Duplicate emails in Outlook are not a rare occurrence in a business environment. The administrator must often delete the emails manually and check if the crucial emails are not deleted accidentally. When the number of duplicate emails increases, then manual deletion is not feasible. It may take many manly hours and efforts to find the right reason for the duplicate emails. So, it is not easier to remove duplicates because you should fix them without compromising the user’s data and the client’s account.
To help you understand the duplicate emails problem, we have explored all the top possible reasons and apt solutions that will surely help you to remove duplicate email items.
Top 6 Reasons Why Duplicate Emails Problem Occur in MS Outlook
There are multiple reasons behind duplicate emails that might be sent or received in Outlook. Below listed are the top reasons that are explained one by one.
1. Received Email is Corrupt or Infected:
In Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010, etc. multiple or duplicate email copies are a result of corruption. It could take place on any sent or received email items. The issue can be controlled or fixed instantly from the server end by contacting the IT Administrator.
2. Synchronizing Outlook Email on Multiple Devices:
It is a common practice of many Outlook users to use the same Outlook profile on multiple devices like desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile which ultimately leads to the creation of multiple copies or duplicates of emails. You can resolve this by manually deleting emails one by one.
3. Multiple Outlook Accounts:
Mostly, Outlook users configure their personal as well as professional email together. They work separately being at one place and obviously helps in increasing productivity. But, it becomes a bit confusing, so make sure the accounts are separate indeed and are not showing as aliases for the one Outlook account. If you are using aliases, the single mailbox might get set up twice leading to duplicate Outlook emails.
4. Settings of Outlook not configured properly:
MS Outlook generates duplicates for every Send/Receive cycle due to the account settings, the checkbox “Leave a copy of the messages on the server” has been enabled. You can fix this by disabling the Account Setting in all the MS Outlook versions.
5. Importing PST File to Current Outlook Profile:
Users archive emails to PST files for backup or exporting data. If you import any of the PST file to the same Outlook profile from which it was exported, it will create duplicates for complete mailbox data items.
6. Rules Configuration is Incorrect:
This could be a simple mistake that you might be making by configuring inappropriate rules. This becomes messy when an email message is received. Due to incorrect rules, Outlook builds duplicate data in the mailbox.