When it comes to software, essential programs, like Microsoft’s Outlook, are expected by its users to just work. Anyone who has used these programs knows that while it does perform 99% of the time, there is still that 1% where it doesn’t work completely. One of the bigger issues tends to be emails that just sit in the outbox. Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to fix this problem.
Here’s three tips on what to do if there is an email stuck in your outbox.
Re-send it
From Outlook’s main window, click on the Send/Receive tab (usually located beside Home), followed by Send All. This will tell the program to try and send any email in the inbox again. After you press this, check your outbox to see if the email is still there. If it isn’t, you know it has been sent.
Check the attachment
If you notice an email is still sitting in your outbox, check and see if you attached a file. As a general rule of thumb: Larger files will take longer to send. Is the attachment a big file? If yes, try waiting a few minutes (it could take upwards of 10 minutes depending on file size).
Another problem may be that the file size is above the attachment limit, which is ordinarily set by the email server. If the attachment is over the limit, Outlook will continuously try to send the message, but it won’t be able to send it. You often won’t be able to change the email once it’s in the outbox. The easiest way to remedy this is by:
- Clicking on the Send/Receive tab.
- Selecting Work Offline from the ribbon.
- Opening the message and deleting the attachment.
- Making the attachment smaller.
- Re-attaching the file and sending the email again.
There are many ways you can make attachments smaller. One of the most popular is to zip it using a program like WinZip, or PeaZip. If the attachment is still too large, you may be better off trying one of a number of cloud storage solutions which allow you to upload and share larger files. You will just have to let email recipients know the link of the file in the email.
You’re offline
If the email still isn’t being sent take a look at the bottom of the window in Outlook. There should be a grey bar, called the Status Bar. If you see a yellow warning triangle with an ‘!’ in it and the words Disconnected beside it, that means either your Internet connection isn’t working or the email server is offline.
To check if your Internet connection is working, try loading any webpage. If this doesn’t load, most browsers will display an error message, telling you to check your Internet connection. If the Internet is working fine, it’s probably a good chance your email service is offline. When the server comes back online, the warning triangle should be replaced with the Outlook logo and a note stating you are connected.
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