QuickBooks Stopped Sending Email Through Outlook? Here’s What Happened — And How to Fix It
Over the past few weeks, many QuickBooks Desktop users suddenly found themselves unable to send invoices, estimates, or statements through Outlook. Everything had been working fine… until it wasn’t.
If this happened to you, the timing wasn’t a coincidence.
What Caused the Problem
In late December 2025 and early January 2026, a QuickBooks Desktop update rolled out that unintentionally broke the connection QuickBooks uses to send email through Outlook. After that update installed, QuickBooks could no longer communicate with Outlook’s mail interface.
The symptoms were consistent everywhere:
QuickBooks worked normally
A QuickBooks update installed
Email sending stopped immediately afterward
Reinstalling QuickBooks temporarily fixed it
As soon as QuickBooks updated again, the problem returned
This made it clear the issue wasn’t user error — it was the update.
The Fix Arrived on January 13th
On January 13th, Microsoft released a new Office/Outlook update that restored compatibility. Once that update installed, QuickBooks and Outlook began talking to each other again.
If you updated Office recently and everything suddenly started working, that’s why.
To manually update Office:
Open Outlook
Go to File → Office Account
Select Update Options → Update Now
Restart Outlook and QuickBooks
For most users, this resolves the issue immediately.
If QuickBooks Still Won’t Send Email
If updating Office doesn’t fix it, try refreshing QuickBooks’ email settings:
Close both QuickBooks and Outlook
Reopen QuickBooks as Administrator
Go to Edit → Preferences → Send Forms
Re‑select Outlook as your email option
Save and test again
This forces QuickBooks to rebuild its connection to Outlook.
Still Having Problems?
If QuickBooks and Outlook still refuse to cooperate, there may be deeper issues with the update, the MAPI interface, or the QuickBooks installation.
Still having problems? Give us a call — we can help.