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Help – I tried to send a giant attachment and it’s stuck in the Outbox!

“I tried to send a large attachment to a friend and now the e-mail is stuck in my Outbox! I’ve been trying to delete it and I can’t because Outlook says it’s still trying to send it. Help!”

This is a fairly common issue that we’ve heard a lot of users report through the blog, so we wanted to write a quick post and explain the easiest way to get out of this situation.

E-mail messages can get stuck in the Outbox for a few different reasons, but the most common case happens when the e-mails are very large (megabyte-wise) due to their attachments. You may even see errors like “Outlook is transmitting the message” when trying to delete them from the Outbox.

So if you’ve got an e-mail stuck in your Outbox and you can’t re-open it, try this:

  1. Go the File menu, then choose Work Offline in order to stop Outlook from trying to send all mails:


    clip_image002
  2. Switch to the Outbox.
  3. You now have two options:

    a. Move the message: you can drag-and-drop or use the Edit: Move to Folder menu item to move the e-mail to your drafts folder. This will allow you to re-open the offending e-mail and slim it down by removing the large attachments before attempting to resend it.

    b. Delete the message: this will immediately remove the message from the Outbox and put it in Deleted Items.

  4. If you receive an error at this point that says the message is being transmitted, close Outlook, wait for Outlook to exit (you may need to use Task Manager and wait for the Outlook.exe process to exit), and then start Outlook again and repeat steps 2-3. In some cases, the item may not be released until Outlook has restarted.

  5. Go to the File menu, deselect Work Offline to start sending and receiving mail again.

Instead of sending a large attachment, consider putting the file on a local network share or a SharePoint site inside your company and then sending a link around:

clip_image004

clip_image006

For details on how to add a link, see: Use hyperlinks in Outlook items and/or Add links containing spaces to an e-mail message.

If you’re sending it to users outside your company or are just sharing files with friends, you can use Windows Live SkyDrive as a cool and convenient way to store and send large files around.

Hope that helps get you unstuck!

Updated 7/31: Added a new step 4 to restart Outlook if you receive an error that the item cannot be moved or deleted. Based on comments from readers of the blog, under some circumstances working offline may not be enough to let you move the item. If you restart Outlook after selecting Work Offline, Outlook will come back up in offline mode, and should allow you to delete/move the item at that time.

Michael Affronti
Outlook Program Manager

Posted: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:36 PM by outblog

Comments

Larry said:

That did not help. Outlook replys "Outlook has already started sending message". I am not able to touch the message in any way.

# May 5, 2008 12:08 AM

Milly Staples - MVP Outlook said:

This method works but one step has been left out.

After selecting File->Work Offline, you must completely close Outlook (use task manager to ensure that it is closed) and then reopen Outlook.  You can then delete the errant email or open it and remove the attachment.  Be sure to uncheck File->Work Offline when done.

# May 5, 2008 7:05 PM

Rajinder Dhariwal said:

I have had a similar problem also, and what i found was that my virus checker was causing the problem. When i deselected from my virus application to check out going emails for viruses, the outgoing large email had no problem when sending it.  I do use a pop server service, and it has a limit on size also, as long as i stay under that size, my large emails sizes go through without any problem, as before i used to have issues even with large emails.

# May 8, 2008 3:29 PM

Tracy said:

I'm still having issues after trying the advice above.... I use access my Yahoo email through Outlook and I have one message in my Outbox with a huge attachment.  I tried switching to off line mode and deleting or moving it but it doesn't go anyway.  I even restarted my computer and re-opened Outlook.  Even when I'm in offline mode it says the send/receive status is 25%.  So it acts like it's still trying to send it.  Will it eventually go through if I just wait or what should I do?  Thanks!

# May 17, 2008 2:26 PM

Lori said:

I am having the same problem, mine has been stuck in the outbox for a week.  It is affecting the speed of everything online too.  I've tried all of the above suggestions and nothing is getting rid of it.

# May 20, 2008 1:53 AM

Lewis said:

Some of the time, even though the message is stuck in the outbox, my recipiants report they have received the email numerous times. It appears that the mail is continiously being sent until I get it deleted.

# May 21, 2008 12:30 PM

Marie said:

I did this:

This method works but one step has been left out.

After selecting File->Work Offline, you must completely close Outlook (use task manager to ensure that it is closed) and then reopen Outlook.  You can then delete the errant email or open it and remove the attachment.  Be sure to uncheck File->Work Offline when done.

Now I can't open Outlook. Help!

# May 21, 2008 10:05 PM

Gail said:

Thanks very much  - I dragged and dropped the email into the delete box and now I can send emails again.

# June 1, 2008 9:49 PM

Erika said:

Hi,

I have a friend that has an outlook issue.  There is a group of people that consistently receive emails from him, over and over again - and he doesn't send them anything.  It's the same people (roughly 15 people or so) - what type of problem could this be?  How can we troubleshoot?

# June 10, 2008 4:21 PM

Tony said:

HELP!  I'm having the opposite problem - I was sent a large attachment (family photos) and it keeps trying to receive - over and over and over.  I can't stop it.  It's preventing e-mails I've received AFTER this one was sent from being uploaded.  I have 25 e-mails waiting in line but this one won't load and get out of the way.  HELP!

# June 12, 2008 10:05 PM

Kelly Fontes said:

Nothig is working, if I try and move the item I am told,   (Can't move the item) If I try and delete it it askes me to (The message interface has returned an unknow error, if the problem persists please restart outlook)

# June 23, 2008 5:42 PM

Erin Koss said:

Once an attachment hits 2 MB, they get stuck in the Outbox, appear not to send, and sometimes keep other email from sending.  I've used all the tricks outlined already to delete from the Outbox with success.  However, what I really want to do is successfully send email attachments from Outlook 2007 without essentially spamming the recipient without knowing it.  I need the email to send, leave the Outbox and go to the Sent Folder like it's supposed to (and did easily in prior versions).  This is an application being used by how many corporations and we're going backwards in productivity?  Why isn't this issue being fixed?  This is one of the many reasons I found myself wandering into a MAC Store the other day.....this and Vista, of course.  You're slowing me down MS!  

# July 1, 2008 3:33 PM

outblog said:

Erin: The issue with e-mails with large attachments getting stuck in the Outbox is not an Outlook bug. Outlook is capable of sending large e-mails just as well as small ones. The issue here is that your e-mail provider or ISP has decided to block the capability of sending e-mails over a certain size. When the server tells us that it can't continue a message, Outlook disconnects and then tries again later.

Switching to another e-mail client wouldn't let you send larger e-mails, although switching your e-mail provider might.

For e-mails with large attachments, you should consider a different way to send the file, perhaps through FTP, SharePoint, or another website that allows you to upload large files. E-mail is unfortunately not a medium well suited to sending large attachments.

# July 1, 2008 4:31 PM

Erin said:

I've checked all three of my ISP's and supposedly they are all 10MB+, but I will check again.  Thank you for the response.

# July 1, 2008 4:58 PM

Susan said:

I tried all of these suggestions with no luck.  I rebooted and still had the message stuck in the outbox.  I hadn't hit send/receive all, because I was afraid that would make things worse, but in desperation did it and was able to cancel it from that box and then delete it permanently.  So, the sequence that worked for me was:  go offline, reboot, send/receive, cancel, delete.  What a relief!

# July 16, 2008 12:06 AM

Matthew said:

CORRECT WAY TO ELIMINATE MESSAGES STUCK IN OUTBOX

1: Place Outlook in Work Offline

2: Close Outlook utlizing the Task Manager

3: Physically disconnect your computer from the internet

4: Restart Outlook

5: Click Send-Receive Messages

  -an error message will pop up, clear the error message

6: Now you Outlook has given up trying to send the message and it can be deleted.

7: Now you can cancel the Anger Management Sessions after weeks of frustration with Microsoft!!!  :)

Cheers

# July 16, 2008 2:02 PM

Brian Worsley said:

I have the same problem as Erin - I have not changed provider recently, but have changed to Vista and this version of Outlook. I never had this problem with prior version and since nothing elkse has changed, it points to Vista and current outlook. I am not trying to send huge files - the latest problem child was 3MB - surely this should be manageable by "normal" email means? It was stuck in my outbox and the receiver got it 40 times! Please help?

# July 16, 2008 5:14 PM

robrob said:

The comment about email not being a well-suited medium to send large attachments is just not correct.  I can send up to 20MB attachments online through my internet provider's web mail service, but when I try to send it through the same email account using Outlook, it locks up as described above.  Is there an option anywhere in Outlook to increase the allowable size of outgoing attachments?  

# July 17, 2008 8:26 AM

Abe said:

That worked perfectly!!

Thank you soo much.

# July 17, 2008 11:21 AM

carcon said:

This is ridiculous. The Outlook program manager posts a solution that does not work for most of us. Then 20 more comments are posted and still no solution. This for, arguably, the most used application in the office suite and for file sizes (15 MB) that are darn common nowadays. This is the age of broadband after all.

# July 17, 2008 10:58 PM

Merry said:

I am experiencing the exact same problem. I send emails with attachments over 2 MB and, while the email appears to just sit in the Outbox, it's actually being received by the recipient(s) multiple times. I have no indication this is happening as the email never moves over to my Sent Items. I try to delete it or move it and can't...at least not at first. After some time (often 30 minutes to an hour), it will allow me to delete or move it. Since the recipients are getting the email, I know the issue is not related to my outgoing email bandwidth through my ISP. Michael Affronti, any other suggestions on how to get the email working correctly?

# July 18, 2008 4:43 PM

welshblood said:

Sending a message to multiple recipients (using b.c.c. option)leaves message in Outbox, even though it has been recieved. Tried Work Offline / Re-Start Outlook / Delete or Move Message; Still message remains in Outbox! It is a text only message & is NOT a large file. HELP!!!!

# July 19, 2008 8:28 AM

Erin L. said:

I have tried all of the above, I have checked with my ISP, they are capable of 10MB as well.  I can send the same email from the web.  It is not them.

The email is being recieved by the recipient over and over.  People are calling me telling me to stop sending the email.  I can delete it but why cant I send these attachments from Outlook?  

I am only trying to send 1MB!

Please help.

# July 19, 2008 10:10 AM

Takoda said:

Thanks very much for your help.  The bit about closing outlook once you've selected 'work offline' was quite an important bit to leave out wasn't it! Lol. Glad someone pointed that out, that sorted it for me thanks.

# July 19, 2008 12:03 PM

sbisworker said:

I have tried the suggest listed in the above blogs, I can not move, delete, open the message, Outlook appears to have control of the message. I have put outlook in a offline mode powered down the system and restarted outlook in a offline mode and still can not do anything with this file. Is there a way to purge the outlook outbox outside of the outlook program?

# July 19, 2008 12:37 PM

shannon o'brien said:

i have tried sending 185mb file through outlook and it seems to be stuck

how do i delet the the file out of the outbox?

please help i have tried the above advice and its still coming up with that the file is being sent.

what do i do

here is my email sob1981@hotmail.com

waiting for a response

shannon

# July 20, 2008 8:15 PM

sobrien said:

i tried send a huge file

and its seems to be stuck in outbox

i have tried the above advice and i still cant delete it out of my outbox or get rid of it.

HELP as to what i can do

shannon

# July 20, 2008 8:39 PM

Spudsnruf said:

Yes. it worked as long as the additonal step of closing outlook after choosing work offline. I could then open and delete. Thank.

# July 21, 2008 4:39 AM

Dave said:

I finally found a solution that worked in Outlook 2007 after other steps failed. I don't know if every single step below is necessary, but, hey, it worked:

1. File, select work offline

1.5. Close Outlook, restart (if necessary, go to task manager to close down Outlook processes)

2. Tools, select account in question (only if you have multiple POPs)

3. Tools, select Options >> email options

4. Deselect checkbox "automatically save unsent messages"

5. Go to Outbox, delete the bugger!

6. Back to Tools, reselect "automatically save unsent messages"

7. File, deselect work offline.

# July 21, 2008 10:52 AM

David said:

Switched to Offline and closed Outlook using Task Manager.  Reopened Outlook. Outbox file was then easily deleted.  File size attcahment wa 20Mb and am using BT pop server

# July 22, 2008 8:38 AM

Peripaticus said:

I hve the same problem as Larry; if I try to delete or open the stuck file it says Outlook has already started sending the file

Any suggestions on how to delete it? It does not have any attachments

# July 22, 2008 8:48 AM

Kris said:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!  This was a great help!  I was able to select to work offline then drag the culprit message to my drafts and delete it. :)

# July 22, 2008 10:35 AM

Dan said:

The official help at <http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/archive/2008/05/01/help-i-tried-to-send-a-giant-attachment-and-it-s-stuck-in-the-outbox.aspx> makes it sound like this is a simple problem to fix.  Well, I've tried everything they said to do.  And it's still not fixed.  Does anyone know how to get rid of an email with a large attachment?  I've tried working offline, but it won't go away.

# July 22, 2008 2:21 PM

Lisa B said:

Same as above.  Even after switching to offline, closing & rebooting, when I reopen Outlook I am not able to move or delete the email.  It says the MAPI spooler has already begun transmitting this message. I am still receiving incoming emails, just can't send any out (I have 2 in queue behind the large attachment document that are also stuck.) HELP!

# July 22, 2008 4:43 PM

Mary K said:

I have tried all of the above and still can't delete or move the large email.  It also prevents me from sending any other emails. Are there any other suggestions?

# July 23, 2008 12:45 AM

Red Davis said:

I have a message stuck in my outbox.  It DOES NOT have any attachment.  It is just a short email.  I have tried all the above recommemdations and still receive "cannot open this item.  Outlook has already begun to transmitting this message"  Any suggestions??

# July 23, 2008 6:26 AM

ExElite said:

Well for me, same as the top message, can't email big files in office outlook, not even 800k or bigger :/

Its' not my ISP, as I can email in:

Outlook express works ok.:)

Thunderbird works.ok.:)

Not office outlook ?

:/

# July 23, 2008 6:34 AM

red002 said:

I have a short messsage stuck in my outbox.  I have tried the above recommendations and still receive the error message"Cannot open this item.  Outlook has already begun to transmitting this message.  When I attempt to send receive the send receive box flashes very quickly and indicates it is attempting to send the message.  Any suggestions??

Thank you

Red002

# July 23, 2008 6:38 AM

Richard said:

Outlook 2003 no problems - outlook 2007 well !!

it would appear all my emails are sent out fine and received fine however a small percentage of them will remain stuck in the outbox. these are corporate emails and is unprofessional to then telephone the affected recipients asking them to confirm arrival of mail. It is as though outlook has chosen not to transfer the messages to the snet folder. this is alarming because although i am 99% sure everyone is receiving fine its that 1% and the increasing total in the outbox the alarms me.

The outbox has been flushed whilst machine was offline. and erroneous message transferred to another folder.

the same default email account is used all the time although i am running 5 others and after checking settings and testing that acount,

it's the default account giving me problems.

If no messages were going then i can fix that simply but as its a small percentage some with and some without attachments then I am confused.

help would be appreciated or is it simply scrap 2007 and revert back to the working 2003.

# July 23, 2008 7:54 AM

Richard said:

Help!  I have the same problem too.  

I accidentally have an e-mail + 343MB attachment stuck in my outbox and already partly sent.  I've tried to delete/move it when offline as suggested, but nothing changes - it's still stuck there and it's preventing me from sending anything else via Outlook.  Please help!

Is that it?  Should I just give up on Outlook?  Would it work if I reinstalled Outlook (but would I lose all of my Contacts lists and saved messages?)?  How can I get rid of this e-mail, and get my Outlook working again?  Ideas please!

# July 23, 2008 10:00 AM

J M said:

I tried to send an attachent with four pictures to a friend of mine. It has been stuck in the OUTBOX for a week now. I tried everything I could including your suggestion here and called Time Warner Technical Support. Nothing has worked. I also sut up a new setting in the OUTBOX PROPERTIES with PERMANENTLY DELETE OLDER ITEMS AFTER 1 DAY yesterday morning. The two stuck items are still in the OUTBOX now. When I click the OUTLOOK, it shows nothing, but next to OUTBOX, there is (2) there. When I close OUTLOOK, it would show a warning message: "There are unsent messages in your OUTBOX. .......".

What could I do now. It slows down my PC quite a lot.

Please help. Thanks!

# July 23, 2008 2:49 PM

tmccarthy said:

I have tried all of your suggestions, I switched to offline. closed and restarted outlook several times, tried to delete it, tried to move it to draft, tried to move it to deleted items folder, tried to open it  back up but it says it has already begun transmitting this message.  Its 44 mg and cannot go out, its to large.  How can I get rid of this file, its driving me nuts.  It is slowing down my good outgoing emails so they take forever to go out they get stuck now.  Someone has got to have an idea how to do this.  What good is going offline if it really doesn't go offline.  When I try and close my outlook it tells me it still trying to send that message and do I want to still close it I say yes but doesn't seem to matter whatsoever.

HELP HELP HELP.

I would delete the whole thing but I need all of the emails I have saved out there that are in my inbox and personal folders.

Anyone got any other ideas?

# July 23, 2008 5:25 PM

MM said:

Robrob has it right...  I could send this 4MB attachment with my previous Outlook version, I can send it through my web-access to my ISP, but I can't send it through Outlook 2007.  There has to be a way to work around this and allow larger attachments to go through.  IT IS an issue with outlook, and not with my ISP.  Please help.

Matt

# July 23, 2008 6:37 PM

Jim said:

Same problem, tried all the steps and nothing works.  Not a big file, but the receipiants continue to receive the email.  I have to get a fix! HELP

# July 23, 2008 7:20 PM

rrdoane said:

Bingo, I found a way. Right-click the outbox's message and click it "marked as read". You will see envolope is being "opened" (work it offline) then you can just simply delete it. Whew!

# July 23, 2008 11:29 PM

Nicole said:

I have tried all of the above options.  The large e-mail is still stuck in my outbox.  Is there anything else I can do other than delete the whole outlook program and start over.

# July 24, 2008 9:48 AM

Nina said:

I tried all of the above suggestions.  Thanks for posting, but nothing is working!  Yikes

# July 24, 2008 2:15 PM

Becky Mollet said:

Thanks a whole bunch - problem solved quickly with your instructions.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get rid of the "email from hell that kept on coming"!

# July 24, 2008 4:27 PM

Herbert said:

I have a 12 mb email message stuck in the outbox. I jhave tried offline, close outlook (even ending process in task manager), disable antivirus, the who;e enchilada, yet it is still stuck.

Maybe my verizon email server is the root of the problem. what should i ask verizon to do, if indeed it is a problem caused by their limiting the size of email meassages?

# July 24, 2008 8:43 PM

Paul said:

none of those items are working, I am using outlook connecter to connect to Hotmail. please help

# July 25, 2008 12:19 AM

kim said:

I followed your directions step by step and it worked! thanks soooo much! it was stuck in outbox for over a week!

# July 25, 2008 4:54 AM

Charlie said:

I am having the same problem.  It says that I cannot delete it as it has already started to send it.  Unfortunately, I cannot send email now and I need help!  

# July 25, 2008 11:35 AM

frances said:

Thank you so much for your help, I was triying for a month......

# July 25, 2008 6:42 PM

Nick brown said:

help i tryed to send a attachment as well that was 15MB, it did not go through and every e-mail i try to send,even small ones, get stuck in the outbox.  My account is ok, what is the problem?

# July 26, 2008 5:43 AM

George said:

I had the same problem.  I just turned off my computer, disconnected my internet, powered up and then opened outlook, then moved the messeage to the draft file.  Once it was in the draft file i was able to delete the messeage.  Then I reconnected to the internet.  This was a very simple fix.  

# July 26, 2008 1:22 PM

Ange said:

Yeh ha!!! It worked. Thanks so much I had this huge email stuck in my work outbox for the past two weeks now I'm free no waiting around to send emails.

# July 27, 2008 7:51 PM

Jeremy said:

Hi,

Tried all the above suggestions. Simple problem, seemingly difficult solution. As titled I have a large email stuck in the outbox  -18mb to be exact. ive started outlook and even the computor up as offline, and still doesnt allow me to move the message to drafts or any other folder for that matter, let alone even delete the message. its slowing down all other incoming and outgoing messages as well as being a nuisance.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

# July 28, 2008 7:38 AM

GCAPATI said:

I tried to send a 6mb file and and its seems to be stuck in the outbox. I have tried all of your suggestions, I switched to offline. closed and restarted outlook several times, tried to delete it, tried to move it to draft, tried to move it to deleted items folder, tried to open it  back up but it says it has already begun transmitting this message.  I have tried the above advice and still cant delete it out of my outbox or get rid of it. I need HELP on this one its driving me nuts and cannot send other messages!!

# July 28, 2008 9:45 PM

ruth dejong said:

I have tried EVERYTHING suggested above and I can not do ANYTHING with the email that is stuck.  This is really an inconvenience. Please help!

# July 29, 2008 1:14 PM

alicia said:

Okay I have tried each and every suggestion up there...I get the trasmitting message, I have deleted it with the keyboard button, the outlook button and right clicked and deleted, nothing worked. I have done offline, closed outlook, restarted outlook and the whole computer...even the "mark as read" but it says that I dont have permission, the folder does not support the "mark as read" feature, didn't mark anything to be modified or the server is unavailable. The message is 168mb so I know it is way to large to send as a hotmail account thru MO...Somebody please help!

# July 29, 2008 5:52 PM

MFree said:

I've had the same issue with Outlook 2007, never with 2003.  What has worked for me is the following:  send/receive from the toolbar, send/receive settings, show progress, cancel all.  This should stop it from trying to send.  Then try to delete the email from the outbox.  If Outlook is "not responding" bring up the task manager and end task.  Reopen Outlook and then delete the email from the outbox.

# July 29, 2008 6:24 PM

Kevin Rose said:

I've tried all above and nothing has worked....

# July 29, 2008 6:58 PM

GCAPATI said:

well nevermind I was able to delete the message this morning!

# July 29, 2008 8:36 PM

Brent said:

right-click on send/receive icon in bottom right hand section of outlook to cancel send/receive, then you can right click on the message to delete it

# July 30, 2008 5:45 AM

Liliana said:

Thank you so much! I have been trying to delete an email I tried to send with a large attachment, it got stuck in the outbox and couldn't get rid of it.  It was a quick fix! Thanks again!

# July 30, 2008 7:29 PM

Glen said:

Perfect- had an attachment of 145mb!!!! and your advice worked perfectly- thanks!!!!

# July 31, 2008 7:16 AM

ruth said:

I have tried EVERYTHING suggested and it is still there.  I get a message that Outlook has already begun transmitting.  Please help!

# July 31, 2008 7:59 AM

Geof said:

Thanks that worked a treat I had an 80mb attachment and at last it has gone. I just did as the instructions deleted it and hey presto! Well done

# July 31, 2008 1:10 PM

Simbo said:

Followed the advice re Outlook offline then closed using taskbar reopened Outlook and was able to move & delete the large suck file in Outbox.

Thank you

# July 31, 2008 3:40 PM

Raquel said:

I've tried all of the above suggestions. The message will not delete and I can't move it.

Please help.

# July 31, 2008 3:47 PM

Regina said:

I have tried all the above but when I try to delete the messages, I get an error message saying "The messaging interface has returned an unknown error.  If the problem persists, restart Outlook."  I've restarted numerous times.  I have run detect and repair and restarted my computer - still no luck.

# August 1, 2008 10:26 AM

vamsi said:

I have a large mail stuck in the outbox--been stuck there for over a couple of months.I've tried Mat's

CORRECT WAY TO ELIMINATE MESSAGES STUCK IN OUTBOX

1: Place Outlook in Work Offline

2: Close Outlook utlizing the Task Manager

3: Physically disconnect your computer from the internet

4: Restart Outlook

5: Click Send-Receive Messages

 -an error message will pop up, clear the error message

6: Now you Outlook has given up trying to send the message and it can be deleted.

7: Now you can cancel the Anger Management Sessions after weeks of frustration with Microsoft!!!  :)

and dave's

I finally found a solution that worked in Outlook 2007 after other steps failed. I don't know if every single step below is necessary, but, hey, it worked:

1. File, select work offline

1.5. Close Outlook, restart (if necessary, go to task manager to close down Outlook processes)

2. Tools, select account in question (only if you have multiple POPs)

3. Tools, select Options >> email options

4. Deselect checkbox "automatically save unsent messages"

5. Go to Outbox, delete the bugger!

6. Back to Tools, reselect "automatically save unsent messages"

7. File, deselect work offline

Still No luck..

any help ????

# August 1, 2008 6:39 PM

Ken said:

Thanks Matthew!  Your suggestion was the only one that worked for me!

# August 1, 2008 9:45 PM

Katie said:

Thanks for all your suggestions! The offline/restart/delete worked for me. I was getting ready to call tech support and pay to fix the bugger.

You are great!

# August 1, 2008 10:08 PM

Chuck said:

I tried everything posted here and then had success with the following:

Close Outlook (leave in Normal/Online Mode)

Physically disconnect your computer from the internet

Open Outlook

Send/Receive

Go to outbox and delete troublesome file

# August 2, 2008 7:27 PM

Helen said:

Thanks so much - this was great advice I had an attachment of 5MB which was jamming my whole email programme and I have now managed to fix it.

Thanks for your help,

Helen

# August 3, 2008 10:25 AM

silvertongue said:

Nothing is working tried all of the above.

What is left

# August 5, 2008 4:17 AM

tlb1116 said:

Several of you mentioned that you never had this problem with Outlook 2003.  Well I have 2003 and about 18 months ago began having the same problem. Been using 2003 on same computer and ISP since....2003. Never had the problem before.  Suspicious. Could it have come along with one of MS's "update's" or "patches"?

Also, I can send (forward) from Verizon's web site with no problem, as well as Yahoo, but from my Outlook it often gets hungup trying to send a 400kb message!

It appears there IS no real solution to this innate quagmire that works for everybody.  It's obviously a very common glitch.  Hopefully MS is working on a permanent solution for us.  NOT holding my breath!! They'd rather pass the buck.

# August 5, 2008 6:29 PM

outblog said:

Everyone: This is an issue that we're investigating further. Previous we were not aware of the scope of the issue or that these problems were affecting situations outside of large e-mails. If anyone who is running into this issue can provide us some more details (below) it will us better understand the problem.

In particular, it would be useful to know: your ISP, your e-mail host (if different), version of Outlook (from Help>About), account type (Exchange, POP, IMAP, HTTP, or Outlook Live Connector), and frequency of occurrence.

Thanks, --Ryan

# August 5, 2008 9:04 PM

Tiffany Easman said:

Thank you!  Your advice worked perfectly...

Ta

Tiffany

# August 7, 2008 12:06 AM

Karen said:

I'm using the latest version of Microsoft Outlook on a brand new PC (well, it was new in January anyhow) and I'm running XP Professional with an Intel Quad 4 processor. I use Rogers Hi-speed cable internet which is routed to my computer via a LAN cable and a NetGear router.

I use TrendMicro internet security (came with the OS).

Like everyone else, emails of around 2MB get stuck in the outbox continually sending to recipients (to their annoyance and frustration) every time the automatic send and receive runs.

I know how to stop the email from sending multiple times - simply watch the email's progress and wait for the "completed successfully" message (which is also accompanied by an error report) and then move it to the sent folder before it starts preparing to send again - you get about 30 seconds.

This, however, is not a satisfactory solution since I not only have to sit and watch the email take an inordinate amount of time to send, but also have to check with my recipients - clients - that they have successfully received the email. Not only that but the email goes to the bottom of the sent folder because it effectively has no "send" date on it.

What I really want to know is WHY IS IT HAPPENING?

It didn't happen before!!! AND WHY HAS MICROSOFT NOT FIXED THE PROBLEM?

The problem is not any of the above suggestions - I can send over 10MB through web mail - I can receive large files, I am NOT running Vista (have never run Vista on this computer), I am NOT on dial-up. I've tried turning off the antivirus for outgoing mail and it makes no difference.

WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS HOW TO INCREASE THE ALLOWABLE FILE SIZE IN OUTLOOK

That is the question I typed into the Outlook Help dialog box and there were no answers but instead an MS link from "A message with a large attachment is stuck in the Outbox" took me to this blog.

Surely, since I've had my computer (AND my Microsoft Outlook software) now for seven months this issue should have been resolved. We should not have to sit waiting for a large email to send, move it and then confirm with our recipient that it has been received.

Microsoft - Please fix the problem - we paid good money to be able to use the most up-to-date software and like someone said above it seems to have gone backwards in functionality not forwards.

Thank you

# August 7, 2008 3:28 PM

Wendelin said:

I have become a whiz at deleting these e-mails - the filesize it happens with keeps getting smaller. Used to be over a meg, now even under 800 k gets stuck. I have had to switch to using my free hotmail account that works perfectly!! Too bad Outlook costs a ton and can't work as well as a free-bee.

SO, my question is will I ever be able to use Outlook to send largish files again? It kinda defeats the purpose of broadband.

My hosting company is LunarPages - I can't imagine that it is the host problem since I have changed hosts and versions of outlook and computers and operating systems (now Vista) and the problem is still there! Now that was a nice bit of troubleshooting on my part - huh?

# August 7, 2008 7:02 PM

Don said:

My problem is simply that when I send multiple emails, one or two of them always get stuck in the outbox and no matter what I do to send them, they won't send. There stuck! What to do?

# August 8, 2008 10:12 AM

Erin Pugmire said:

I tried working offline, shutting down outlook, restarting outlook and then deleting...didn't work.  HOWEVER, if you turn your internet OFF after shutting down outlook, then reopen outlook, then delete...it worked for me.  I restarted the internet, clicked to work online again and everything is in working order.  Thank you Brian Worsley for the fix.  But I agree that I shouldn't have to do this step for Outlook to work properly...

# August 8, 2008 1:05 PM

Ron Spanton said:

I have an email stuck in the outbox that is only 3kb! I've tried all of the above to delete it, move it with no success.

# August 10, 2008 3:04 PM

Aisha Jill Morgan said:

Here's what I do. I go to the Task Manager/Processes tab and stop the OUTLOOK.EXE under Image Name column. If I have more than one OUTLOOK.EXE in that list, I usually can't open Outlook, so I delete all but one. If I have a large attachment stuck, I delete the OUTLOOK.EXE that is the most huge.

# August 11, 2008 7:06 PM
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