Draft Messages

Question

Draft messages stuck in deleted file folder and keep coming back.

Answer 1

Hello,

I am going to share with you the comprehensive list of things to do, please feel free to skip those you already did. This process can take a bit time, so please be patient as you go through it.

Please complete these steps on a computer, not on a smartphone or tablet.

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First, go to https://www.outlook.com and sign in.

Click the gear icon in the top right corner to open Settings.

Under Mail, review the following areas:

Rules

If any rules are listed, delete all of them.

Conditional formatting

If anything is set up there, delete it.

Forwarding and IMAP

If you see any entries or settings you did not create, remove them. Turn off POP and IMAP.

Junk

Review Safe sender and blocked list. If you don't recognize any, remove them.

After that, exit Settings and return to outlook.com.

Open the To Do section by clicking the blue checkmark icon on the left side. Delete anything there that was not created by you.

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Go to https://account.live.com.

Under Your info > Sign-in preferences, review all aliases on the account. If you see any alias you do not recognize, remove it.

Next, go to the Devices section of your Microsoft account and remove any devices you do not recognize.

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Please also do the following in Security section

Change your password

Enable two-step verification

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Go here https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/app-access Click on "Don't allow" for anything you don't recognize.

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Then go to Security > Manage how I sign in and make sure all contact information belongs to you.

On that same page, scroll down to App passwords and remove any existing app passwords.

Also on the same page, click on Sign out everywhere. This is intended to disconnect any active sessions that may still be connected. Please note that this can take up to 24 hours to fully take effect.

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In addition, this problem can sometimes be caused by a malicious script or infection on one of your devices.

Are you using a Windows computer to check email? Do you use an email app such as Outlook Classic or New Outlook?

If so, please open the app and remove the account from the app settings.

Then go to the Microsoft Safety Scanner download page:

https://learn.microsoft.com/defender-endpoint/safety-scanner-download

Download the 64-bit version, run a full scan, and let me know what the final results say.

Answer 2

In Outlook, drafts are stored and managed like normal messages, so when draft items keep reappearing in Deleted Items it usually means they are being auto-saved or recreated from another folder.

Try the following steps depending on how the drafts were created:

1. Check the Drafts folder
   • In Outlook or Outlook Web App, look in the Drafts folder in the folder list.
   • If the same draft exists there, delete it from Drafts first. Outlook Web App automatically saves drafts, and all drafts are kept in that folder until they are sent or deleted.
2. Check the original folder of the message
   • If the draft was created as a reply/forward, open the folder that contains the original message (for example, Inbox or another mail folder).
   • Look for an item marked with Draft next to the sender’s name in the message list.
   • Open that draft, discard it, or finish and send it so Outlook stops recreating it.
3. Permanently delete from Deleted Items
   • After removing the source draft (from Drafts or the original folder), go back to Deleted Items and delete the draft there again.
   • If needed, empty the Deleted Items folder so Outlook has no copy left to restore.

If the draft still reappears after these steps, check whether another Outlook client (for example, Outlook Web App vs. desktop Outlook) still has that draft open or auto-saving; close it there, then repeat the delete.

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References:

• Create and respond to messages in Outlook Web App
• Outlook email stuck
• DNS query failed error when an email message is stuck in the Draft folder in Exchange Server 2013
• Deleted recipients still appear in the list view of the Drafts folder in Outlook Online mode