outbox as queued

Question

have emails appearing in my outbox as queued or drafts and showing up

Keep delete from email but keeps happening

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Moved from: Nuance | Other

Answer 1

Hi @Eveleen Morrissey,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand how inconvenient it can be when messages keep reappearing in the Outbox as Queued or remain stuck in Drafts even after you’ve already deleted them. This can certainly be disruptive, especially when you expect messages to send or clear as intended.

In Outlook on the web, messages may stay in Drafts if they were auto‑saved but not fully sent, while items can remain in the Outbox if the send process is unable to complete. Additionally, Outlook supports a limited offline experience in certain scenarios. As a result, actions taken during an unstable connection, such as sending a message, may be queued and only processed once connectivity is restored. Another very common reason for messages becoming stuck is the presence of large attachments.

With that in mind, here are a few steps you can try in Outlook on the web:

1/ Check whether the message is a Draft or an Outbox item:

Outlook on the web stores unfinished messages in Drafts, while Sent Items contains copies of messages that were successfully delivered.

Open the affected message in Drafts or Outbox and check whether the Send option is still available or if the message appears incomplete.

2/ Review attachments and try sending again:

Messages frequently get stuck due to large attachments. If applicable, try removing the attachment, using a smaller file, or sharing the content via a link instead.

Open the queued message, remove any large attachment, save the message, and then attempt to send it again.

3/ Confirm your connection and retry sending:

Because Outlook can queue actions when connectivity is unstable, it’s important to ensure you’re properly connected. If possible, try switching to a different network (such as another Wi‑Fi connection or a hotspot), refresh Outlook on the web, and then send a short test email without attachments to confirm that sending works as expected.

4/ If the message keeps reappearing after deletion:

If the same message continues to return, it may be caused by the client repeatedly re‑syncing a pending item. In this case, try deleting the message from Outbox (and Drafts, if a copy exists), refresh your browser, and then check again.

Since this is Outlook on the web for business, if the issue continues after completing the steps above, your organization’s IT administrator may need to verify whether there are any mailbox‑level sending restrictions, transport issues, or service incidents affecting mail flow.

You may also find the following articles helpful:

• Working with message folders in Outlook on the web.
• Outlook email stuck.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.   

Thank you for your patience and your understanding.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

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Answer 2

If your emails are appearing in the Outbox as queued or drafts and are not being sent, there could be a few reasons for this issue. One common cause is that Outlook cannot locate and use the Sent Items folder, which may indicate that the folder hierarchy in your mailbox has become corrupted. In some cases, the Sent Items folder may be incorrectly converted into the Archive folder.

To resolve this issue, you can try the following steps:

1. Run Outlook.exe /resetfolders to reset the folder structure.
2. Run Outlook.exe /resetfoldernames to ensure folder names are correct.

If the problem persists, you might want to check if your Outlook profile is configured in online mode instead of cached mode, as this can also lead to emails remaining in the Outbox. Switching to cached mode can often resolve these types of issues.

If you are using a shared mailbox, ensure that the DelegateSentItemsStyle registry value is set correctly, as this can also affect how sent emails are handled.

If these solutions do not work, consider checking your internet connection or any email server issues that may be affecting email delivery.