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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
I have tried all of the above options. The large e-mail is still stuck in my outbox. Is there anything else I can do other than delete the whole outlook program and start over.
I tried all of the above suggestions. Thanks for posting, but nothing is working! Yikes
Thanks a whole bunch - problem solved quickly with your instructions. I wasn't sure how I was going to get rid of the "email from hell that kept on coming"!
I have a 12 mb email message stuck in the outbox. I jhave tried offline, close outlook (even ending process in task manager), disable antivirus, the who;e enchilada, yet it is still stuck.
Maybe my verizon email server is the root of the problem. what should i ask verizon to do, if indeed it is a problem caused by their limiting the size of email meassages?
none of those items are working, I am using outlook connecter to connect to Hotmail. please help
I followed your directions step by step and it worked! thanks soooo much! it was stuck in outbox for over a week!
I am having the same problem. It says that I cannot delete it as it has already started to send it. Unfortunately, I cannot send email now and I need help!
Thank you so much for your help, I was triying for a month......
help i tryed to send a attachment as well that was 15MB, it did not go through and every e-mail i try to send,even small ones, get stuck in the outbox. My account is ok, what is the problem?
I had the same problem. I just turned off my computer, disconnected my internet, powered up and then opened outlook, then moved the messeage to the draft file. Once it was in the draft file i was able to delete the messeage. Then I reconnected to the internet. This was a very simple fix.
Yeh ha!!! It worked. Thanks so much I had this huge email stuck in my work outbox for the past two weeks now I'm free no waiting around to send emails.
Hi, Tried all the above suggestions. Simple problem, seemingly difficult solution. As titled I have a large email stuck in the outbox -18mb to be exact. ive started outlook and even the computor up as offline, and still doesnt allow me to move the message to drafts or any other folder for that matter, let alone even delete the message. its slowing down all other incoming and outgoing messages as well as being a nuisance. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I tried to send a 6mb file and and its seems to be stuck in the outbox. I have tried all of your suggestions, I switched to offline. closed and restarted outlook several times, tried to delete it, tried to move it to draft, tried to move it to deleted items folder, tried to open it back up but it says it has already begun transmitting this message. I have tried the above advice and still cant delete it out of my outbox or get rid of it. I need HELP on this one its driving me nuts and cannot send other messages!!
I have tried EVERYTHING suggested above and I can not do ANYTHING with the email that is stuck. This is really an inconvenience. Please help!
Okay I have tried each and every suggestion up there...I get the trasmitting message, I have deleted it with the keyboard button, the outlook button and right clicked and deleted, nothing worked. I have done offline, closed outlook, restarted outlook and the whole computer...even the "mark as read" but it says that I dont have permission, the folder does not support the "mark as read" feature, didn't mark anything to be modified or the server is unavailable. The message is 168mb so I know it is way to large to send as a hotmail account thru MO...Somebody please help!
Comments: (loading) Collapse