outlook freezing and wont send email

Question

my outlook has been freezing up and has an email from a week ago that is hung up in the outbok and wont send

Answer 1

Hi @Elisabeth Gray,   

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.   

Thank you very much for reaching out regarding the issue with Outlook freezing and the email that has been stuck in your Outbox for about a week. I appreciate your patience and the details you provided. 

Based on the symptoms you described, it appears that Outlook may be hanging because it is repeatedly trying to send the message stuck in the Outbox. When this occurs, it can cause the application to slow down significantly or freeze. 

Here are my recommendations, which I hope will be helpful to you.  

Please follow the steps below:   

1/ Switch Outlook to Work Offline 

• Open Outlook 
• Go to Send/Receive > Work Offline 
•  
• Open the Outbox and delete the stuck message 
• Uncheck Work Offline 

Note: Oversized files can also cause emails to get stuck (typically anything over 20–25 MB). If applicable, you can try sending the file through OneDrive or SharePoint instead. 

2/ Start Outlook in Safe Mode 

• Close Outlook 
• Press Windows + R 
• Enter: outlook.exe /safe 
• Click ok to run Outlook in safe mode. 
• Try removing or resending the message 

3. Disable problematic Add-ins 

A faulty add-in can cause freezing or prevent Outlook from sending emails. 

• Go to File > Options > Add-ins 
• At the bottom, next to Manage COM Add-ins, click Go 
• 
• Uncheck all add-ins and restart Outlook 
• If Outlook works normally, re-enable add-ins one by one to find the problematic one 

4/ Run a Quick Repair of Microsoft 365 Apps 

• Go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps 
• Select Microsoft 365 Apps > Modify 
• Choose Quick Repair 

5/ Create a new Outlook profile 

This helps resolve issues caused by a corrupted Outlook profile. 

• Close Outlook.  
• Go to Control Panel > Mail (Microsoft Outlook) > Mail Setup > Show Profiles.  
• Click Add, create a new profile, and configure your email account.  
• Set the new profile as default and restart Outlook.  

6/ Contact Microsoft Support   

If the issue persists even after these steps, it may stem from a deeper system-level cause. In this case, I recommend contacting your organization's IT administrator, who can submit a support request to Microsoft through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. They’ll be able to access system-level information to investigate the issue thoroughly and provide assistance. At the very least, they can offer the most effective workaround to ensure your experience remains smooth and secure.      

We kindly ask for your understanding that, as moderators, we do not have access to the administrative tools or permissions required to investigate or modify these configurations. We also do not have the capability to initiate remote sessions for direct assistance. Our role is to guide users to the appropriate resources and support channels.     

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.  

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

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Answer 2

Yes, this worked! I am so grateful for all your help and assistance!