Adding new email accounts should be fairly simple in the Windows Mail app and, all being well with your email provider/server, the account will add correctly. However, sometimes issues can be caused locally (on your own computer) that can frustrating leave you sat there with a successfully added account but not email syncing to the device. In this case, you’ll also find that you’re unable to send email from the Mail app which can be equally frustrating.
Firewalls
Firewalls are great and gone are the days when you have to spend a fortune and install a third-party application. However, given that they are relatively new in terms of being enabled by default in the latest Windows operating systems (10 and 11) they can cause frustration to great many who have not had a lot of experience with them. The upshot is that whilst you are greatly protected now against online web threats (and if you’re online, you definitely want this protection) unfortunately it can come in the way of legitimate tasks, like fetching your email, as Windows just isn’t 100% sure that it should automatically let it through. As we know it’s safe and it’s something we are trying to do, we can safely permit the firewall to let the Mail app work – however Windows annoying doesn’t do this by default despite the fact that the Mail app is included as default with Windows.
Diagnosis
First, lets diagnose that this actually the firewall causing the issue. Often it will be, but not necessarily always. We can do this by briefly turning off the firewall.
- Go to the Start/Windows button:
2. Type ‘windows security’ in the menu search bar and open the ‘Windows Security’ app by clicking on it:
3. Select ‘Firewall & network protection’ from the menu on the left:
4. You will now see a summary of the firewall protection – all will be enabled by default:
5. Click one by one into each list item (profile). We’ve started from the top selecting ‘Domain network’:
6. Slide the switch under ‘Microsoft Defender Firewall’ to off. You may get prompted to enter the administrator password for your computer. The switch will now be in the off position and you’ll get a message that your computer may be vulnerable. That is why it is critically important to remember to turn it back on after this test!
7. Repeat for the remaining profiles – e.g. private network and public network.
Doing this takes the firewall out of the equation for our mail syncing woes. Open up the Mail app – allow it a few minutes to sync your email – particularly if you have a lot of email in your account it may take a little while to sync.
If you are now getting email synced to your device, you need to ensure that you can stay safe, by leaving your firewall on, but also allow the Mail app through the firewall so that it works correctly.
Allowing Mail through Windows Firewall
- Back on the ‘Firewall and network protection’ page click on the link in the bottom list that says ‘Allow an app through the firewall’:
2. Press the ‘Change Settings’ button – you may need to enter your administrator password:
3. Place a checkmark (tick the box) next to both public and private and then press OK to save it:
Re-Enable The Firewall! (IMPORTANT!)
Hopefully by now, you’re email will be syncing. In any case it is vitally important to re-enable the firewall.
- Follow the steps above to disable the firewall but this time rather than turning the switch to the ‘off’ position, switch it back to the ‘on’ position:
2. Repeat this for all the network profiles in the list. You can confirm you’ve done this correctly by returning to the ‘Firewall & network protection’ summary screen and noting that ‘Firewall is on.’ should be displayed on every one of the listed profiles:
Mail!
If disabling the firewall worked for syncing your mail you should now find that all is still working despite the firewall being switched back on as it’s now been given permission to go through the firewall – think of it like the Mail app now having a key to open the locked door but the baddies still can’t get in as we’re no longer leaving the door wide open (firewall switched off).