Microsoft 365 Down? Keep Email Working With the Proofpoint Emergency Inbox
When Outlook and Exchange Online can't receive mail, Proofpoint Essentials holds your inbound email and gives your team a browser inbox to keep reading and replying until Microsoft is back.
What Happens When Microsoft 365 Is Down
Outlook, Exchange Online, and every phone and laptop connected to them stop getting new mail at the same time.
Inbound mail can’t be delivered
Customers, vendors, and partners keep sending, but Exchange Online can’t accept the messages.
Senders may get bounces
Sending servers retry for a limited time. If the outage outlasts them, messages bounce back to the sender.
Your team is cut off
Outlook on desktop, web, and mobile all depend on the same service, so there is no inbox to switch to.
How the Emergency Inbox Keeps Email Moving
Because Proofpoint receives your mail before Microsoft does, an outage at Microsoft doesn't stop mail at Proofpoint.
Proofpoint sits in front of Microsoft 365
Your MX records point to Proofpoint, so every inbound message is filtered by Proofpoint before it is handed to Exchange Online.
Microsoft can’t accept mail
When Exchange Online is down or unreachable, Proofpoint can’t deliver to Outlook. Instead of bouncing, it holds (spools) the mail.
Your team switches to the Emergency Inbox
Users sign in to Proofpoint from a browser to read, reply to, and send email, with the last 30 days of mail available.
Microsoft recovers, mail is delivered
Once Microsoft 365 accepts mail again, Proofpoint delivers the spooled messages automatically. Nothing is lost.
The one requirement: MX records point to Proofpoint
The Emergency Inbox only works if inbound mail flows through Proofpoint first. Iron Cove sets up your MX records and the Microsoft 365 configuration and confirms mail flow before you need it.
Emergency Inbox FAQ
Common questions about Microsoft 365 outages and Proofpoint Essentials email continuity.
What happens to incoming email when Microsoft 365 or Exchange is down?
Without a filter in front of Microsoft, the sending server retries for a limited time and may eventually bounce the message back to the sender. With Proofpoint Essentials in front of Microsoft 365, Proofpoint accepts the mail and holds (spools) it until Microsoft is reachable again.
How do users get to the Emergency Inbox?
Users sign in to Proofpoint directly from a web browser. They can read, reply to, and send email from there while Outlook and Exchange are unavailable.
How much email is available in the Emergency Inbox?
The last 30 days of email that passed through Proofpoint is available in the Emergency Inbox.
What happens when Microsoft 365 comes back online?
Proofpoint delivers the spooled mail to Microsoft 365 automatically, so messages that arrived during the outage land in Outlook. No messages are lost.
Which Proofpoint Essentials plans include the Emergency Inbox?
All Proofpoint Essentials plans include the Emergency Inbox, starting with the Business plan at $3.93 per user per month.
What has to be set up for the Emergency Inbox to work?
Your MX records must point to Proofpoint so all inbound mail flows through it before reaching Microsoft 365. Iron Cove configures the MX records and the Microsoft 365 connector, and confirms mail flow before you rely on it.
Be Ready for the Next Microsoft Outage
Proofpoint Essentials starts at $3.93/user/month with the Emergency Inbox included.
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