Outlook is Sending Multiple Copies of an Email

I get across many Outlook issues every now and then. Recently, I came across a post, in which the user mentioned that multiple copies of emails were sent from his Outlook account. I had encountered this issue, a long time back. In my case, emails with attachments were typically sent 20 to 30 times, and the email was still displayed in the Outbox folder.

In this blog, we will discuss exactly this problem in Outlook and and the reasons for it. It also explains the process “How to send a single message to multiple Email addresses?” Let’s start the process.

How to Send a Single Message to Multiple Email Addresses?

Step 1. Launch Microsoft Outlook Email Client in any Windows Operating System.

Step 2. In the left bottom, click on the contacts button and open contacts wizard in Outlook.

Step 3. In Contacts, create a “New Contacts Group” option and name Group according to your requirements.

Step 4. Click on “Add Member” option and select drop-down “Add Email Contact” option. Add Email address you want to send a single email to multiple Email addresses.

Note: – You can also send single Email to multiple Email address store in your contacts list also. If you don’t have contacts, then create a new group of contacts in Outlook Contacts Wizard.

Step 5. Now, go to the back and first screen of Outlook and click on “New Email” option.

Step 6. New Email Message window open in Outlook as below screenshot.

Step 7. Now, click on “To” option and open contacts wizard.

Step 8. Select Contact Group and Contacts in your open Email account and enter in “TO” field and “CC” or “BCC” fields as your choice.

Step 9. Write your Email Meta Text and data with attachments or not and Click on Send button to send a single message to multiple Email addresses at once.

Note: – If you are looking for a software to convert Outlook mailbox to multiple formats, then, download PST Converter Wizard. The software is an expert in converting Outlook mailbox to Multiple Formats.

Reasons behind This Issue of Outlook Send Multiple Copies of an Email

There are three main reasons why Outlook might send multiple copies of a single message. Let’s look at it:

1. Anti-Virus Installed In Machine

This problem can caused by antivirus software installed on your system. After integration with Outlook, the antivirus software may cause this problem.

2. Send/Receive Connection Set To Short Time

When the Send/Receive interval is set to a very short time, say less than 5 minutes, this issue may arise. This is because once the message uploaded to the server; it might happen that the next Send/Receive cycle will start before the completion of the first Send/Receive process.

3. Slow Connection To Mail Host

The IMAP and POP accounts work with server timeouts, which tell Outlook the time to consider a lost connection in the instance when no response generated from the server. When the internet connection is very slow, it can reach the timeout and will submit the messages again when the next Send/Receive process gets initiated.

The duplicates are created when the messages have been sent to the server, but the confirmation message was not received before the timeout. The messages are resent and the duplicates are created.

Resolution for Solving the Issue of sending multiple Copies of an Email

1. Disable Anti-Virus

In case you have anti-virus installed in your system, then advised to disable it for some time and then try sending the message from Outlook. In case no duplicates generated, it means that the anti-virus is creating this issue. Uninstall the anti-virus for resolving this issue.

2. Increase The Send/Receive Interval

To see whether the Send/Receive interval is short or not, open the Send/Receive settings and view the current tasks.

For Outlook 2007 & Previous Versions

• Click on Tools and select Send/Receive
• Click on Send/Receive Settings and click on Show Progress.

For Outlook 2010 & Later Versions

• Select Send/Receive tab from the ribbon.
• Select Show Progress

If you see more than 2 tasks in the dialog box, it means that the Send/Receive interval is set to a very short time.

Change the interval by the following steps:

• Select the downward arrow beside Send/Receive Groups
• Select the Define Send/Receive Groups option from the drop-down menu.
• In the dialog box, set the time in the option Schedule an automatic send/receive every…

Do not set the time lower than 5 minutes. In case you have multiple accounts, set the time of more than 10 minutes.

3. Increase Server Timeout

The default server timeout for POP and IMAP accounts is set to 1 minute. To increase the server timeout to 2 to 3 minutes, do not set it for more than 3 minutes. For increasing the server timeout, follow the below-mentioned steps:

• Click on File option and select Account Settings
• Double click on your IMAP/POP3 account.
• In the dialog box, click on More Settings
• In the Change Account box, select Advanced Tab.
• Move the slider in the Server Timeout section to increase the time.
  
• Click on OK.

The Conclusion

Emails always play an important role in the work continuity. However, there are situations where the Outlook sends multiple emails at once, which creates a problem for users. In the above blog, we have discussed the same and way to overcome this issue.