refresh Outlook on Mac

The steps given above to refresh Outlook are most likely to work for Mac as well. However, if you can’t find the appropriate settings or options in it, then there’s another way by which you can do the Outlook refresh, which is given further.

Here’s how to refresh Outlook 365 on Mac:

  1. First off, open the Outlook app on your Mac.
  1. From the left side pane on your Outlook, select the account that you want to refresh. 
  1. Right-click on it and select the Account Settings option.
    Right-click on the account and select Account Settings
  1. This will open the Account dialog box. There, click on the Advanced option present at the button on the right corner of the screen.
  1. Open the Server tab and configure the sync intervals. Keep in mind that the minimum value for IMAP accounts such as Gmail and Outlook.com is 2 minutes.
    In the server tab, set the refresh interval
  1. After you are done setting the refresh time, click on the OK button, close the Accounts dialog box and the changes will be saved.

With this, after the time interval that you specify, Outlook will refresh and look for any new incoming messages.

How to Refresh Outlook on Android/iPhone?

Want to know how to refresh email on Outlook on your Android or iPhone? The process for doing so is ridiculously simple, and here’s how you can do this:

  1. Launch the Outlook app on your Android or iPhone device.
  1. You can simply update your Inbox by swiping down from the top of the screen.
  1. Outlook will take a few seconds to load and will display your latest received emails at the top of the Inbox emails list.

How to Refresh Outlook on the Web?

The process to refresh your Outlook Web inbox is no rocket science. In fact, it is as easy as refreshing any other webpage on the browser.

If you haven’t already opened your Outlook.com, open the browser and sign into it. (Well, by just doing that, you have already refreshed your Outlook!). Once your Outlook Web dashboard loads, just hit the refresh icon of the browser, and your inbox will refresh.

And with that, you will be able to see new messages that you have received at the top of your email inbox list.

What to do When you Couldn’t Refresh your Outlook?

Check your Internet Connection

If, even after precisely following the above steps, you are still not able to refresh your Outlook, then the first thing you need to check is the internet connection. Ensure that your device is connected to a steady network and that there are no network issues.

You can try re-establishing the connection by disconnecting your device from the internet and then connecting it again.

Verify your Outlook Settings

Your Outlook will have difficulty refreshing and won’t display new messages if you have incorrectly configured your email account in it. It is important to set your mail server settings precisely. 

Further, also check if you have set the refresh interval to a high frequency. Let’s say you have set the automatic refresh interval to 30 minutes; then your Outlook will be updating new messages only after 30 minutes and not before that. So, choose the refresh time appropriately.

Check your Antivirus or Firewall Program

In some cases, the third-party antivirus or firewall program installed on the device interferes with Outlook and prevents it from functioning properly. To check if this is the case, temporarily turn off the antivirus or firewall program, and then try to refresh Outlook. If it is now updating just fine, then check with your antivirus program support why this issue is happening.

Update the Outlook app

If your Outlook app is not working on Android devices or iPhones because of which it is not refreshing, then don’t worry; there’s a fix for that too. You can resolve this issue by updating the Outlook app on your Android or iPhone device.

Listed below are the steps for the same:

iPhone:

  1. Begin by opening the Apple App Store on your iPhone.
  1. Then, tap on the Update button present at the bottom of the App Store screen.
  1. Next, you will see a list of apps available for update. Look for Outlook in it and then, tap on the Update button next to it.
  1. After your Outlook app is updated, it will automatically refresh and will start receiving new emails which you can see in the Inbox.

Android:

  1. Open the Google Play Store app on your device.
  1. Search for Outlook in the search bar present at the top of the screen.
  1. This will open the Outlook page, where you can update it by tapping on the Update button. Though, you will see the Update button only when there’s an update available.

Bonus: How to Auto-Update Calendar in Outlook?

You may know how to refresh Outlook mailbox, but the steps to update your Calendar in Outlook are different. 

So, in order to refresh your emails calendar on Outlook, follow the instructions stated further:

  1. First, launch the Outlook app on your system, and go to the Send/Receive tab.
  1. There, click on the Send/Receive drop-down and select the Define Send/Receive Groups option.
  1. Then, the Send/Receive Groups dialog box will open; there, click on the Edit button.
  1. After that, ensure that your email account is selected from the left-hand side of the following window.
  1. Next, check that the Calendar folder is selected, which you can find under the Folder Options.
  1. Finally, click Apply, and your Outlook Calendar will refresh.

Sources


Kanika Singh

Webmail and Internet Expert


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