This topic

Missing email

enfield250 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:24:06 GMT

Hello!

I sent a query last week about an email not sending email from the server to MS office 2013 Outlook.

I tried everything suggested, in the finnish I detleted the account and re built it, it camback as Pop3 and not Imap.

I now have another email address that has been working for years without a problem, but since I rebuilt the other address it does not receive email, although they are on the server. I am loathe to rebuild this one as it has important emails on it that I don't want to lose. Ant ideas please,

Colin

Re: Missing email

licquorice — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:14:36 GMT

Outlook 2013 gives you the choice of POP3 or IMAP when configuring it. Both are supported by BT

IMAP uses port 993, POP3 uses port 995

Re: Missing email

gg30340 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:35:12 GMT

I have assumed that you are still a BT Broadband customer or paying for your email through a BT Premium email account.

Unless you have a desperate need to use Outlook, stop using it and install the free Thunderbird email client making sure you set it up as an IMAP account.

As long as all your emails are still on the BT server, which you have said they are they will be available via Thunderbird and on BTMail using a web browser.

If you do decide to set up Thunderbird, the settings should automatically populate but if they don't or you wish to check them see the following link.

BT Email server settings | BT Help

Re: Missing email

enfield250 — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:44:00 GMT

Hello!

I have just tried to use Thunderbird and for my main account it worked ok, but the other two accounts all I get is Autherntication Error. I have checked the passwords and they are correct. However, I have just received a message from BT saying I have 9 deliveries Pending please confirm.

Re: Missing email

Lesley_W — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 15:05:49 GMT

Hi @enfield250

Thanks for coming to our community.

Have you recently reset your email password?

If so, you’ll need to update the password in your email client.

If not, can you try changing your password, and then putting the new password in to see if that helps?

Lesley

Re: Missing email

enfield250 — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:20:57 GMT

This is getting beyond a joke now.

I reset my laptop yesterday, re-installed Office.

Set up my three BT email addresses and everything worked perfectly.

Now this morning I could send and receive emails until about 9.30, then nothing.

I have just been into BT Mail from the BT site logged in to my account, tried to look at an email address and I get a message " Error external account authentication failed". I have changed nothing so why has this happened. I've never had it before it was fine until 9.30 this morning. I did get a message yesterday saying "welcome to your new BT Mail". If this is the one can I have the old one back, please.

Any ideas, please don't say use Thunderbird as I have tried that and it would not see my two sub-addresses.

Cheers,

Colin

Re: Missing email

Peter_W — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 14:33:59 GMT

Thanks for the update here, @enfield250

Have you tried setting up a new password then updating this with your client like @Lesley_W recommended?

Peter

Re: Missing email

enfield250 — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:49:39 GMT

I can't change the password as on BT mail all I get is "External account authentication failure".

The mailbox doesn't show when I logon to BT Mail.

I have two mailboxes I have had for years, the other one I created last year after I was hacked again.

Everything was ok until a couple of weeks ago, then I stopped getting emails on my Outlook client on my desktop, on the new address I created last year.

I could see the emails on BT Mail. So I deleted the mailbox and rebuilt it in Outlook, it started working again, but one of the ones I have had for years now does not receive emails on the outlook client. The mails again can be seen if I log in to BT mail, then from this morning I only receive emails on the original address on the email client.

What is going on?

Re: Missing email

enfield250 — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 07:32:58 GMT

You, ask if I am a BT Broadband customer and if I'm a Premium Email customer.

Well that is something else that's confusing.

Am I a BT Broadband Customer or an EE Broadband Customer, who knows?

I joined the GPO in 1966 as a TTA and worked through all it's guises until I took release from BT as a C3 in 2007, I have had Broadband since it first arrived. Last year I changed to Full Fibre and was told I was now an EE customer, but I still get my bills from BT. I don't know about Email as I far as I am aware nothing has changed with email. All I do know, is things do not work as they used to. I have a desktop if I go to BT.com and logon to my email, I can open my main account and my sub account. If i do the same thing from my laptop when I try to look at the sub account I just get "External Account Authentication Failed".

I have Blue Mail on my phone and that seems to work ok.

Why can't things be simple?

Re: Missing email

Kimberlin — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:58:21 GMT

@enfield250 It doesn’t matter whether you’re an EE or a BT customer, it’s the same company just using two different brand names. Why? That’s an entirely different question 🤷‍♂️

If you’re a Premium Mail customer who isn’t with BT/EE, you’d be paying £7.50 a month for the email service unless you are using the basic email service, then it’s free using a web browser (as I understand it). As you are seemingly now a EE customer with a BT email account, one suspects you’re not being charged for a premium email account as you’ve not actually left BT, you’ve just been rebranded with the swap.

Re: Missing email

gg30340 — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 16:52:50 GMT

As regards your BTMail accounts it does matter if you are a BT Broadband or a migrated EE Broadband or BT Premium email customer.

If you are a BT Broadband customer you will use your MyBT and your BTID to access your BT account and various things such your bills etc and you manage your BTMail accounts from there. Your email account will show in your MyBT > Your Products > Email Manage as a "Standard" email account.

If you are an EE customer you will use MyEE or what ever EE call it and your EEID to access your EE Broadband account and various things such as your bills and other things include with your broadband account. There is no option to manage an email account from there because EE do not offer an email service.

However if you moved from BT Broadband to EE Broadband and you had BTMail email accounts you were able to retain those as "Standard" email accounts rather than them being downgraded to BTMail Basic account.

As already mentioned you can not use your MyEE and EEID to manage your BTMail accounts. To do that you will need to use your MyBT and BTID which you used prior to moving to EE even although you are now an EE customer.

This is because of the way the migration from BT to EE, which does not have an email service, is managed.

Rather than customers having their email account downgraded to a Basic account or them having to pay for a Premium an email account in order to keep the account the same as the "Standard" accounts, the email accounts which are still BTMail accounts, remained as "Standard" accounts and are managed through a free BT account which to make things easy is just the MyBT account that the migrating customer had. That MyBT account no longer has billing or any of the other BT services accessible from it.

This will should show the BTMail email accounts as "Standard" however there have been instances when the migration did not go as planned and the email accounts were "downgraded" to a BTMail Basic account with its limitations of only being able to be used as webmail.

Because of all of the above that is why you need to say if you are a BT Broadband or EE Broadband customer or a BT Premium email customer so that the correct advice/checks can be made depending on your answer in order to try and help with any problems.