Stuck Emails in Outlook Outbox
Corrupted or stuck email messages are more commonplace in Microsoft Outlook than you might think. Follow these methods for fixing your own Outlook message problems.
Many business users’ email client is Microsoft’s Outlook, which is integrated into Microsoft Office software. When a business selects its software package, Outlook usually becomes the default email for employees and staff with corporate email. Recently, we’ve been asked about messages that become stuck in the outbox. This article attempts to give solutions to fix the problem.
Here is a typical problem: “I sent an email a few days ago with an attachment that was 30 MB. It has been stuck in my outbox and when I hit send/receive the little icon on the right-hand bottom of the screen keeps trying to send the message, but over time nothing happens. Outlook will not let me delete or move the message because it says it already started transmitting.”
We could point you to a slew of Microsoft knowledge-base articles, but that is for us techies to research and then summarize into a list of reasonably easy-to-follow fixes for you business users fighting productivity battles. So, ArrowQuick has done the research and in many cases our field technicians have tested these same methods to fix the problems for clients.
There appears to be 4 methods that can be used in sequence until the problem is solved. Each method requires a bit more technical skill, but most are manageable by a novice to average computer user. If at any point you do not feel comfortable with a method, ArrowQuick technicians are happy to assist you either on-site or via remote support.
Method 1 – Open the message from the Outbox and close it again. Now select the message and press DELETE.
Method 2 — Assuming Method 1 did not work, try this. Put Outlook in offline mode; to do this go to File->Work Offline. Now restart Outlook and see if you can delete it (you can try this in combination with method 1). Don’t forget to put Outlook back online again once successful.
Method 3 — If the stubborn message is still stuck in your outbox, try this method next. There are four steps to this method and here is a detailed step-by-step instruction set you might look at.
- Create a new pst-file: File->New->Outlook Data File…
- Set this pst-file as your default delivery location in your Account settings: Tools->E-mail Accounts->Next button.
- When you now restart Outlook your original pst-file will show up as the secondary set of folders where should easily be able to remove the file from or even the complete Outbox folder.
- Set the original pst-file as the default delivery location again and restart Outlook; the Outbox folder will be recreated and will be empty.
Method 4 – Use the Microsoft MDBVU32.EXE tool to forcefully clear the Outbox. The instructions for this are the same for when removing a stuck read receipt but instead of choosing “MDB->Open Root Folder” choose “MDB-> Open IPM Outbox”.
With a little persistence and patience, you should have your Outlook outbox empty and email flowing again. The primary problem with stuck messages is often large attachments. Many people don’t know that alternative ways exist to send large files without using email. ArrowQuick recommends using free website tools like drop.io to distribute or send large files. Check out their ‘How To’ video.
For more information on ArrowQuick’s IT and web services, send us an email at italert at arrowquick dot com or web at arrowquick dot com and drop us a line at 641-673-4109 (IT) or 641-676-1031 (web).
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Here is what I did to quickly fix this problem.
Close out Outlook.
Using Explorer on your local hard disk, locate your message store under Local Settings/Identities.
Most likely you will have to change your folder view to enable viewing all hidden folders and filenames and extensions.
After you do this find your message store.
If you don’t know how to find this go back to outlook under Tools, Options and Maintenance to find out where Outlook stores your message store files.
If you have multiple Outlook Identities you will have to choose the one you are having problems with. Under the maintenance tab you will find this.
Now close out Outlook.
Go back to Explorer and navigate to this folder.
Once you get into this folder sort by filename and find the file called Outbox.dbx.
Change the name of this file to something else, like xOutbox.dbx.
The next time you open up Outlook, Outlook will create a new Outbox.dbx and your problem is fixed.
By the way… if your Sent folder is huge and filled up with all your sent stuff… and
If you want to have a new Sent.dbx, rename your Sent.dbx to something like xSent.dbx and Outlook will recreate a new Sent.dbx completely empty. All your Sent messages are not lost they are just stored in your old renamed file called xSent.dbx. You can always retore it later if you want, but do remember you now have a new file called Sent.dbx; first rename it to something like zSent.dbx or some naming convention of your own creation.
Like you, I scoured the Internet and Microsoft for a solution and could not find a sure shot method to fix this so I had to rely upon my own inelegant solution finding capability. I could wax on how I trumped the high tech eggheads in my department with very do-able but low tech inelegant solutions. Hey, they worked and people kept right on working on their pc’s.
Ref Outlook 2003
Msg stay in OUTBOX.. and look like they are sending. but do not..
all types. biggest problem is
PDF files
How about this: Outlook has worked fine for several years (came pre-installed on my Dell office desktop). A week ago, Outlook refuses to send emails. They go into the outbox and stay there, EVEN WITHOUT ATTACHMENTS. Sure, I can delete them; how do I get Outlook to work again?
@Mac
One thing you might want to check is the size of your .pst file. Depending your version the pst file has a limit to it’s size Pre Office 2003 is 2 GB’s and newer versions are 20 GB. You would be surprised how quickly you can grow that .pst file. Large attachments and volume cause rapid growth. Once the file reaches it’s limit you will experience a lot of strange issues. Here is Microsoft’s answer to keeping the .pst file small.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP100807041033.aspx
Hope that helps some.
My problem involves multiple addresses/group mailings. They do not appear in the Sent Items folder, but recipients tell me they get them over and over. One message went out about a dozen times, yet never appeared as “Sent.” It was still shown in Outbox, but had gone out multiple times.
@Jerry: It sounds like you may be using Outlook Express. If this is the case you may have a setting restricting the size of your emails being sent.
Here is how you can check this in Outlook Express:
-Click Tools ->Accounts
-Click the Mail tab
-Double Click your Email account that is having issues
-Now in your mail properties click the Advanced tab
-In here you will see about halfway down the Sending Setting, if the check box is clicked this may be causing your mail messages to be broken apart if bigger than this number here. You can either uncheck it or set the number to something higher to allow all your emails with attachments to send.
You may also want to check with your ISP because sometimes they require you to check this box and restrict your email size so it doesn’t bog down their servers… Most likely this wont be the case though.
Hope this helps.
the offline option worked for me. thanks so much for your tips, i don’t have to bug my IT guys anymore.
Thanks 2nd option worked for me