Message Stuck in Outlook Outbox – Know Why and Fix it

Email messages in MS Outlook sometimes get stuck in Outbox which depicts that the message has not been sent. Outlook users usually complaint that they have clicked on send/receive button, but in spite of moving to recipient those emails are staying in Outbox. Below are the several discussed reasons for the mail getting stuck in Outlook Outbox:

Your mail might be having an extra large attachment, which crosses the limit size for sending the mail.
MS Outlook is set to work in offline mode with "Work Offline" option.
The message that got stuck into the Outlook Outbox is actually not sent due to any technical error.
Issue may occur regarding authentication settings, Outlook account authentication problems with the mail server.

No matter what problem is associated with the MS Outlook it can be solved by using the recommended solutions below. These methods are applicable for all versions of MS Outlook including 2003 to 2013. Use appropriate method as per your requirement.

How Will You Resend Message Stuck In Outlook Outbox?

Need: This method is applicable for the mails you have sent but are stuck in Outlook Outbox, i.e they still are not sent. And to check whether the mails have been sent or not, move to the sent items folder. If the sent mail is found in sent items folder, then there no need to resend the mail, but if it is not found there, then proceed with the following steps.

Method:

Go to Outlook Outbox. The message will appear in right panel, drag the message from Outbox to Drafts folder.

click on file Outlook 2010

Now move to the Drafts folder. Open the mail you have just transferred from the Outbox, and click on "Send" button. Now the dangling message or stuck mail is sent and hence no message will appear in the Outlook Outbox.

option in Outlook 2010

How Know How to Remove Stuck Email From Outlook Outbox?

Need: If it has been noticed for a certain period of time that a message is being stuck in the Outbox and you want to completely remove it from there, then in that case follow the below suggested method.

Method:

Move to the Outbox folder in Outlook.
Select the mail you want to remove, make a right click and press "Delete".

mail outlook 2010

In case the previous primary solutions didn't work for you, then this email message has seriously got stuck in your MS Outlook Outbox and requires some advanced treatment to be removed. Follow the below given steps in case the above mentioned methods fails to delete the mails stuck in Outlook Outbox.

Check 'Work Offline' and Then Remove Stuck Message

For Outlook 2010 and 2013: Go to "Send/Receive" tab and click "Work Offline".

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Note: For Outlook 2007 and 2003: Go to "File" and check "Work Offline".

Now close Microsoft Outlook.
Open Windows Task Manager by pressing CNTRL+SHIFT+ESC. In this window, move to the Processes tab and check whether the Outlook.exe file is still running in the background or not. If it is, then select the current running Outlook process and click on "End Process" button.

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Again, start Outlook program.
Open the Outlook Outbox and click to view the mail that has been stuck into it.
As per your requirement, either delete or move the email message to the Drafts as done before.
Remove the attachment if the size of the attachment is more than 15mb. Or compress attachment (Zip), then attach it into your mail.
Now activate Outlook once again by clicking once again on "Work Offline" button.
Click "Send/Receive" in order to check if the message has gone or not.

In case the email message is still stuck then there must be some internal problem with MS Outlook or its storage Data files i.e. PST. At the end, it is recommended to check your internet connection, if there is slow internet connection with less bandwidth, then the process of sending email can be slow and you should wait patiently in such situation. Email stuck in Outbox Outlook can be an indication of PST file having some issues. The problems can also be associated with corruption in PST file and thus you should always keep a check on PST file size. If this problem is associated with slow Outlook processing or other error messages, then you can go for a professional tool like Outlook PST Repair which solves PST corruption issues along with solving this “mails stuck in Outlook Outbox” issue.