Troubleshoot sending and receiving messages in Outlook

[Samk]

The Send button on the E-mail toolbar is missing.

For the Send button to be available, you must have an e-mail account set up in your Outlook profile. You may have chosen not to add an e-mail account when you installed Outlook or canceled the new account wizard.

After you set up an e-mail account, the Send button will be available.

e-mail goes to the wrong person.

Outlook is checking names, and you are accepting the addresses with the green wavy underlines without verifying them.

Not able to access my MSN account.

MSN Internet Access version 5.3 or earlier accounts were set up with POP3 (POP3: A common protocol that is used to retrieve e-mail messages from an Internet e-mail server.) e-mail accounts. MSN Explorer accounts use HTTP e-mail accounts. Older accounts may be migrated to newer HTTP accounts. For assistance in determining which type of e-mail account you use, contact MSN support.

MSN HTTP accounts

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next.
   If you have already added your MSN account to Microsoft Outlook, select View or change existing e-mail accounts, click Next, select the MSN account, and then click Change. Proceed to step 4.
   
3. Select HTTP, and then click Next.
   
4. In the Your Name text box, type your name as you want others to see it.
   In the E-mail Address text box, type your complete e-mail address including @msn.com.
   The HTTP Mail Service Provider list box automatically changes to MSN when you enter an e-mail address ending in msn.com.
   
5. In the User Name text box, type your account name. Do not include @msn.com.
   
6. In the Password box, type your MSN account password. You can choose to have Microsoft Outlook remember your password by selecting the Remember password check box.
   
   Important You should not do this if anyone else has access to your Windows account.
   
7. Leave the Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) check box clear.
   
8. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Can't locate a previously started message.

In the Folder List (Folder List: Displays the folders available in your mailbox. To view subfolders, click the plus sign (+) next to the folder. If the Folder List is not visible, on the Go menu, click Folder List.), click Drafts, and then double-click the message.

[Samk]

Want to stop automatic saving of all my unfinished messages.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click E-Mail Options.
2. Clear the Automatically save unsent messages check box.

Can't find Microsoft Outlook Help when I use Microsoft Word as my e-mail editor.

The default e-mail editor for Outlook is Microsoft Word. When you are in an open message in Microsoft Outlook, if you type a question in the Type a question for help box, you get Help about Microsoft Word. If you want Help about Outlook, such as a topic about how to address a message, in the Outlook Navigation Pane, click Inbox to switch back to Outlook, and then type a question in the Type a question for help box.

The Save Stationery command isn't available for a message I received with stationery.

The background you see in the message may not be stationery. It may be a Microsoft Word theme that doesn't have an equivalent stationery in Microsoft Outlook and therefore can't be saved.

Unable to send pictures to recipients.

Your picture may be too large for your mail server or for the recipient's mailbox. Attachments are converted into a special format for e-mail messages. When you send attachments over the Internet (Internet: A worldwide network of thousands of smaller computer networks and millions of commercial, educational, government, and personal computers. The Internet is like an electronic city with virtual libraries, stores, art galleries, and so on.), these attachments can be considerably larger than the original file size. Some mail servers will only send or receive messages under a certain size limit. Check with your system administrator or Internet service provider (ISP) (ISP: A business that provides access to the Internet for such things as electronic mail, chat rooms, or use of the World Wide Web. Some ISPs are multinational, offering access in many locations, while others are limited to a specific region.).

[Samk]

Sending and receiving messages is slow.

• Before you use Microsoft Word to compose a message, close any Word dialog boxes that you are not using.
  
• If you use Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor, you should have at least 128 megabytes (MB) of memory available. To select which e-mail editor you use, click the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab. Then, select or clear the Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages check box.
  
• Programs that work in the background, such as virus-scanning programs, might slow down Microsoft Word. Use System Monitor— an optional Microsoft Windows accessory program— to see whether you are running programs that slow down your computer's performance and to see which program uses the highest percentage of processor time.
  
• If you use Remote Mail, you can screen messages by reviewing the message headers (message header: Summary information that you download to your computer to determine whether to download, copy, or delete the entire message from the server. The header includes these fields: Subject, From, Received, Importance, Attachment, and Size.) before you download the complete messages.
  
• If you use offline folders and typically synchronize all folders, try to synchronize only the folders you need. Also, because the Deleted Items folder is automatically updated, empty it before you synchronize the folders. To empty the Deleted Items folder automatically when you quit Microsoft Outlook, click the Tools menu, click Options, click the Other tab, and then select the Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting check box.
  
• Notifications can slow down the speed at which you receive messages.

I can't send or receive e-mail messages.

• If you use a modem, make sure dial-up networking options are set correctly. You must have a modem, an e-mail account (e-mail account: The server name, user name, password, and e-mail address used by Outlook to connect to an e-mail service. You create the e-mail account in Outlook by using information provided by your administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).), and a phone line to send and receive e-mail messages.
  
• The server you use may not be available. Wait and try again later, or see your administrator.
  
• The settings for your e-mail account might not match what your Internet service provider (ISP: A business that provides access to the Internet for such things as electronic mail, chat rooms, or use of the World Wide Web. Some ISPs are multinational, offering access in many locations, while others are limited to a specific region.) requires. For example, you may have mistyped the name of your server or e-mail address. Also, most Internet (Internet: A worldwide network of thousands of smaller computer networks and millions of commercial, educational, government, and personal computers. The Internet is like an electronic city with virtual libraries, stores, art galleries, and so on.) addresses and connection settings are case-sensitive. Make sure settings are capitalized correctly.
  
• If you receive an Internet e-mail message that was delayed, you can look at the list of transactions for the message over the Internet, such as the time the message arrived at each location on its route. Open the message you want to view the Internet headers for, click the View menu, and then click Options.
  
• If you used another e-mail program in the past, some of your settings may not have been imported properly, or you may have renamed your account.
  
• If your mail server is not responding, you may want to increase the amount of time Microsoft Outlook tries to connect.