1. Gmail Storage is Full: Review and Clean
One of the most common reasons when Gmail is not receiving emails is that storage is full. When you run out of storage space, you cannot send or receive messages.
Check Gmail Storage on the Web
There are two easy ways to check your available storage space in the Gmail web app.
Sign into Gmail and:
- Go to your Inbox or All Mail and view the percentage of storage used in the reading pane. Note: Do not select an email or the storage message won’t appear.
- Select your profile icon on the top right and view the percentage of storage used at the bottom of the pop-up window.
You can then click the storage message to view the breakdown by Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
Check Gmail Storage on Mobile
Whether you use Android or iPhone, you can check your available Gmail storage space the same way in the mobile app.
Open the Gmail app, tap your profile icon on the top right, and view the percentage of storage used.
You can then tap the storage message for a breakdown by Google service.
Clean Up and Maintain Gmail Storage
When Gmail storage is full and not receiving emails, you probably don’t have a lot of time to waste. Clean Email is a supplementary tool that works with Gmail to provide fast recovery of storage as well as prevention of future storage shortages.
With Clean Email, you can trash or delete thousands of messages at once to bypass Gmail’s selection limits (50 emails by default). For instance, you can select a Smart Folder that contains social notifications, newsletters, or promotions and then remove all unneeded emails in mere minutes.
You can also use Clean Email (try it for free) to regularly get a better view of emails consuming space and then clear them out. For example, simply choose Large Mail in the menu, optionally pick a specific size, and then Delete them immediately.
The above Clean Email features work on the web and in the mobile app giving you quick cleaning and maintenance at home or on the go.
2. Is Gmail Down? Look for an Outage
If you have plenty of storage space and Gmail is not receiving emails today while previous days were fine, the next sensible step is to check for an outage.
It takes only a minute to see if Gmail service is down, and if it is, you don’t have to continue trying to troubleshoot the problem as it’s out of your control.
Non-Workspace Accounts: Visit Downdetector for Gmail to see any reported outages by time of day in the last 24 hours.
Workspace Accounts: Visit the Google Workspace Status Dashboard to see any disruptions or outages for all services part of Google Workspace, including Gmail.
3. Find Hidden Emails
If there are certain Gmail emails not in your Inbox but you see other new messages, this could mean that they’re simply hidden from view.
There are a couple of reasons that this can happen, and the remedies are the same on the web and in the mobile app.
Gmail emails are in All Mail: Your Gmail Inbox holds new messages you receive while All Mail is a repository for all emails including those labeled or archived.
- Select All Mail in the menu to look for the missing messages.
Gmail emails are archived: When you archive a message, this removes it from the Inbox. Also, keep in mind that if you set up a Gmail filter to Skip the Inbox (Archive it), this sends messages directly to All Mail, and as the action states, “Skips the Inbox” altogether.
- Select All Mail in the menu to look for archived messages or enter in:archive in the Gmail Search to see all archived emails quickly.
Tip: Learn more about the differences between your Gmail Inbox and All Mail.
4. Look For Misconfigured Filters
Using Gmail filters and not receiving emails? A simple misconfiguration of the automated filters may cause messages to be delivered to the wrong location, archived, or even deleted.
- To review your filters, follow these steps:
- In Gmail on the web, select Settings (gear icon).
- Choose See all settings.
- Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
- Do one of the following:
- Click Edit next to a filter to review its criteria, actions, and make any necessary changes.
- Click Delete next to a filter to completely remove it.
Keep in mind that one wrong or misconfigured filter can hide or remove emails from your Inbox. And while you cannot set up or manage filters in the Gmail mobile app, those that you create on the web do apply to emails you receive on mobile.
Create More Advanced Rules
To make sure you don’t miss important messages due to incorrect Gmail filters, consider Clean Email and its Auto Clean feature. With Auto Clean, you have a larger set of criteria. This allows you to more accurately match incoming emails to apply an action.
Different from Gmail, you can create, edit, and manage Auto Clean rules on both your desktop and mobile device.
5. Check For Incorrect Forwarding Settings
If Gmail emails forwarded are not in the Inbox, it takes only seconds to confirm you’ve used the correct settings. This includes forwarding messages to another email address as well as to a different email client (e.g. Outlook, Apple Mail).
To access the settings for both, do the following:
- In Gmail on the web, select Settings.
- Choose See all settings.
- Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
Then, check the settings for the forwarding you set up using the below.
Settings for Email Address Forwarding
Next to Forward a copy of incoming mail to, review the action box on the far right and confirm that one of the first two options is selected: keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox or mark Gmail’s copy as read.
Note: If you use the archive or delete option, then you won’t see those forwarded messages in your Inbox.
Like Gmail filters, you cannot currently set up or manage automatic forwarding in the mobile app. However, if you set this up on the web, it applies to messages you receive on mobile.
Settings for Email Client Forwarding
As of January 2025, IMAP is enabled by default for Gmail without an option to disable it. However, you should double-check the IMAP expunge and delete settings in Gmail along with the configurations for your particular email client.
If you make changes to the settings in either spot, send yourself a test email to verify that you receive it and the settings are correct.
6. Identify Spam False Positives
Sometimes, Gmail’s spam filters can misidentify junk messages. Luckily, you can stop Gmail emails going to spam by marking them as “not spam.”
Gmail Spam Folder on the Web
- Sign into Gmail and choose Spam in the menu.
- Select a mismarked message.
- Click Report not spam at the top of the email or Not spam in the toolbar.
Gmail Spam Folder on Mobile
- Launch the Gmail app on Android or iPhone and choose Spam in the menu.
- Open a mismarked message.
- Select Report not spam at the top of the email or in the three-dot menu.
By telling Gmail legitimate emails marked as spam are safe, the application should start delivering the messages to your Inbox instead of Spam.
Conclusion
If you stop receiving emails in Gmail, don’t panic. The issue is likely one of these most common causes. Do you have sufficient storage space available? Are your filters or other settings misconfigured? Did the emails mistakenly go to Spam? By following these troubleshooting steps, you should have the problem corrected in no time.
And remember that Clean Email works alongside Gmail to provide you with smart features and automations for regaining storage space, maintaining a tidy Gmail inbox long-term, and keeping your messages organized.
