Does this ever happen to you? In Outlook, you create an email, hit Send, then wander off to do a few other things. Hours later, you get a phone call from the client who’s waiting for your message, and you realize that the email is still in the Outbox.
The only solution to the stuck email seemed to be copying its contents to another message, deleting the original, and sending the new message. Who has time for all that, especially when a client is waiting?
Stay Away From the Outbox
After unsent Outlook messages happened to me a few times, I finally figured out that the problem occurred if I clicked on the Outbox folder, before the message was sent.
So, I try to avoid clicking on the Outbox folder, but I accidentally click on it now and then.
Advice From the Experts
An Outlook message got stuck in the Outbox again today, so I Googled to see if anyone else had the same problem, and had posted a solution. The Google search turned up a page on the Slipstick site, owned by Outlook expert, Diane Poremsky – Email Won’t Send – Common Causes.
Her advice? Stop looking in the Outbox. 😉 Well, that’s the recommended quick fix. There’s also a longer article on the problem: After viewing the Outbox, the messages in it won’t send.
Apparently some add-ins mark the outbound messages as Read, if you peek in the Outbox, and that prevents them from being sent. Maybe I have one or more of the add-ins that are in that long list.
Okay, I’ll Stop
Anyway, it’s reassuring to know that other people have the unsent Outlook messages problem, and I can avoid it by staying out of the Outbox.
Next time I accidentally hit the Outbox (oh, I will), I’ll try marking the message as Unread, to see if that will fix the problem, and let me send it.
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I used to have this problem on an older computer. If I opened an email from the Outbox to edit something, I would have to close the outbox before sending.
On the last two computers I’ve used, I have not had that problem. I have been able to open an email from the outbox, leave the outbox wide open, and not worry.
All computers were running OL2003, the previous two were WinXP SP2 or SP3, this one Win7. I don’t know what add-ins I’ve had, other than the junk mail thingie from MS.
You’re lucky! It’s been a real pain for me, even though I try to avoid the Outbox now.
I don’t generally have that problem either. (Vista Ultimate, WinXP Pro). If an email does ever get “stuck” in the Outbox, clicking the Send/Receive always gets it going.
Thanks Bob, something on this machine must be causing the problem. At least I know why it’s happening now, and how to avoid it.