# Outlook 2000: Message Stuck in Outbox



## spackler (Mar 9, 1999)

I searched for this same problem and threads have been started but I didn't see that any have been resolved. I apologize if this has been answered already.

I have Outlook 2K running on a Win98 machine. I am able to send and recieve e-mail just fine. BUT I've got a message that seems to be stuck in the outbox. I can't send, move, delete, open or otherwise ride my self of this mesage.


If I try to do any of the above I get this message:
MAPI SPOOLER HAS ALREADY BEGIN TRANSMITING THIS MESSAGE


Any help would be great.

Thanks


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

It's just strongly suggested that you use the search feature first, not required.

Go to Tools-Options-Mail delivery tab. Take off the "Send messages immediately when connected." See if that gives you some time to delete that message from the Outbox before it attempts to send it right away.

If that doesn't help, go into the account that the message was sent from--Tools-Accounts, click on Properties--and Remove the checkbox from the "Include this account..." at the bottom.

Either/both of these should keep Outlook from immediately attempting to send that message. And you SHOULD then be able to delete it. If you can't, then you may want to close Outlook, find the file on your PC called Outlook.pst and rename it to Spackler.pst and then open Outlook again. I'm thinking it ought to create a new Outlook.pst (though I won't swear to it). But if it does, then you can File-Import-From a PST and import everything from Spackler but DON'T IMPORT THE OUTBOX!

K? Hope it helps.


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## spackler (Mar 9, 1999)

Thanks Dream.

I did search first, but like I said the threads with this topic were not providing answers, at least that I found.

Anyway those suggestions sound like they should work (I should have thought of that first one). 


Thanks.
Spackler


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Spackler: I know you searched. I was saying that you didn't HAVE to search first--trying to give a little humor...

With the new board, you might notice I change the question titles a little bit and I might correct some spelling here and there. Why? Hoping the search will work a little better. I never use it myself. But I hope to be able to in the future! Let's face it, if we used the search feature, we'd be posting a lot more links to previous answers than we do now!

Hardly anybody uses the search and about the only time I get upset about it is when it's for "Windows won't shut down" because it's just about every other question over there in that forum! Haha! G'night!


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## spackler (Mar 9, 1999)

Why does Windows always do that? (Humor back at you)

Sorry I missed the joke.

Pardon me for going off topic, seeing as you referred to this as "your board" I hope you don't mind my two cents.

I think the search feature works real well and a lot better than many other sites including Microsoft. I didn't find an answer about this problem, for example, on the big ms site.

Also, you can't really tell from my number of posts but I've been using the techguy forums for about as long as they've been around (4 years for me anyway?) and it's by far the best way I know to find help to these types of things. So much so I have never bothered to look elsewhere for this type of service because I've never NOT found my solution on here. You guys (and the advanced users that frequent this board) do great work.

Also, also, what happened to the UBB compared to this new "version" of it? You can just point my to an about page if need be.

Enough of the off topic. Thanks again for your help.

Spackler.


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

...you can go off-topic any time you like.

I know--my start date is off by more than a year. I started coming here late 97 myself, when I got my first home computer. They didn't have much of an applications forum at the time. I kept answering and answering them apps questions and people asked more and more, and then they finally got the apps forum. Lucky for them I got a job doing software support...

Nope, I didn't say it was MY board. Before this most recent board, however, I was one of the "official unofficial" moderators of the Apps forum and Tips and tricks. Well, now, all mods have pretty much the right to "fix" stuff in any of the forums, which is nice. Because now, when one of "mine" go astray into the other forums, I can move their question right back here where it belongs and I can "kick" those other guys that don't belong here into the right forum too. I consider this "my" forum, as us moderators go...it really belongs to all of us.

As a software support person, I'd say that 75% is the ability to find the answer and 25% is knowing the answer. So when everybody thinks I'm so smucking fart, it's really just that I've learned how to look.

As for UBB, they're not "selling" it anymore/supporting it anymore. I wasn't really informed about the whole UBB product, I don't know much about it. By now, you know our fearless leader, Mikey (TechGuy), whom you can read about here: http://www.helponthe.net/aboutus.html

and the history (which needs an update) of TSG here: http://www.helponthe.net/history.html

Unfortunately, the newsletter kind of died out--I tried running it and couldn't get anybody to write for it! We'll be getting a new FAQ going. Not an FAQ about how to post but a technical FAQ called, of all things, TechFAQs. Look for it.

Anyway, this is vBulletin or something and we're about to upgrade to their new version, which will give us some options we may have had with the other board and some we wished we'd had, I guess. I'm not sure about all that info.

I do know that if you're interested, you can always email TechGuy and he'll give you the skinny.

Been nice talking to you, spackler. Saw your post and name and thought "another new one" but then I saw your #posts and start date and wondered why I'd never noticed your nick before. Course, there was a period a while back when I wasn't going to ANY of these sites. I've got six that I "attend" on a regular basis.

Cya!


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## nwinchel (Mar 19, 2001)

Have you searched the Microsoft Knowlegde Base on your problem?

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/searchkb.asp


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## GrayGuy (Mar 22, 2001)

Speckler

This is not an Outlook2000 only problem. I have had this with Outlook97 running on Windows95 and Windows98. It occurred when I was trying to forward a corrupted email. I could read the email and its attachment, but could not forward it without it getting stuck in the Outbox.

This is how I overcame the problem (twice!). Its involved, but it works. The instructions are for Outlook97 but the Outlook2000 screens are probably similar. The documentation that follows describes how to create a new Outlook profile and copy everything over from the original profile.

In the following documentation I refer to drives C: and U: but there is no reason why the drives cannot be the same. For me the C: drive contained the copy.

If the email that is stuck in the Outbox is preventing other emails from being sent, then do the following first:

1. Create a Special Outbox subfolder in Inbox.

2. Drag and drop the good emails from the real Outbox to the Special Outbox. If you are not sure which is the bad email, it will probably be the one with the earliest date/time.



CREATING A PROFILE IN OUTLOOK


1. On the existing profile:

1.1. Open Outlook in the normal way and click on the Inbox.

1.2. Click Tools and take Options.

1.3. Select the General tab and on the Startup settings click the Prompt for a profile to be used.

1.4. Click Apply and OK.

1.5. On File click Exit and Log off from Outlook.


2. Create another Outlook folder in a different location and copy Outlook files there, e.g. from U:\Outlook to C:\Outlook. There are 2 files to copy  the mailbox.pab file and the mailbox.pst file.

All your existing address book, emails, calendars etc will now be on the C:' drive and the next step is to create a new set of files on the U: drive.


3. Set up a new profile.

3.1. Start up Outlook and click the New button on the dialog box.

3.2. Uncheck everything except Internet Email.

3.3. Click Next.

3.4. Type in the profile name (it will have to be different from your last one) and click Next.

3.5. Click Setup Mail Account

3.6. On the Mail Account Properties:
3.6.1. Select the General tab
3.6.1.1. Enter mail server (or anything you like) in the top box
3.6.1.2. Enter the users email name in the Name box (doesnt need to be the same as the profile name)
3.6.1.3. Enter your company name in the Organization box
3.6.1.4. Enter the users email address in the Email Address box
3.6.1.5. Enter the users email address in the Reply Address box
3.6.2. Select the Servers tab
3.6.2.1. Enter the appropriate name in the SMTP box
3.6.2.2. Enter the appropriate name in the POP3 box
3.6.2.3. Enter only that part of the users normal email name that is to the left of the @ sign of their email address in the Account name box
3.6.2.4. Enter the users password in the Password box
3.6.3. Click Apply and OK

3.7. Click Next.

3.8. On the Personal Address Book dialog:
3.8.1. Click Browse
3.8.1.1. U:\Outlook
3.8.1.2. Mailbox.pab
3.8.1.3. Open
3.8.2. Click Next

3.9. On the Personal Folders dialog:
3.9.1. Click Browse
3.9.1.1. U:\Outlook
3.9.1.2. Mailbox.pst
3.9.1.3. Open
3.9.2. Click Next

3.10. Click Finish

3.11. Click on the Options button and set the new profile (just created) as the default profile.

3.12. Click OK


4. Copy the old Outlook to the new Outlook.

When you start up the new Outlook profile all the files will be empty, so you have to copy over the files on the C: drive to the U: drive as follows:

4.1. Go into Outlook and have the Inbox on your screen. 

4.1.1. Click on Tools and then take the option for Services.
4.1.2. Select Personal Folders and click the Add button.
4.1.3. Browse for the Outlook folder on the C: drive.
4.1.4. Click Open and OK.
You may get an Illegal Operation message displayed. You can safely ignore it and continue.

4.1.5. Back on the Inbox screen, open up the Folder List. You will see that you now have 2 sets of Personal Folders. The top one is the new one on the U: drive with empty folders. The bottom one comprises all your original folders with their contents and is on the C: drive.

If you created a Special Outbox in the original Outlook, create the subfolder Special Outbox in the new Outlook.

4.1.6. Moving the contents of an old subfolder.
4.1.6.1. Click on the old subfolder in the Folder List to select it.
4.1.6.2. Click Edit on the menu bar and click the option Select All.
4.1.6.3. Click Edit on the menu bar and click the option Move to Folder (do not use Copy to Folder).
4.1.6.4. Select the new subfolder name from the list shown.
4.1.6.5. Repeat for each subfolder except the Outbox (where your bad email is located).

Some items (e.g. Notes) may not be selected when Select All is used. After clicking Select All as above click on the body of the screen where the Notes are and they will all become selected. Then use the Move to Folder option as above.

4.1.7. Exit and log off from Outlook.


5. Create a new address book from the original one.

5.1. Open Windows Explorer and copy C:\Outlook\mailbox.pab to U:\Outlook\mailbox.pab

5.2. Open Outlook and, on the Inbox screen, click Tools and select the Services option.

5.2.1. Click the Add button and select the appropriate address book(s).
5.2.2. Click OK a couple of times and return to the Inbox screen.
5.2.3. Exit and Log off from Outlook.

5.3. Open Outlook

5.3.1. Right click on the Contacts folder and choose Properties on the shortcut menu.
5.3.2. Click on the Outlook Address Book tab and check the box Show this folder as an email Address Book.
5.3.3. Repeat with any subfolders of Contacts.
5.3.4. Click Apply and OK.
5.3.5. Click on Tools and select the option Services.
5.3.6. Set your Address Book preferences in each of the three boxes.
5.3.7. Click Apply and OK.

5.4. Send any emails in the Special Outbox and then delete the subfolder.

6. Remove old Personal Folders.

6.1. When you are happy with everything running smoothly once again, you can remove the old (second) Personal Folders from the Folder List.

6.1.1. On the Inbox screen, click Tools and select the option Services.
6.1.2. You should see two Personal Folders listed in the dialog box.
6.1.3. Select one and click the Properties button to see its path. Click OK.
6.1.4. Repeat with the other Personal Folders item to verify its path.
6.1.5. Select the Personal Folders item you dont want.
6.1.6. Click the Remove button.
6.1.7. Return to the Inbox screen and there will only be one Personal Folders shown in the Folder List.

Have fun and good luck.


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Unfortunately GrayGuy, those instructions generally are only if the person is at work on an Exchange Server with the Corporate Workgroup (CW) option installed.

Most home users are using the Internet Mail Only (IMO) option. I'm not sure that '97 even comes with this option.

To see if you've got a CW or IMO option, hit Help-About Outlook...


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## GrayGuy (Mar 22, 2001)

Dreamboat

I didn't see anything in the thread to indicate that the problem was for a coporate user or a home user.

The "Message stuck in mailbox" problem was one that I experienced as a corporate user but we are not using Outlook97 with MS Exchange.

I think it is useful for people to know that this problem can occur with Outlook (however it is used), and that this is a tried and tested method of overcoming the problem. 

Have a nice day.


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Did you ever get this fixed? Just curious...


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## shekerra (Apr 2, 2001)

MS TID:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q162/3/43.ASP


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## cybersn00p (Feb 25, 2008)

1. In Outlook,click File->Work Offline
2. Navigate to Outbox.
3. Delete the offending Email.
4. Remember to avoid sending emails with attachments larger than 4MB coz it is considered bad manners here in Africa. :-D


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## spackler (Mar 9, 1999)

seeing that it has been stuck in there for 7 years now I have actually learned to like it and no longer wish to fix it...


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## Patsy42uk (Apr 1, 2008)

I tried the quick solution of going offline but it would not let me delete. HOWEVER, I opened the offending message which was to a distribution list and had attachment. I deleted the entire content, attachment and MESSAGE to/from/cc boxes leaving it completely blank. I then closed the email and deleted it. FANTASTIC !! that had been stuck there since 26th march - thanks for offline tip. goodnight.


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## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

You don't need to create a new profile.

Just create a new pst file, copy everything from the old to the new (except for the outbox), set that as the new default data file, and don't have it use the original one at all. 

Have done this several times in that past and it doesn't take that long at all.


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## guilefox (May 15, 2008)

I work for a large corporation and we are still on Windows 2000 and Outlook 2k on our machines.

We are getting random users with a problem where their mail (every new mail) is stuck in the outbox.

If you send/receive it WILL send it ok.

So its as if their Outlook has switched itself to Offline?

Has anybody seen this before?

The only way I can workaround to resolve it is to open task manager and manually shutdown the MAPIsp32.exe and OUTLOOK.exe processes and restart. 

This normally works for an intermittent amount of time before it switches back offline.


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