Reasons for Duplicate Outlook Emails

Outlook is a wonderful email client, but it’s not without it’s flaws. Nothing is perfect, and one of the most annoying flaws of them all is when suddenly you have duplicate Outlook emails being downloaded again from the server, making your inbox the last thing you want to deal with. Having multiple copies of the same emails in your Outlook inbox is going to shoot down your productivity quite a bit, but before even tackling the issue head on, let’s look at the reasons that Outlook re-downloads emails.

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Multiple Accounts in Outlook

Most Outlook users have multiple accounts in Outlook. It’s how to keep your personal and business emails together, yet separate. Having multiple email accounts in one place is a wonderful way to boost productivity, but sometimes it can also create a bit of a mess. Make sure that the separate accounts are indeed separate and not just showing up as aliases for the same Outlook Mailbox. When using aliases, it would be the same mailbox set up twice which would explain the duplicate Outlook emails.

Rules Causing Duplicate Outlook Emails

Another reason duplicate Outlook emails occur is the “Move to folder” rule. This just might be the fastest and easiest way to create a bit of chaos in your Outlook Mailbox. The reason for this is because when you have set up a few different rules for your mailbox, then when you receive an email the rules you previously set up are all going to be checked against it, when you have more than one rule that applies to the email, Outlook may just create duplicate emails.

Syncing Email on Multiple devices

Syncing your Outlook email on multiple devices is a massively used function. You want all of your devices to be synced up at all times and your productivity really leans on this function working properly. What happens when the syncing isn’t actually syncing up how you’d like? Well you may just end up with duplicate Outlook emails and contacts.

Virus Software and your Firewall Settings

A very common reason for Duplicate Outlook Emails is the virus software you may have installed or your Firewall settings. This is especially true for the virus software that integrates into Outlook. This usually happens with miscommunication when hitting the send/receive button or when it automatically does the send/receive communication. If during the process it downloads all the emails, yet still receives some kind of error message, then on the next send/receive communication you may have some duplicate Outlook emails pop up. The errors can be caused by the virus scanning software because you’re adding another element into the communication mix. This in NO WAY means you should turn off any virus scanning software, especially when it’s working in your email client. You want that extra security. You just need to make sure the software and the email client communicate like they should.

Now that you know the reasons why duplicate Outlook emails may show up, stay tuned to our blog for how to delete duplicates.

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