How to fix frozen emails in outbox even after switching to offline mode

Question

My Outlook outbox on my windows PC is filled with emails from a recent mass email sent. I've tried deleting them, working in offline mode to get rid of them, as well as visiting the direct website. Nothing I do or have found allows me to remove these emails and my inbox is having sync issues because of this. Is there a way to wipe or reset the outbox besides the methods mentioned above.

Answer 1

Please have a look at this page:

https://www.slipstick.com/problems/common-problems-that-cause-email-to-stay-in-the-outbox/

Answer 2

Hi Cameron, 

Thank you for reaching out and for the detail on what you have already tried.  

When Outbox items refuse to clear even after deleting, working offline, and using the web, it usually means the messages are stuck mid-submission and behave like corrupt items, which is also what is breaking your inbox sync. The most reliable way to remove them is to abort the submit and hard-delete each one using the MFCMAPI tool.  

Please follow the steps below: 

1. Close Outlook completely.  

Make sure it is fully exited before you begin, since MFCMAPI cannot work on a mailbox that Outlook has open. If it seems to hang, end the outlook.exe process in Task Manager. 

2. Download and install MFCMAPI.  

Match the build to your Office installation, so use the 64-bit version of MFCMAPI if you have 64-bit Outlook, and the 32-bit version if you have 32-bit Outlook. Download latest release here. 

3. Identify the mail item to be removed 

Confirm the mail item you want to delete using Outlook, as shown below. 

4. Log on to the MAPI profile using MFCMAPI  

• Install and run MFCMAPI.exe on a machine that has a MAPI profile for the mailbox you need to access.  
• From the Session menu select “Logon and Display Store Table” then select the appropriate MAPI profile (as you would normally with Outlook). 

5. Locate the corrupt mail item.  

MFCMAPI will then present you with a list of items to which the logged-in profile has access. These will include Exchange Public folders, Outlook Personal Folders as well as the Exchange mailbox itself. Select the mailbox, as shown in the screenshot below and double-click to open it. 

The newly opened window will present you with a raw view of the mailbox within the Exchange Information Store. 

• To reach folders within the mailbox, expand “Top of Information Store” in the left hand pane and navigate to the folder of interest (in this case the “Sent Items” folder. 
• Open the Sent Items window and locate and select the message you are interested in (in this case the email named “Test on Tuesday”. 
• From the Actions menu, select the Delete Message option.  
• A new window will open presenting you with three options. Choose the third option named “Permanent delete passing DELETE_HARD_DELETE (unrecoverable). Select OK.   
• When you have confirmed the deletion, close all MFCMAPI windows, open Outlook and check to see that the message is no longer present. 

One thing worth noting before you start: this is a permanent, unrecoverable deletion, so please confirm none of the stuck messages still need to be sent. If any of them do, you can drag them to your Drafts folder first and resend them once the Outbox is clear. 

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.  

If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation.  

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