When Outlook is not Sending Email

It is pretty common with Outlook that emails stuck in Outbox or fails to deliver. How do you handle the situation? We know it is annoying to deal with the issue when it is urgent to send emails. It is good to know reasons for stuck emails and solutions. Here are solutions of the problem that apply with all versions of Outlook and even the latest 2013.


Receiving an Error Message While Trying to send emails

It could be due to communication issue between the server and Outlook. The mail is stuck because Outlook is not connecting to the mail server. In this case, it is important to check with various things.

Outlook send error

Check with your internet service to know the port number has not blocked

It is important to confirm that the port number is not blocked that you are using for outgoing mail server.


Ensure about mail server setting

It is necessary to check with your email address provider and keep yourself updated with the mail server setting. The mail server provider changed the setting at times. So the error message can be displayed when you try to send emails.

Confirm that you didn’t exceed the sending limits

There is a certain sending limit set by the email server for hourly or a day basis. If you exceed the sending limits, the error message can appear.

Careful about not to email large files

Even though there is no server error, you may face problem in sending emails if the attachment size is big. Avoid sending attachments that could be 10-20 Mb or more. The server connection time may out till the time the Outlook gets ready to send the mail.

If the above solutions don’t work, don’t get panic. Wide your search criteria to look for the exact cause of error. You might able to resolve the problem on your own.

Don’t receive any error message while trying to send the email

In this situation, it is most probable that the trouble is associated with your local Outlook configuration.

In case, Outlook is creating problem with some emails

If you are going through the situation it means you have habit to open or preview Outbox emails. Remember, the emails you want to send should be always bold & italic, it means they are unread emails. It indicates that you might open some outbox emails before sending them. Carefully go through the status of Outlook emails when email stuck problem come across.

” Check the mail is both italic and bold, it means, it is just a click away to send

” Check the email has only bold mark, it means it was read

” Check the email has neither bold nor italic mark, it means it was both read and edit

To resolve the situation and make the email ready to send, double click on it to edit it and next click the send button.

outbox emails

Note: Before you click the send button, browse to a different Outlook folder to prevent the mail marked again as “Read”.

In case, Outlook is not sending any email and there is no marking of “Read” to emails

You have measures to get out from the situation.

Make sure your Outlook is not in offline mode. Check it

Outlook offline

Check that you have not installed any such antivirus that scan your Outbox emails. It could be reason of email stuck problem. It is better to deactivate the antivirus and send emails. If you don’t find any problem in sending emails, configure the antivirus.

If the latest 2013 Outlook with iCloud is using, make sure that every attachment is fully loaded to the cloud account as well. This will not stop you to send emails.

Your Outlook data files might be corrupted, try ScanPST.exe

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