Comments on: Why an email gets stuck in Outlook and how to make it send

Email messages may be stuck in the Outbox folder for various reasons. In this article we will try to figure out why this happens and how to make a hanging message send. This will help you understand what exactly can force a message to hang and how to prevent this from happening in the future. Continue reading →

Comments page 2. Total comments: 71

  1. Thanks Svetlana,It worked greate.

  2. Hello I'm trying to help my mum out. She has a windows 8 laptop, we got outlook 2013 on it and set up her bigpond email up. We can receive emails but we can not send emails. Are you able to help me out with a solution or does she need to take the laptop to someone?
    Thank you

    1. Hello Deanne,

      I believe you'd better consult some local specialist because it's very difficult to pin down the source of the problem remotely. There may be plenty of reasons why email sending does not work, starting from your local Internet provider security policies and ending with your antivirus software settings and bigpond settings. BTW, you can find the correct settings for BigPond accounts on this page:
      http://go.telstra.com.au

  3. messages get sent but remains in "outbox", messages are not move to "sent items", i am using MS office pro 2013, OS is windows 8.1, please help

  4. Hi, Recently we have migrated from Google to Office 365. I have used Outlook 2010 to download my mailbox with Google. Google App sync with the option of limit download size of the mailbox.
    But when configuring Microsoft mail solution, as per the available facts only Outlook 2013 is supporting for download limit which starting from 1 month duration. Presently i am experiencing a problem due to outlook getting stuck while work on draft or deleted e-mails folders. I have already tried with exchange mode and IMAP mode but problem remain same. Appreciate your help on this to find out a solution to overcome from this.
    Thank you & regards,
    Sameera Udesh

    1. Hi Sameera,

      I am very sorry, but I have absolutely no idea on how to resolve this issue. My only advice is trying to contact Microsoft support service.

  5. Hi. i am facing a delay problem from my gmail to outlook 2010. I receive new emails when i check on my web Gmail but when i open my outlook (gmail configured through pop.googlemail.com & smtp.googlemail.com) port 995 (ssl) and smtp 587 (Tls). Till 2 weeks back it was working perfectly but now it take almost 1 hour for my outlook to be updated with my new emails.
    Outlook shows that it is downloading email (e.g 1 of 5) but when it finish this indication, outlook is not updated with new emails.

    Regards

    Aftab

    1. Hello Aftab,
      You can try to disable any Outlook add-ins and antivirus software you have installed during the last 2 weeks. If this does not cure the issue, create a test Outlook.com account to check whether the problem is with your computer, your internet provider or Gmail.

  6. I had this exact same problem and for the life of me couldn't figure out what was causing it. I called Office 365 support and they didn't have a solution either. I even did a hard reset on the router and no difference. Out of desperation, I swapped out their D-Link Router with a Linksys router and the problem disappeared. There may have been a setting on the D-Link router I could have changed, but I figured a hard reset should let email pass through, so I just swapped out the router. I thought I would post this in case others were having the same issue.

    Hope it helps,
    Mark

    1. Hello Mark,

      Thank you very much for sharing your solution with the community!

  7. Hi Svetlana,

    It's great you take the effort to help people, and sorry for sharing another problem with you.
    I carefully studied your list of malfunctions but mine isn't there. Here is my case: I have Windows 8 and Outlook 2013 (365), which works well at home (using wifi). When I connect by another wifi network, I can still receive mail, but I cannot send any. The mails are stuck in the outbox. Back home they are sent at once.
    With my previous laptop (Windows 7 and Outlook 2010), I didn't have this problem using the same wifi networks outdoors.
    So I am dazzled... is the problem in the laptop? In the wifi network? In the settings? In Windows 8? In Outlook 2013? Or in the virus scanner (Norton versus McAfee)? I cannot think of a consistent explanation and have no clue....

    Best regards
    Douwe

    1. I had the same exact problem. Email from Home network would leave outbox but when on certain (not all) other networks, they would get stuck. My solution was to change port. It was set to 25 and in my case I switched to 587.

    2. By the way, I use the IMAP / SMTP protocol.

      1. Hi Douwe,

        Most likely the administrator of your second network disallowed sending email using that network, i.e. closed the SMTP port. Your software update at the same time may be a mere coincidence. Another possible reason that your antivirus software forbids sending email from that network (in fact, this is very unlikely, but may happen in theory).

        1. Svetlana

          That is quite likely; some ISP will only allow you to send email from their own servers, so on your home network using myISP.net all is well, in another location eg myneighboursISP.com you cannot send mail. It would surprise me however if mylocalcoffeeshopISP.net would prevent sending mail in this way.

          Kind regards

  8. After going through your much appreciated suggestions, I finally did the following and solved my 2010 OUTBOX problem: Go to Outlook/File/Options/Advanced/Send and receive: Check the box with (Send immediately when connected). This solved my issue, and perhaps may help someone else. Thanks Svetlana for all your suggestions.

    1. Hi Hal,

      Thank you very much for sharing your solution here!

  9. I recently switched to Windows 8 and Outlook 365. At first, my Outlook worked fine, but then I started to notice mail stuck in my Outbox. I have checked out all of the steps above and nothing works. I contacted Digis and they said that it was not anything that they could fix. It is a problem with Outlook. I receive mail with no problems. My Account Settings are all as configured by Digis. I have sent and received "test" messages from within the Account Settings windows, but I still cannot send my own "test" message using the Send/Receive button. It still sits in the Outbox. I have restarted the computer and restarted Outlook. I have even run the Repair function. Nothing works. I turned off AVG - no change. I am about ready to switch to Incredimail.

    1. Hi Rick,
      You can make the following test that will hopefully help determine the cause of the problem. Create a test Gmail account, then create a new account in your Outlook with that gmail address and try to send messages from the new account. If it works fine, then there is definitely a problem with your main email provider. BTW, what version (plan) of Office 365 do you have?

      1. Hi
        friend i have a problem that when i send mail outlook
        then massege has not success how to sent mail with outlook 2003

        1. Hi Akhilesh,

          I am sorry, this is very difficult to determine the root of the problem remotely. You'd better contact Microsoft support with this issue.

  10. I have experienced most of the problems I read about here and thanks for the help. But lately I noticed Outlook 2007 hangs up completely if I try to send mail with attachment greater than 5MB. All open Outlook windows go completely dead and I have to stop the application with Task Manager. The program stops instantly when I click the Send button, so I don't think it's a problem with the IP (Google) and it all works fine as long as I don't attach any files over 5Mb. There are no error messages so it's hard to diagnose the problem. Tried searching several other forums and nobody reports exactly this behavior. I reduced .pst size to less than 2GB, it makes no difference. I'm running Windows7, with Google as IP, outgoing server IMAP, port 465, SSL.

    1. Hi Doug,

      This is a strange issue, we have never been reported about such behavior before. Just in case, make sure you are not trying to send .exe or.zip files. Also, if you have 2 accounts in Outlook, try to send an attachment to your second account. The same problem?

  11. Thanks for coming back to me again.
    I will try your suggestions and if all else fails I will phone BT or even call in Dynamo the Magician to see if he can help.
    Is it possible to send a screen shot to you as my explanation may not be as good as a picture.

  12. Hi Svetlana

    I'm having the above problem and I've tried all your steps and nothing is working! can you help? I have a hotmail account linked to outlook which worked for a few days and now messages are permenantly stuck in the outbox, they can't even be moved into the drafts folder. I have windows firewall turned on and AVG free antivirus, Thanks.

    1. Hi Rob,

      I'd check the following things:

      1. Temporary turn off AVG free antivirus and see if this helps.
      2. Try to send a very short test e-mail and see if it gets stuck too.
      3. Contact Hotmail support to find out whether this is a known issue.
      4. If you recently have installed any Outlook add-ins, disable them and check sending again.

  13. I use outlook 2010 - Have just move ISP to BT - now when I send an email it transfers to my outbox.
    If I go to outbox it is "bold" if I double click it brings up the email again "in Italics" I click send and it goes. It is almost as if a "delayed" setting has been applied but when I go into the settings no delay is registered. Help please.

    1. Hi Clive,

      Make sure you have the "Send Immediately when connected" option selected under Options > Advanced > Send & Receive.
      Also, check whether you have some Outlook rule to defer the delivery of messages. You can find more information about the delayed delivery issue here: http://answers.uchicago.edu/page.php?id=27516

      1. Thank you for your prompt reply.
        Yes the box is ticked "to send immediately" and I did look at the "deferred delivery" to see if there was an instruction but there is not so I assume this also means send immediately.
        I am using outlook 2010 and recently changed ISP to BTinternet - the outlook box that mail goes into is in the Data file - again I am not certain if this has a bearing.
        If you have any other thoughts I would be most grateful.

        1. Sorry, Clive, I don't have any other ideas. Just a few more things to check that could possibly help pin down the source of the problem:
          - Do you have 1 or several accounts in Outlook? If the latter, do you have the same issue in all of the accounts?
          - If you have any third-party Outlook add-ins installed, try to temporary disable them one by one and each time check sending. Do the same for anti-virus software.

          If nothing helps, maybe you can contact BTinternet suport to check whether it is a known issue?

  14. Hi
    Sent emails are in my outbox. My colleagues can see them from their Pc but I cannot?
    Thanks

    1. Hi Julie,

      Please specify what exactly you mean when you say that other users can see your e-mails? Do they see them in their Inboxes? Or, do you use public folders on the Exchange server?

      1. Hi I have this same problem, there are emails in my outbox but they are not visible to me. My colleagues have access to my emails from their computer for when I am out of the office and they can see 4 emails sitting in my outbox but I can't see them from my side. How do I make these visible?

  15. Thanks! That stuck email was giving me an issue! Nice job on the rule too.

  16. I tried all 3 steps, but still stuck there the outgoing mail...I don't know what can I do

    1. Hi Lucia,
      Which account type do you have - IMAP, POP/SMTP or Exchange server? Also, what anti-virus software do you have installed? Does the stuck message contain an attachment?

  17. YEAH!!!!! You fixed it, delete the message when working offline!!!!

  18. Thank you, this worked a treat, the bit about moving from Outbox to Drafts, then opening and resending.
    For years, I have been copying the content into a new email, then copying the subject and recipients etc etc and then having to delete the original one, what a pain.
    And now life is easy...

    off to the beach now

    1. Hi Alexis,

      I'm glad to know it's been helpful to you!

      >off to the beach now
      And I'm a bit jealous, we are having a severe frost here, about -20C (-4F) degrees.

      1. I use this "trick" as well. My issue is that it happens so often that it is obviously a serious bug with Outlook. I find it unacceptable that this is Microsoft's answer to dealing with this. It means that if I am sending lots of emails I must sit and wait to see that they all go through. I may as well ditch outlook and get a fax machine!

        1. Hello Nick,

          This is not Microsoft's answer. This is our company's blog and all the solutions and fixes you see on this page are from our own experience. Our company (Add-in Express Ltd.) has no relation to the Microsoft corporation or Microsoft products, except that we are one of millions of users that use their products.

          If you want an official Microsoft answer, you may try to reach their support team. Maybe they will hear you and finally work out a fix for this issue.

  19. Thank you for your answer. The port 25 is blocked by my ISP.
    I gave up and handed my comp to my IT guys. Don't know what they did (apart from upgrade to Office 2010), but now it works - again.

  20. Hi Petra,

    Most likely the problem is either on your Internet service provider' side or Gmail. It looks like SMTP 465 port intermittently loses connection because your test messages were sent only after several send/receive attempts. BTW, in case of troubles with sending mail via port 465 (with SSL), Google recommends trying to use port 25 (with SSL). You can find more details and troubleshooting steps here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78775?hl=en

    If the above does not help, then try contacting the support service of your ISP and Google.

  21. I can receive emails through Outlook though. :)

  22. Hi, I am getting desperate! I use gmail via Outlook 2003 (POP3 port 995 and SMTP 465). Since 23rd January 2014 (right after midnight, while I was stil online) I mostly (!) cannot send emails - they get stuck in Outbox. I did however successfully sent a couple of testing emails (from Tools menu testing as well as plain txt emails to my husband), yet I took me 5 - 7 retrial send/receive clicking. Email with attachment is mission impossible to get through.
    Also strange is the fact when sending test email (Test account settings) tonight, I got the reply "specified server was found, but there was no response from the server. Please verify ssl information...." yet I received two testing emails anyway?
    On the other hand in the send/receive progress window "sending complete" information occured, but the email got stuck in Outbox despite that.
    Please help!!

  23. Hi Murray,

    I've never used the Simply file add-on and even never heard of it. If you think this add-in is causing problems to your Outlook, then you can temporary disable it and check if the problem is gone. If so, then there is definitely a conflict. In this case, I believe the best way is to contact the manufacture's support, hopefully they will be able to provide an update or fix.

  24. I use an outlook add on called "simply file". It operated to make it east to file all inbox emails to appropriate subfolders. Have you heard of a conflict with this program. I really need it. Don't know what to do

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