Fix SharePoint Online Rule Email Notifications Not Working
Question details
Users need to resolve an issue where automated SharePoint Online rule-based email alerts have stopped sending.
- Product
- SharePoint Online
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Users expect to receive automated rule-based email notifications from SharePoint lists when changes or updates occur.
- Observed behavior
- Rule-based email alerts fail to send across multiple lists and users despite correct permissions, while Power Automate notifications and mention emails continue to work normally.
Verify that your SharePoint list permissions are correctly configured and confirm whether the email failure affects a single user or the entire organization before escalating the issue.
Check Service Health and Open a Microsoft Support Request
Because this issue typically indicates a tenant-wide or backend service disruption, your Microsoft 365 administrator must verify service health and contact Microsoft Support.
When email alerts stop working across multiple sites and browsers, it is usually a backend routing issue rather than a local configuration error. Recreating alerts or changing browsers will not resolve tenant-level service disruptions.
Check with other users to confirm that the email notification failure affects multiple SharePoint sites, lists, and different web browsers.
Have your Microsoft 365 administrator log into the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and navigate to Health > Service health to check for any active advisories regarding SharePoint or Exchange.
In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, the administrator should navigate to Support > New service request to open an official ticket with Microsoft.
Inform Microsoft support that permissions have been verified, alerts were recreated without success, and that Power Automate notifications are still functioning correctly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my Power Automate emails working but SharePoint rule alerts failing?
SharePoint rule-based alerts and Power Automate workflows utilize different backend routing services. A tenant-level issue might disrupt standard rule alerts while leaving Power Automate triggers completely unaffected.
Will deleting and recreating the SharePoint alert fix the issue?
If the problem is limited to a single user or a specific list, recreating the alert might restore functionality. However, if the issue spans multiple users and sites, recreating alerts will generally not resolve the underlying backend service disruption.
How do I know if Microsoft is already aware of this SharePoint issue?
Your Microsoft 365 administrator can check the Service Health Dashboard located in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Any active advisories or widespread incidents regarding SharePoint or Exchange services will be officially listed there.
