Fix Error Outlook is Sending Multiple Copies of an Email
I have a strange problem while sending emails usually the one with attachments. Outlook is sending multiple copies of an email, maybe 20-30 of some emails occasionally and keeps the email in the Outbox with the indication that the email hasn’t been sent. And sometimes Outlook says that the emails have been sent, but are still sitting pretty in the Outbox. Could you please help me solve this issue to remove duplicate Outlook emails so that it behaves and sends only one copy?
Reasons Why Outlook is Sending Multiple Copies of an Email
- When you have a virus scanner that integrates with Outlook
- When the Send/ Receive Interval is set to a very short time then there are full chances of the occurrence of the above error.
- To solve this issue especially whenever you have a slow internet connection, try extending the mail server time-out. This may work well in your favor and the issue may get resolved.
- The user even needs to try simple tricks like resetting the modem, hub, router, Wi-Fi Access Point and other network appliances, if any, to set right the problem when all the network connections seem to be okay.
Resolving the Issue of Sending Duplicates Emails
1. Virus Scanner Integration
Virus scanners throughout the years have been proved to cause issues to Outlook. The virus scanner integrates itself with Outlook and scans the outgoing emails. Thus it is better the user disables or uninstalls the integration capability of the scanner for Outlook. When properly disabled, the virus scanner will not put the user at risk and moreover, the problem Outlook is sending multiple copies of an email will also get resolved.
2. Send/Receive Interval
When the email which you are sending takes a while to upload and your send/receive interval is too short, maybe less than 2 minutes, then it can happen that the next send/receive interval has started before the email has been sent. This causes a backlog and hence duplicates are created because the messages which could not be sent in the Outbox are resubmitted again and again.
Open the Send/receive dialog box to check the progress or the backlog:
- For Outlook 2007 and previous-
Tools -> Send/Receive Settings -> Show Progress - For Outlook 2010 and 2013-
View tab -> Show Progress button
When the dialog box shows more than 2 tasks per email account, know that your send/receive interval is too short. The default value is 30 minutes. So take care not to set it lower than 5 minutes. But when the user has more than 3 accounts it is better to set the time interval to around 10 minutes and not lower than that.
The method to change the send/receive interval is:
- For Outlook 2007 and previous-
Tools -> Options -> Mail Setup tab -> Send/Receive - For Outlook 2010 and 2013-
File -> Options -> Advanced -> Send/Receive
3. Server Timeouts
POP3 and IMAP accounts tell the Outlook to consider the connection as ‘lost’ when no server response has been received after a certain amount of time elapse. When the user’s internet connection is very slow or unreliable then it is possible that the server timeout is reached which by default is a minute. When the server timeout is reached, Outlook resubmits the message in the Outbox to the next Send/Receive time slot.
A duplicate is created because though the message was submitted to the mail server, an acknowledgment was not received before the timeout and hence the message will be resubmitted.
The solution to the problem lies in increasing the server timeout from the default 1 minute. The time has to be increased to 2-3 minutes, but care is to be taken to not set it for more than 3 minutes. This is done because then the actual problem of Outlook sends two copies of emails that may lie somewhere else and not in the server timeout issue.
The server time may be increased by the following method:
- Internet E-mail Settings -> Advanced -> Server Timeouts.
Increase the time bar to 2 or 3 minutes and press OK. This increases the server timeout from the default settings and the issue of sending duplicates emails may be resolved through this.
How to Get Rid Of Duplicates
The above solutions only resolve the Outlook is sending multiple copies of an email but not going to delete them. So, in that troublesome situations, you can try an automated solution. Outlook duplicate Remover is the best tool kit to delete duplicate emails from Outlook. This software is a blend of easy user interface and advance features. Along with that, it supports Outlook OST, PST, and BAK too.
CLICK HERE to know the working steps of the software
Conclusion
This blog deals with the issue Outlook is sending multiple copies of an email. It also discusses the possible scenarios for such a problem of duplicate emails that gets created for a single email that is to be sent in Outlook and how it can be resolved with tips and tricks.