how to unstick Email stuck in outbox

Question

my emails are stuck in the out box why how do i get them out

Answer 1

Dear POLANCO JORGE

Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A Forum. I understand how stressful it can be when emails get stuck in the Outbox, especially when you need something sent urgently. Please try these standard steps below to see if they help get your messages sending again:

1> Use Work Offline to clear stuck messages: Go to Send/Receive and select Work Offline (turn it on temporarily). Navigate to Outbox and drag any stuck emails to Drafts. Open each message in Drafts and remove large attachments or replace them with OneDrive/SharePoint links. Close the message, then reconnect by going to Send/Receive and toggling Work Offline off (back online). Click Send/Receive All Folders and resend the email.

2> Check Send/Receive settings: Go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll to the Send and receive section, make sure “Send immediately when connected” is checked, click OK, and try sending again.

3> Start Outlook in Safe Mode: Add-ins can sometimes interfere with sending emails, and Safe Mode disables third-party add-ins. Press Windows + R, type the command outlook.exe /safe, and press Enter. Send a test email (ideally with a small attachment). If it works in Safe Mode, an add-in is likely the cause, so disable unnecessary add-ins by going to File > Options > Add-ins, then at the bottom choose Manage: COM Add-ins and click Go, uncheck add-ins you don’t need, restart Outlook normally, and test again.

4> Move or delete the stuck email: Open the Outbox, then drag the stuck email into the Drafts folder. Open it from Drafts and either remove any large attachment(s), replace large attachments with a cloud link (OneDrive/SharePoint), or delete the message if you no longer need it. Save and close the message, then try sending again.

5> Repair the Office installation: Go to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program, right-click to Microsoft Office, choose Change, then Repair. Run Quick Repair first, and if it’s still not resolved, run Online Repair. Open Outlook and test again.

6> Delete LoadTransportProviders in Registry 

This addresses a specific registry value that, if set or corrupted, can override Outlook’s normal sending behavior. Please note that editing the registry carries risk, so it’s strongly recommended to back up before making changes. Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to the path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Outlook\Preferences, look for a DWORD named LoadTransportProviders, and if it exists, right-click it and choose Delete. Restart Outlook and test sending again. 

Hope this helps. If any of these solutions work, please let me know which step resolved the problem, your feedback is valuable in helping other users who may run into the same client-specific issue. If the problem persists, feel free to share an update (including any error message or what Outlook shows in the status bar), and I’ll be happy to help you with further advanced diagnostics.

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Answer 2

If your emails are stuck in the Outbox in Outlook, you can try the following steps to resolve the issue:

1. Check your internet connection: Ensure that you are connected to the internet, as a lack of connectivity can prevent emails from being sent.
2. Restart Outlook: Sometimes, simply restarting Outlook can help clear any temporary issues.
3. Check the email size: Large attachments can cause emails to get stuck. If the email is too large, consider reducing the size of the attachments or sending them separately.
4. Use MFCMAPI tool: If the above steps do not work, you can use the MFCMAPI tool to delete stuck messages. Here’s how:
   • Download and install the MFCMAPI tool.
   • Open the MFCMAPI tool and select Session > Logon to log into your Outlook profile.
   • Double-click the account experiencing the issue and right-click on Root Mailbox to open the contents table.
   • Look for any messages that are stuck and delete them.
5. Reset folders: You can also try resetting your folders by running Outlook.exe /resetfolders and Outlook.exe /resetfoldernames from the command prompt.

After performing these steps, check if your emails are still stuck in the Outbox.

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References:

• Email messages are stuck in Outbox in Outlook 2016 for Mac
• Outlook keeps trying to send a nonexistent message while Outbox folder shows zero messages