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“I tried to send a large attachment to a friend and now the e-mail is stuck in my Outbox! I’ve been trying to delete it and I can’t because Outlook says it’s still trying to send it. Help!”
This is a fairly common issue that we’ve heard a lot of users report through the blog, so we wanted to write a quick post and explain the easiest way to get out of this situation.
E-mail messages can get stuck in the Outbox for a few different reasons, but the most common case happens when the e-mails are very large (megabyte-wise) due to their attachments. You may even see errors like “Outlook is transmitting the message” when trying to delete them from the Outbox.
So if you’ve got an e-mail stuck in your Outbox and you can’t re-open it, try this:
b. Delete the message: this will immediately remove the message from the Outbox and put it in Deleted Items.
If you receive an error at this point that says the message is being transmitted, close Outlook, wait for Outlook to exit (you may need to use Task Manager and wait for the Outlook.exe process to exit), and then start Outlook again and repeat steps 2-3. In some cases, the item may not be released until Outlook has restarted.
Instead of sending a large attachment, consider putting the file on a local network share or a SharePoint site inside your company and then sending a link around:
For details on how to add a link, see: Use hyperlinks in Outlook items and/or Add links containing spaces to an e-mail message.
If you’re sending it to users outside your company or are just sharing files with friends, you can use Windows Live SkyDrive as a cool and convenient way to store and send large files around.
Hope that helps get you unstuck!
Updated 7/31: Added a new step 4 to restart Outlook if you receive an error that the item cannot be moved or deleted. Based on comments from readers of the blog, under some circumstances working offline may not be enough to let you move the item. If you restart Outlook after selecting Work Offline, Outlook will come back up in offline mode, and should allow you to delete/move the item at that time.
Michael Affronti Outlook Program Manager
More info on Outlook email attachments:
Email stuck in the outbox in Outlook 2010
Comments: (88) Collapse
CORRECT WAY TO ELIMINATE MESSAGES STUCK IN OUTBOX 1: Place Outlook in Work Offline
2: Close Outlook utlizing the Task Manager
3: Physically disconnect your computer from the internet
4: Restart Outlook
5: Click Send-Receive Messages -an error message will pop up, clear the error message
6: Now you Outlook has given up trying to send the message and it can be deleted.
7: Now you can cancel the Anger Management Sessions after weeks of frustration with Microsoft!!! :) Cheers
I have the same problem as Erin - I have not changed provider recently, but have changed to Vista and this version of Outlook. I never had this problem with prior version and since nothing elkse has changed, it points to Vista and current outlook. I am not trying to send huge files - the latest problem child was 3MB - surely this should be manageable by "normal" email means? It was stuck in my outbox and the receiver got it 40 times! Please help?
The comment about email not being a well-suited medium to send large attachments is just not correct. I can send up to 20MB attachments online through my internet provider's web mail service, but when I try to send it through the same email account using Outlook, it locks up as described above. Is there an option anywhere in Outlook to increase the allowable size of outgoing attachments?
That worked perfectly!! Thank you soo much.
This is ridiculous. The Outlook program manager posts a solution that does not work for most of us. Then 20 more comments are posted and still no solution. This for, arguably, the most used application in the office suite and for file sizes (15 MB) that are darn common nowadays. This is the age of broadband after all.
I am experiencing the exact same problem. I send emails with attachments over 2 MB and, while the email appears to just sit in the Outbox, it's actually being received by the recipient(s) multiple times. I have no indication this is happening as the email never moves over to my Sent Items. I try to delete it or move it and can't...at least not at first. After some time (often 30 minutes to an hour), it will allow me to delete or move it. Since the recipients are getting the email, I know the issue is not related to my outgoing email bandwidth through my ISP. Michael Affronti, any other suggestions on how to get the email working correctly?
Sending a message to multiple recipients (using b.c.c. option)leaves message in Outbox, even though it has been recieved. Tried Work Offline / Re-Start Outlook / Delete or Move Message; Still message remains in Outbox! It is a text only message & is NOT a large file. HELP!!!!
I have tried all of the above, I have checked with my ISP, they are capable of 10MB as well. I can send the same email from the web. It is not them. The email is being recieved by the recipient over and over. People are calling me telling me to stop sending the email. I can delete it but why cant I send these attachments from Outlook? I am only trying to send 1MB! Please help.
Thanks very much for your help. The bit about closing outlook once you've selected 'work offline' was quite an important bit to leave out wasn't it! Lol. Glad someone pointed that out, that sorted it for me thanks.
I have tried the suggest listed in the above blogs, I can not move, delete, open the message, Outlook appears to have control of the message. I have put outlook in a offline mode powered down the system and restarted outlook in a offline mode and still can not do anything with this file. Is there a way to purge the outlook outbox outside of the outlook program?
i have tried sending 185mb file through outlook and it seems to be stuck how do i delet the the file out of the outbox?
please help i have tried the above advice and its still coming up with that the file is being sent. what do i do
here is my email sob1981@hotmail.com
waiting for a response shannon
i tried send a huge file
and its seems to be stuck in outbox
i have tried the above advice and i still cant delete it out of my outbox or get rid of it. HELP as to what i can do shannon
Yes. it worked as long as the additonal step of closing outlook after choosing work offline. I could then open and delete. Thank.
I finally found a solution that worked in Outlook 2007 after other steps failed. I don't know if every single step below is necessary, but, hey, it worked: 1. File, select work offline
1.5. Close Outlook, restart (if necessary, go to task manager to close down Outlook processes)
2. Tools, select account in question (only if you have multiple POPs)
3. Tools, select Options >> email options
4. Deselect checkbox "automatically save unsent messages"
5. Go to Outbox, delete the bugger!
6. Back to Tools, reselect "automatically save unsent messages"
7. File, deselect work offline.
Switched to Offline and closed Outlook using Task Manager. Reopened Outlook. Outbox file was then easily deleted. File size attcahment wa 20Mb and am using BT pop server
Comments: (loading) Collapse