Solve “Microsoft Outlook Sending Multiple Copies of an Email” Issue

One of the most irritating issues for users is the duplicity of the emails while sending mail via Microsoft Outlook. It is equally problematic for users, who have various or more then one web based/desktop based accounts. The reason behind this is that numerous copies of mails get received in the Inbox of the receiver. On the other hand, multiple copies get stored in Sent Items folders or Outbox folder of the sender. These duplicate emails in the mailbox are very annoying. As we know, Outlook is a popular platform for the exchange of information therefore; such functioning of MS Outlook cannot be acceptable. There are several reasons behind this issue when Outlook is sending multiple copies of an email as mentioned in the below part.

Reasons Responsible for Sending Duplicate Emails in Outlook

The major reasons that may cause Outlook to send multiple copies of a single message are mentioned below:

Installation of Anti-Virus in System

This problem can occur due to the installation of anti-virus software in the system. As, sometimes, once the anti-virus is integrated with MS Outlook it may results in this problem.

Short Time for Send/Receive Connection

At times, send or receive interval is put to a very short time resulting in the emergence of this issue. The reason behind this is that, after the uploading of message to the server, it is possible that the next cycle of send or receive will begin before the completion of the first send or receive process.

Sluggish Connection To Mail Host

The POP & IMAP, both the accounts work with the server timeouts. This is used to inform Microsoft Outlook the time to think about a lost connection in the instance, in case of no response from the server. At the slow internet connection, it can arrive at the timeout & will submit the messages once again when the send or receive process will begin for the next time. The duplicates are generated when the server received the messages. However, the message of acknowledgement was not received before timeout. Therefore, messages are sent again & the duplicates are generated.

Solution for Resolving the Problem

To resolve the issue of Outlook sending multiple copies of same message follow these methods:

Method 1

Disable Anti-Virus

This is valid if you have installed an anti-virus in your computer. You need to disable it just for a short period & then attempt to send the message from Outlook. If no duplicates are created, this means that anti-virus is the cause of the issue. You need to uninstall it in such situation.

Method 2

Increase the Send or Receive Time

To check the interval of Send/Receive, you need to open Send/Receive settings & view the current tasks.

For Outlook 2007 and Previous Versions

• You need to click on Tools and choose Send/Receive
• Now, click on Send/Receive Settings and then Show Progress.

For Outlook 2010 and Later Versions

• Choose the tab of Send/Receive from the ribbon.
• After this, choose Show Progress

Now, in case you are seeing more than two tasks in the box, this implies that the Send/Receive interval is very short. To change you need to follow these steps:

• Firstly, choose the downward arrow, which is beside Send/Receive Groups
• Now, select the option of Define Send/Receive Groups from the drop-down menu.
• Finally, in the option of set the time, click on Schedule an automatic send/receive every…

Important Note: Always set the time greater than 5 minutes. If you have various accounts, set it more than 10 minutes. 
 

Method 3

Increase Server Timeout

For POP & IMAP account, the default server timeout is 1 minute. Therefore, it is recommended to increase it to 2 to 3 minutes.

Note: Do not put the time more than 3 minutes.

To increase the server timeout, perform these steps as mentioned below:

• In the first step, click on File option & choose Account Settings
• Now, double click on IMAP/POP3 account
• After this, in the dialog box, you need to click on More Settings
• Select Advanced Tab, in the Change Account box.
• Finally, move the slider in the section of Server Timeout to increase the time and click OK

Method 4.

Repair Corrupt Outlook Data File

User can repair corrupt Outlook data file using Inbox Repair Tool, if you are using Outlook in conjunction of Microsoft Exchange Server and unable to access Outlook and your Outlook OST file is corrupted then you can use Outlook OST to PST Converter tool to repair corruption issues of OST file.

Final Words

Due to Outlook’s immense popularity, even some small issues may create hurdle in between the work of users. One such problem a user may encounter when Outlook send multiple copies of emails. Therefore, considering importance of MS Outlook, we have discussed the reasons behind this problem along with some methods that can help in resolving the problem.