Mitch Tulloch's Blog

Troubleshooting Messages Stuck in Outbox

Sometimes you click Send and wish you hadn't. For example, you're annoyed with your boss and wrote an email telling him how you don't like the color of his tie, then instead of clicking Delete you accidentally click Send—oops!

One way around this is to create a rule that delays sending your messages—see my earlier tip called Keep Outlook 2007 Messages in Outbox for information on how to do this.

One user thought he had an easier answer though—just clear the Send Immediately When Connected checkbox on the Mail Setup tab of the Options dialog in Outlook 2007. Then click the Send/Receive button on the same tab to open the Send/Receive Groups dialog and make sure Schedule An Automatic Send/Receive Every list control is set to 5 minutes (or longer if you need more time to consider things). The trouble is, one user I know who did this noticed that his email messages never got sent—they just queued up in his Outbox. What could be wrong here?

This problem typically arises because your Microsoft Exchange mailbox isn’t included in the Send/Receive Group that’s syncing every 5 minutes. The solution is to open the Mail Setup tab of your Options dialog again, select the Send/Receive Group you're having problems with (or the All Accounts group if it's the only one you have configured), click the Edit button, select Microsoft Exchange over on the left, select the Include The Selected Account In This Group checkbox and click OK.

Quick tip: You can bring up the Send/Receive Groups dialog fast by pressing CTRL+ALT+S.

Got any Microsoft Outlook tips you want to share with other readers? Email me and I'll share them in a future post on this blog.

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