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How Can I Stop a Message in My Outlook Outbox that Won’t Send?

by Leo A. Notenboom

Once a message goes into your outbox, Outlook tries to send it. While it's trying, there's little you can do. So the trick is to force it to stop trying.

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How can I stop, delete or move an email that gets stuck in my outbox? The email I have here is 24.5 MB, which is apparently too big. The problem is that it’s stopping all my other emails that I want to send from going out! I use Microsoft Outlook 2003.

It’s been a while, but I’ve experienced this myself. Your ISP rejects the email because it’s too big, only to have Outlook keep trying to send the mail because it doesn’t realize that the error is fatal.

There are a couple of ways to deal with this issue. Surprisingly, the most low-tech solution is what I’ve found to be the most effective.

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Let’s say your ISP has a cap of five megabytes on email message size. You start sending your 24.5 megabyte behemoth, and five megabytes in your ISP’s mailer says “Nope, too big – FAIL”.

Outlook doesn’t realize that that’s not going to get fixed and treats it like any transient error that might not happen if it tries again. So it tries again. And again. And again.

With no actual hope of success.

EmailMeanwhile, once you realize that there’s a problem, you can’t do anything about it, because Outlook has the message while it’s trying to send it. You can’t delete or move an email that Outlook is in the process of sending.

There are two ways I’ve approached this problem in the past:

Get lucky – there’s a small window of time between the failure and Outlook’s next attempt to send it when it does not have the message locked. If you’re lucky you can delete it during this time. But you must be really lucky.

“
Outlook doesn’t realize that that’s not going to get fixed, and treats it like any transient error that might not happen if it tries again. So it tries again.

Pull the plug – not the power, but your network. Literally disconnect yourself from your network. Outlook will not be able to contact your ISPs server at all and won’t even begin to try sending your message. It might take Outlook a few seconds to realize that it’s off line, but once it does, you can delete or move the message. After that, reconnect to your network and get on with your life.

It’s decidedly low-tech, and I can think of a few other ways to accomplish the same thing, but ultimately it’s simple and fast and achieves the desired results.

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240 comments on “How Can I Stop a Message in My Outlook Outbox that Won’t Send?”

  1. Quickly access the pulldown menu File…Work Offline… to prevent/stop the transfer process. Then delete the message from your Outbox.

  2. I wrote two pieces of mail to my grandaughter that never got there. I was told there was a fatal error. I cannot get that message off my computer no matter what I do. It comes up constantly with a request that I tell them if I want the message sent or not. If I say to send it it comes up with the same comment all over again. Help! I just want this message OFF my computer. Any help you can give me I would appreciate. There is nothing in “Sent Messages” that I can delete.

  4. I seem to have an email stuck somewhere that outlook wants to send;it is not in my outbox. I do get the following outlook messege :-

    Task ‘pop.mail.yahoo.co.uk – Sending’ reported error (0x800CCC0F) : ‘The connection to the server was interrupted. If this problem continues, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP). The server responded: 553 From: address not verified; see http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edit/alternate_email/index.html‘
    I desperately need help

  5. Leo, I am now getting the same thing after a read receipt was sent. My ISP blocks SMTP except to their servers but the message is trying to go through the server the message was sent to.

    “Task ‘pop.mymailserver.com – Sending’ reported error (0x80042109) : ‘Outlook is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'”

    There is no message waiting in the outbox, where is the system folder outlook uses? I would like to clear outbound queue. Thanks in advance.

  10. Solved a month long headache! Went offline — deleted the email — no more headache. You’re better than Bayer, Advil, Extra Strength Tylenol…

  11. I have read email off-line and one of them has requested a read receipt. When I go back online Outlook (2003) tries to send the receipt with no joy. As there is no receipt in the Outbox, there is nothing to delete. Any ideas? thanks, Keith. (other mail all sends okay).

  13. I also have a message ‘jammed in my outbox’. I unfortunately tried to delete a message while it was sending. the message deleted out of the outbox BUT the system still tries to send it. I have tried the repair function on my office disk. I did a reinstall of Outlook and I have just upgraded to 2007 (hoping that it would ‘clear’.

    Nothing. Any clues anyone?

  14. I have got a user whose email is continuosly sending a ‘Read Receipt’ for the same message even more than 20 times a day. I triesd deleting the original received message but the receipt is still being sent. Other emails from the sender with the flag on are Ok. This user has also another same issue with one of his staff though its a different message now.

  16. Leo, I’ve read the article. I do not understand how to disconnect from the network. Do I turn off the motem? I have 2 stuck messages and I’ve tried delete, took down my firewall and antivirus but it didn’t work. Please Help. Thank You

  18. hI
    i AM USING OUTLOOK EXPRESS. EVERY TIME I SEND AN EMAIL, IT JUST SITS IN MY OUT BOX.I GET TOLD BY MY COLLEAGUES THAT THEY GET 1-4-8 EMAILS OF THAT SENT EMAIL, BUT IT JUST SITS IN MY BOX….HOW DO I GET my outbox cleared and messages to get to my sent box?

    help- please…..i am pulling my hair out?

  19. You are truly awesome!!
    That stupid email has been stuck in my mailbox for 3 months already, and it’s finally gone!!!!!
    Thanks a lot!
    It’s simply and it worked! 🙂

  20. Tim, used outlook spy – FANTASTIC!! I have been getting close to throwing my laptop. I had same problem as Keith. Many thanks

  22. WOW, I found the easiest way to get rid of a large file in your Outlook Outbox! After doing 3 other things, I just unplugged my RJ-45 cable and waited about 10 seconds and delted the file! So Easy! you are Great!

  23. When I try sending mail from OFFICE, my mail gets stuck in my outbox. then I log off outlook and the mail is sent. I am using win xp sp2 and microsoft outlook 2003.
    Please help me.

  25. Genius! Best solution to this problem I’ve found. Running Outlook 2003, Win XP SP2. Got a 12mb email stuck in my outbox – went through other ‘solutions’ of offline mode, safe mode and even creating a new profile PST file!
    Found this and it worked instantly! Even easier than pulling the network cable – go to Control Panel – Network Connections then right click on your Local Area Connection and Disable. Then go and delete that annoying stuck email, then go back to your LAN and right-click enable. Job done!

  26. This worked. Thanks. Why can’t Microsoft post good info like this about their own product? I checked the big help sites on this & they gave terrible advice — set up a whole new User profile, then move all of your files over — what a headache — your method solved to problem in 2 minutes. — Stephen Blair (above) is right — it’s not necessary to unhook any cables — just go to my computer / control panel / network connections — disable the connection for a minute — delete the email — then enable the connection again. Sweet

  27. I had such hope, but it didn’t work. I disconnected the cable, disabled the network, put Outlook in offline mode, disabled send/receive… and I still couldn’t delete the message. I keep getting the message “Outlook has already begun transmitting this message.”

  28. Alright, I’ve tried everything that has been suggested. However, even though we have a max size limit of 10MB per email, I still cannot delete the four messages that are sitting in my Outbox despite having already been delivered not only once, but possibly many times before. I had this problem before but my boss had someone remotely fix the issue. Now I want to figure out a way to fix the issue myself. The problem though is that everytime I go and hit the “delete” key, I get an error that reads: “The messaging interface has returned an unknown error. If the problem persists, restart Outlook.”

    I have restarted Outlook several times and still receive the popup asking if I want to leave regardless of the fact that there are messages still waiting to be sent (despite already arriving at their destination).

    ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!

  29. The only thing that made this work for me was to use the ‘Del’ key on my keyboard instead of clicking the ‘X’ in Outlook. Clicking the ‘X’ (Delete) button in Outlook gave me the same error as before, but on a whim I hit the delete key on the keyboard and voila – done.

    S.

  30. I’ve tried this method for a week, without success (see my last post on July 30, 2007). Then tonight, I tried it again and it worked!!! If you’re in the same boat, keep trying. Thanks Leo!

  31. Your a genius! I unplugged my network cable and was able to delete the massive email stuck in the system. Thank you!! I will pass my new knowledge on.

  33. make sure you are not connected to the internet or your network. Go to the outbox, click on the message, hit delete (it should give you an error). Then hold the shift key and press delete and then hit the ENTER key. do not use the mouse. worked for me!!

  34. Microsoft Office Online was not near as helpful! Thank you for the advice!!! It worked great and I can’t thank you enough for saving me the headache of starting over with a new email account (Microsoft’s suggestion). I have forwarded your link to them so they can learn something from YOU.

  35. However, to make the matter a bit worse, the email message that Outlook keeps trying to send is not large. Actually, it does not exist…!!! Outlook keeps trying to send an email for the past 4 months that does not exist anywhere, not in the outbox, not in send items, not in some crazy Outlook folder. All other messages are beeing sent normally before and after this incedent. Even the same message has been sent normally at my second attempt. But nooooooo. Outlook keeps trying to send an inexistent email. It is almost spooky. Please help. Not that I have a problem with receiving or sending other email messages but it has gotten on my nerves. Even if I cancel all tasks, re-create this email account, reinstall MS Outlook, it still does it. Help!

  36. Hello all,

    I had this same problem so instead of unplugging the network cable I simply went under file and then selected “work offline”. Once offline I went to my outbox and was able to delete the problem email. Hope this helps others with the same problem.

  37. It worked! I disconnected my cable internet connection and after a few seconds (minute or two?) Outlook allowed me to delete the file. I was very thankful the file showed up in my deleted folder cause I wanted to resend the message minus a number of the pictures that clogged Outlook.

    Thanks Leo!

  41. Hi
    My problem is, that once the message is in the outbox, it just keeps on sending over and over, twenty thirty times, the same message and never clears the outbox into the sent items. So you never know has the message been sent or not. How do I fix this one please. Outlook 2003 pro

    Thanks

    Clive

  44. it says it was already moved or deleted or access is denied. it will let me get rid of it and it looks up my outlook and makes it not repsond.please help

  46. YAY!!! SHIFT-DELETE worked for me!!! Unplugging the network and working offline didn’t help… but SHIFT-DELETE did!!!

    Thank you so much!!!

  48. Thank you Leo! You would think Outlook Help would cover this, but I could not find it. Your low tech solution worked like a charm.

  49. I still cannot delete the an email with a 25 meg attachment I sent yesterday. Tried all the tricks above…any other ideas? Outlook 2007.

  50. Great advice!! The trick to unplug the network should have been a no-brainer. However….. I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you so much for your help!!!

  51. Go to the File Menu and click on Work offline. Now you will be able to delete the message stuck in the outbox. Once done change to Work online.

    It worked for me so sharing it here.

  52. Just an FYI, I just had someone try sending a HUGE attachment and it got stuck. The only thing that worked is taking Outlook offline, unplugging the network cable, disabling send/receive, AND (most importantly in this case at least) changing the SMTP server settings to something that wouldn’t resolve. Then I could open the message (couldn’t delete it still) highlight the attachment, delete it, close the message. Then I could delete the message itself. That was painful for such a “simple” thing.

  53. Going to File Menu and clicking to Work Offline was the best solutions. Thanks for whoever suggested that above, genious!!!

  54. I had a similar problem, where an email in my outbox would not send while I was disconnected, however it would not let me open the email either due to “Can’t open this email. Outlook has already started transmitting this message”
    Connecting to the VPN was impossible, and all of the tips above did not allow me to delete/open the email.

    So, I created a new folder off my inbox, and selected “Copy Outbox to…” to my new folder.
    This created a copy of the email I needed, I was able to open, copy the contents and attachment, and send via webmail.
    I still cannot delete the original, but at least a copy has been sent

  55. In Outlook 2007 you can Close Outlook and reopen it and then go to the Outbox quickly and delete the email! It worked for me.

  56. Good call. Simple but yet effective. After searching MS tech site as well as others, nothing worked except this simple “disable or unlpug your network” remedy. Also, it might help if run Outlook in safe mode. (Start, run, Outlook /safe)
    Thanks again. You saved me some frustration.

  57. I’ve found the following solution works for me quite well.
    Select the “Send/Receive” option in the Outlook toolbar.
    Select “Send/Receive Settings”.
    Select “Show Progress”
    Click “Cancel All” when it brings up the e-mails attempting to be sent. This works just like canceling a print job in a queue. I kind of like it. I do move the canceled e-mail to the drafts folder as a next step so that I can modify the size.

  58. Thank YOU for posting the stes on how to delete an e-mail tht was stuck in the outbox…All I did was click file, work off line and deleted the file, it was that that simple!!! Thank you, Thank you!! P.S. The e-mail was literally sitting in my outbox for one day! THANK YOU!!

  60. I tried the “work offline” from the file menu. What I didn’t realize is the e mail in the out box which was too large to send would take a while to delete. After trying several times, I decided to wait for the hourglass to go away, and it worked just great!!!!!
    Thanks for the lesson in patience!!!

  61. That was so helpful! Thank you for posting this explanation!! I will visit your site again for other computer help when it is needed! 🙂 Thanks again! What an easy fix….I’ve had that message in my outobox for 3 days!!

  62. There is an email in my outbox 2KB(which was sent to me as an Outlook meeting request that I accepted) that I have been trying to delete since Friday 5/30, that just will not delete. I keep receiving error messages. This prevents me from sending other messages that I require to send.
    I have tried everything you suggested above, plus calling my ISP,the IT dept of the company where the invitation originated and the WEBEX company to see if they could help from their end-to no avail.

    Can you please help me?

    Thank you kindly.

  65. Thanks Leo! I deactivated my send server by putting an x infront of the smtp (I use Outlook). It took a couple of Send/Receives before I could get access to the stuck e-mail and fix my too large attachments.

  66. Thank you so much.
    I had this message stuck in my outbox for weeks and it was really starting to drive me nuts.
    Simple yet really efficient.
    You are my today’s star

  67. I had to take it a step further and open the message when i was offline and move it to another folder: file-move to folder-Deleted Items.
    And then once they moved to the deleted items i could delete them without any hassles.

    • To be able to quickly stop my emails as they are being sent out, I leave my “PROGRESS” window open all the time and partly visible behind but to the side of Outlook or my Draft windows I’m working on.
      When I click SEND, I can see a piece of the ribbon of progress of the message being sent, both there and at the bottom right of Outlook’s window. If I decide to stop SEND, I click anywhere on the PROGRESS window and that brings the whole PROGRESS window to front.
      At the top right side of this window is a very (too) small encircled X. I click on that and it is TEMPORARILY stopped.
      By stopping it I have forced an OUTBOX folder to appear at (unfortunately) the bottom of the FOLDER list (which is on the left side of the main window) blocking out whatever folder is last in line beneath all (including INBOX, DRAFTS, SENT ITEMS, etc., etc.) other folders. I double click on this miraculously suddenly revealed OUTBOX folder. That action brings up all items being sent, you might have more than one.
      I double click on the ones I want to stop and they open up for editing just as if you were not finished with them to begin with. Which I usually haven’t, of course.
      I don’t double click on those that I don’t need to edit. I delete any of the others I don’t want sent at all and won’t edit. The rest can be left alone and they will be automatically sent and the OUTBOX will disappear thereafter.
      And, this stops them from being sent all the while you are working on them. When you are finished working on any or all of them, then click the SEND button and off they go.
      AND, you will see the OUTBOX folder disappears, no doubt going back into its other suspension dimension with millions of other lost microsoft outboxes kept there by the demon who designed this idiotic feature for that Seattle fat cat.

  69. I tried the disconnect from internet access to get rid of huge attachment that won’t send to no avail. Any other suggestions. My attachment is really huge.

  70. No more huge attachment jamming my out going emails. I didn’t know to go to my “outbox” to delete it. A comment on page two made that clear to me. Thanks much for this site.

  72. THANK YOU!!!! The information about deleting a huge file that could not be sent worked. Option 2, to disconnect from the server, did the job and I deleted it completely from everything!!! YAY…it’s literally been 2 weeks that the message has been in my outbox trying to send.

  73. Thanks, the low tech remedy worked well. I just had to add one more step. I disconnected the LAN connection, tried to delete file which it would not, closed Outlook, restarted Outlook and then was able to delete the file. Reconnected LAN and now my wife is happy.

    THANKS FOR THE HELP

  75. I had this problem some time ago and your solution worked fine.
    Not long ago I had a similar problem with a photo that turned out too large to send.
    I use Norton antivirus and internet protection so
    I was able to simply click on the button in norton to blockall internet access. Waited a few minutes then after deleting the message file, clicked to allow internet access again and everything was back to normal.
    Thanks for the page when I needed it the first time.

  77. Going through this hassel is great if you get a file stuck but that is fixing the sympton not the problem. How can I change the settings so Outlook will allow larger files to be sent? I can send the same files on the same computer using Yahoo email without a problem. Thanks!

    It’s not Outlook that’s preventing it – it doesn’t care. It’s typically the ISP or mail service that you’re attempting to use that disallows emails over a certain size.

    -Leo

  79. Mine will not go away either. Since it was in the process of sending it is now stuck in limbo. I used the Work Offline option. I also tried using mbdvu32.exe to delete the message, again it was locked.

  80. Thank you all for you valuable help.
    I was stuck in the middle when i tried to send a zip folder which was 24MB. I forgot that its too large to send thru outlook.
    Then ur help really helped. I disconnected LAN, shutdown outlook, open outlook, delete the file and then my problem was resolved.

  84. I use Outlook 2003 also and if you look at the bottom right where it says “sending message” or something similar, it allows you to right click your mouse and cancel sending the email. Then quickly delete it!!! It works!

  85. Don’t unplug anything it is a waste of time.
    Outlook organized into folders “Inbox” ,”Outbox” and so on. Just Delete all messages in “Outbox” it is what Outlook is trying to send and all this never stopping sending stops in one second

  86. THANX MATE THAT WAS SOOOOOO KOOL…IT WAS GONE IN SECONDS AND I WAS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN AS I WAS NOT ABLE TO SEND ANY MESSAGES AS THE FILE I WAS SENDING WAS SOOOOOOOO BIG….

  87. Hi Guys! I know of two ways. This has happened to me a few times. First and easiest and about the same as pulling the plug is to click file and choose “Work offline” Second and a last resort if nothing else works is to click file and choose export to a file. Choose .PST then Personal folders (include sud folders) then export your mail box to a PST file. When exporting Outlook will not take the contents of the Outbox to a PST. Delete then recreate your mail account and import your PST file back in. This is a pain to do but it works if nothing else will!

  90. You don`t have to pull the plug, you can always go to File->click on Work Offline, then click on Outbox, select the email message and delete it. I consider this the easiest way, after deleting this message, go back to File->Work offline and uncheck it so you can send and receive email messages again, this is equal to the procedure described above, the only difference is that you are in the middle of a discussion on IM you are not going offline, just the Outlook 😀 this method is not leaving you iwthout internet connection for a few seconds. Hope that helped and I admit I didn`t read all the comments so it is possible that someone else already mentioned this 🙂

  91. Great, thanks a million, I’ve been trying for days to delete a 72mb picture file that wouldnt send, then i done as you said and whithin about 30 seconds it was gone, cheers!

  92. Outlook 2003 keeps trying to send “phantom” messages. It says sending message 1 of 7 when I have nothing in the outbox. Each day it keeps adding another message and it is dragging down my computer. If I cancel sending or disconnect network connection it is still there.

  93. outlook Professional – Neither of your answers worked for me. The message wouldn’t delete (it had a 30 MB attachment). AND it immediately engaged the sending function, so it couldn’t be deleted. So I went into message properties for that message and gave it an expiry time that had already passed. Then the message showed as an expired message. I was then immediately able to delete it.

  94. Outlook 2007, XPPro SP3
    e-mail never sent, remains in Outbox, endless looping of send-receive tasks (multiple 100’s in a minute or two!!), must resort to Task Mgr to stop process, attempts to delete the message fail;
    error message: access denied, Outlook has already begun transmitting this message

    I’ve worked for hours and hours, for a couple of days, running virus/ adware cks, trying MS suggestions, ck’g the forums, and nothing worked

    FINALLY, one of the responders to this question suggested: under File menu, check Work Offline … go and delete

    voila — WORKS PERFECTLY

    (don’t forget to remove check-off, before attempting to send-receive again)

    THANK YOU Mark (10.July.07) for helping sanity to reign again

  95. I tried clicking Work Offline; didn’t help. I tried closing the network connection; didn’t help. Then, with the network disconnected and the Work Offline box checked, I turned Outlook off, waited a couple of minutes, and turned it back on. That did it–instant delete. BTW, the email had an 80mb attachment (yikes!).

  97. Had the same problem in Outlook 2007 trying to send through an http account (thought that shouldn’t make a difference). Tried all the above without success. Then did the following:

    1) Set Outlook to Offline
    2) clicked “message options” for the offending message
    3) set the “do not deliver before” to sometime later,
    4) click delete…. hey presto, I could delete it!!

  101. Thank-you!!! I googled a few other places with NO luck and one of your low tech styles worked! Pulled the internet plug, deleted the thing and was done. What a relief!

  102. I wrote an email with a “do not deliver before” time, but it is still in my outbox. I do not want to delete it; I just want to know what to do in the future to make sure it sends at the selected time. I have no trouble doing this from other accounts on the same server. Suggestions? Thanks.

  103. I have a migraine at this point, but thanks to the triple punch of WORK-OFFLINE and DISCONNECTING THE POWER TO THE ISP and RESTARTING THE COMPUTER, my email got deleted (with a 97MG .psd file I accidently attached…)
    THANK YOU SO MUCH! Now I am going to go take some Excedrin!

  104. Is there a fix to keep outbox from looping and sending the same email over and over again. I see several ways to delete it but, what is causing it and is there a fix. This has happend to me in outlook express and I went to outlook 2007 thinking this would cure it, but to no avail.
    I sure hope there is a fix.

    Thanks,

    Tommy

  105. Tried your suggestion…unfortunatetly, I’m either doing it wrong or it’s just not working…any other suggestions? What if I remove the E-mail account from Outlook, reboot and add the E-mail account again? Any danger in doing that?

  108. I am having the same problem as Tommy Ingram and I don’t see any response to his concern. Can someone advise on this?

  109. This worked like a charm. Talk about SIMPLE. My outlook kept locking up (trying to send a 65 meg file), but all I did was unplug my network and voila. It stopped trying to send and I was able to delete the “pending” file. Many thanks!

  110. It worked!!!!!! thanksss
    I just closed outlook then I opened again and instantly I went to outbox and deleted that huge stucked message…and it worked!!!
    Thanks for the help

  111. The 72meg file hung outlook. I came to the conclusion that unpluging the network would get the file to stop sending so it could be deleted. Reading this solution gave me the confidence to unplug the cable. Even after closing outlook I need to stop the process in the task manager. When outlook was restarted the problem email could be deleted from the outbox. Plugeed the network cable in and the rest of the pending emails were sent.

  113. i found that choosing File, Work Offline, Exiting Outlook, and then re-opening it, allowed me to open and delete my mistake message… hope this helps someone!

  115. Thanks. Worked perfectly. Read the instruction. Reached down and pulled the wire directly out. Closed outlook. Let the PC figure out that it was immediately off line. Reopened outlook while the PC is still off line. Opened the outbox and deleted that little troublesome e-mail. Plugged the network wire back in. All is well. I had been jacking with this for the last 5 days.

  117. thanks so muuuuccchh..it was a big problem for me.. i couldnt delete the mail in outbox..and now i deleted it..really thanks

  119. Genius! All other fixes are just fudges compared to this! So simple, works a charm – you are a good man!

  120. I read the instruction and it seemed silly but I tried it and it fixed my problem first time, Thank you you are a wonderful and great find I plan to keep your details in my favourites.

  121. i have this problem only i deleted it form my outbox folder and its been 7 days its still trying to send the messages..i deleted the msgs as soon as they failed but its still doing this i called my isp..they cant help dell said its not a hardware isssue so they wont help they directed me to microsoft and i was told for a fee it can be fixed..wtf? any no cost low hassle way to fix this?

  123. Jennifer, you’re brilliant. I was having a terrible time with a stupid message stuck in the Outbox and your fix worked perfectly. Thanks so much. Although I read through everything on the page, it was easier for me to figure out your solution than some of the others.

  124. THANKYOU SOOOO MUCH Leo! What a wonderful solution to such a stupid problem…. it worked with just 10 seconds to pull out the cord to my internet, straight back to Outlook, delete… and wholla!!! the problem solved….
    You are an ABSOLUTE GENIUS…
    thanks again, now I can get on with emailing!!

  125. Thanks for the tip– fixed my problem.
    THough I found an even easier way… at the bottom right of outlook, right click and select “Work offline.” that’s like disconnecting the network cable. Delete the email from the outbox and then un-select “work offline” and you’re back in business.

  126. I closed my Outlook program. Then I reopened it & quickly deleted outbox email before it could start sending. Without this information, I never would have thought to do that. Thanks so much for this simple and effective solution!!

  127. Thank you!!! Low-tech really did the trick (after much unsuccessful messing about and frustration trying to follow other ‘official fixes!)

  128. Thank you so much, you really saved the day!!!!!!! I was lucky to utilize that small window of time you wrote about. Thank you!

  129. Hi, I tried everything to delete an email in my outbox which won’t send still no luck
    when I try to delete it I get a message saying outlook is sending the message, but this is not so.

  130. I’m hooked up to a business network and didn’t want to unplug for fear of ruining company equipment, but I did find another way to accomplish this. There’s a send/receive icon on the bottom right of your outlook screen(at least there is for oulook 2007). Right click and choose cancel. Then you can delete items stalling your outbox.

  133. Hi,

    Thanks a lot for the great help. But one small suggestion, instead or removing the cable, if we just disable the LAN under Network Connections would work…………..

  135. Thanks for the clue it’s been bugging me for weeks, but I had you restart my Outlook with the network disconnected before mine would delete.

  136. You saved the day!! I have had my outlook locked up since June because of the two emails….thank you for setting me free!!

  138. From another forum, worked fine for me.

    In Outlook do File-Work Offline. Close Outlook. Restart Outlook. It should
    start in offline mode. Try and delete it then…

  141. I have just had the same issue, after reading this article i disabled my internet connection, and was then able to delete the msg that wouldnt send from the outbox, have been trying to do this for week now 🙂

  144. This was tremendously helpful and so easy. I just clicked on my “file” button in outlook and then clicked “work offline”…then clicked delete– it deleted immediately. Amazing 🙂 Thanks so much!

  145. I will put ask-leo on my favourites list. I usually get really frustrated trying to follow poor instructions, but not this time. Clear and concise and IT WORKED. Thanks very much 🙂

  150. If I had followed MCFST help on their website I would have been deleting and rebuilding profiles, messing with the mail server, what a mess. I followed your simple instructions and in 10 seconds I had removed a 23 MG message that was stuck in the Outbox all week. Thanks

  151. I couldn’t get to my network plugin without nearly dismantling my desk, so I clicked file–>work offline–>closed outlook–>reopened (still had work offline checked), and I was able to delete the evil email. Then I just unchecked the work offline button, and all is right with the world.

    Thanks!

  154. Couldn’t find the workoffline option and couldn’t delete the e-mail even disconnected from the internet but found a little drop down menu at the bottom left giving me the option of cancelling the e-mail, which I did.

  155. I tried to delete the email like you suggested, but I can’t click on it in the outbox and the delete is not highlighted for me to use. It doesn’t matter if I am offline or online. When I try to click on it, it says not responding.

  161. I was able to delete email the minute I went offline. Thank you so much, only wished I knew about your site a long time ago.

  162. Yes, it helped because I went back to Outlook and saw in the lower right hand corner of the screen that the email was trying to be sent. I also saw a dropdown arrow which I never noticed before. When I selected the dropdown screen I was given the opportunity to delete the email. I then didn’t need to disconnect.

  164. Disconnecting from my server didn’t work.
    Turning computer on/off, didn’t either.

    Went to //OUTBOX (at the lefthand side of the Inbox screen)& deleted the stubborn bloated message from there.

  165. Thankfully I am one of your newsletter addicts and had a problem when one of my emails with an attachment got stuck in my outbox of office 2007. I looked through the archives and found a solution which worked. I didn’t have to go off line.

  168. I did what Leo said and it worked. My big email was a video file. On my laptop, I just turned off the wireless switch, then was able to delete the email. then just turned the wireless switch back on

  169. Found another way… if you click on the little arrow next to the Sending Message 1 of 1… a box will pop up that says cancel send/receive, hit it, it works!!!!!!

  170. After the error flags go to the Outbox. Delete the message from the outbox. Then go back to the error dialog box and select cancel.

  171. Worked good for me I have been trying to delete
    that thing from my out box for a month.
    If this guy helps you, buy him some coffee. You tip that blonde don’t you?

    Jay So. City

  172. Thanks Leo… a 60mb Video file my daughter “tried to send” has been stuck for awhile.

    for the first time in months
    “Send/Receive Complete”

    Thanks!

  173. Have had the problem for a while. My email was 12.5mb. Go to File and select Work Offline. This will allow you to delete the email or attachments to make the email smaller. Go back and select Work Offline again – to get you back online. You can now carry on as normal.

  174. The file that Outlook tried to send was 28 MB. It got stuck there for days. Because of this, all my later “Send” emails of even less than 5 KB could not be sent because apparently it was in a queu. Trying to delete that large email was unsuccessful -> nothing happened. When I foolowed the suggested low-tech method (close Outlook -> unplug internet cable -> open Outlook, that stucked file was deleted easily. Thank you, thank you for the advise.

  175. Rather than altering your registry (and to suggest it without reminding people to do a backup of the registry is not wise, imho), try this first:
    close Outlook
    start
    run
    outlook /safe

    highlight the message in question
    delete the message
    close Outlook
    open Outlook again normally

  176. That advice did not work for me, but what did work was editing the delivery parameters by right-clicking on the message stuck in the Outbox and selecting a delivery deadline that had already expired. The message immediately disappeared-had been stuck for 2 days in the Outbox!

  177. The best way is go to “File”, “Work Offline” then delete the files. Go back and “File”, “Work Online” – you don’t have to get off your seat!

  179. 1. Just close outlook, 2. reopen and immediately open the outbox, 3. drag and drop the message to the drafts folder.
    4. Then open the message and send, it will usually go out. 5. If not, repeat.

    You can also go from step 2 to opening the message and copying the contents before deleting, then you can paste it in a new message.

  180. Go to file/work offline. Then close outlook. Restart and you can delete message. Now go to file/work offline and untick. Presto! 🙂 Thank you for your posting but I found this easy fix.

  182. Thank you for the advice, going offline and deleting the message then logging back on worked perfect! Took me 3 days to find this link,but was worth it!!

  185. Tried ‘File/Work Offline’ – was then able to delete message stuck in Outbox. Didn’t even have to close and restart Outlook . Many thanks. I hope I remember for next time!!

  188. I never thought this would be something that easy to fix. Thank you so much for sharing this tip. It solved my stuck outbox email in seconds!!!

  190. Thank you so much – my attachement was 128 MB’s and I just did not know what to do – so simple and it did work with the first try………

    happy to have Leo

  192. I’m grateful Leo, for the simple advice. It’s saved me an ongoing headache that’s lasted for weeks now.
    Thanks!

  194. Thanks very much I was really starting to panic with this problem but you saved the day. Was really simple to fix with your info. Thanks again

  195. Thank you very much for your simple and direct intsructions. I have spent hours today trying to delete a message that was too big for Outlook to send. Because I could not delete the big message, that failure prevented me from sending any other messages. So I “pulled the plug” and am back on track!

  198. Cheers Leo-this sorted problem for me the outlook server didn’t seem to like an 85MB file doh! with your advice I managed to delete the offending mail finally

  199. I’ve spent weeks trying to work out how to sort this problem out, read your article, and in 5 seconds the problem was sorted. Thank you sooooo much :0)

  202. The easiest way, at least for 2007 and higher (I suspect will work for older versions as well) is to go File/Work Offline. This turns Outlook offline – you can then delete the message from the outbox.

  203. Wow lo-tech and it worked so well!… after I tried repairing, running diagnostic, running safe mode, hehe… this was GREAT. THANK YOU

    Haha couldnt post this because I forget to reconnect wireless.

  207. Thanks, worked eventually. I closed internet connection, but couldn’t delete any mail in the Outbox, then I closed Outlook and restarted, didn’t work at all. Then I used Task Manager to close Outlook process, restarted Outlook, all the while off internet, and was able to delete the largest email in the Outbox. Thanks for the good advice.

  210. Thanks what you posted led me to try the following;
    Go to File > Work Off Line
    I was able to delete the stuck outgoing e-mail.

  212. Brilliant !!

    Worked immediately !

    Microsoft recommended various complex and time-consuming solutions, but you nailed it.

  213. Even Easier Solution: Click “Cancel Send/Receive”. Then Right-Click the troublesome email and select Delete. Problem solved.

  216. Thanks for the fix on stuck emails in Outlook , I had thought of that but wasn’t game to try it.

    What a relief. Having outlook back! Thanks a million

  218. I had this problem the past 2 years and the old disconnect/work off line type of approach worked! Now it is just stuck on ‘message has begun transmission’. You cannot deleted it in any capacity, you cannot amend properties to send at a future date, I have ran MDBVU32.EXE and SCANFIX and neither has fixed/deleted the file even though found. I have made a new PST file and set mail/back up to default to it, then restarted and gone back into the outbox and that still failed. All help facilities/tricks have been tried AND NOTHING works. Gulp!

  219. Long way about it! Just go to send/receive tab and click “work offline” then go in and delete, no reason to leave your computer or to touch the network.
    You gave me the idea though so thanks.

  220. I have been having this problem at work for months and months and it has been really winding me up as all the emails i send take so long to send.

    I didn’t know how to disconnect from the network so i just clicked ‘work offline’ and i managed to delete the said email and voila! perfection..

    thanks 🙂

  223. Super Effective!

    3 simple steps for Outlook 2010:

    1) Disconnect your internet connection.
    2) Go to the ‘outbox’ tab in Outlook.
    3) Delete the intended email.

  225. Here’s another possibility: the message is corrupted.

    Had this problem today! I had a email that was stuck in my outbox for an hour. I started a new blank message, copied the contents from the “stuck” message to the new one, then hit send. It sent right away.

  226. Very helpful… But I am a new Mac user and there was no folder for “outbox” like in the PC version of Outlook. MS modified the 2011 Mac version and put the “outbox” on a status bar at the bottom, below all the other mailboxes. I went offline, clicked the outbox bar, deleted the email and went back online. Quick and easy!

  228. I have the same problem as Steve K from 12/17/2008. I did not see a response to it. Every time I open my Outlook 2010 it tells me it is sending message 1-7 (and proceeds through 7-7). I am not sending anything that I know of, nothing is in my ‘outbox’, and nothing ends up in my ‘sent box’ when it is done. As far as I know, everything that I have knowingly sent out has been received. What is it sending and how do I make it stop? Thanks!

  230. Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    Good day to you,

    I need help to sort out my issues,
    Just now i have created the gmail login in Outlook express mail, but i had received the past mails. I would like to stop the past mails.
    So, anyone can help me to guide for the above sms please.

    Urgent help

    Yours Friends.
    {phone number removed}

  233. Hi Leo,

    I think I have a simpler solution for you;
    1. Go to send/receive tab in Outlook, press the Work Offline button, the Connected status should change to Work Offline.
    2. While in Work Offline mode, initiate send/receive
    3. Switch back to Connected by going back to send/receive tab and pressing work offline.

    Should do the trick

  234. I came across this issue yesterday. Windows 10, Outlook 2016 (16.0.11929.20234) 32-bit, on-premises Exchange 2010, no Cached Exchange Mode, with an image used in the signature. Removing the signature allowed emails to send, but with the signature included we saw “Cannot send this item”.

    Another confirmation here that turning on Cached Exchange Mode fixed it.

    Glad I spotted this thread!

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