Emails going straight to Drafts instead of sending in OWA

Felicity Amy 0 Reputation points
2026-10-28T01:55:16.4966667+00:00

I am experiencing an issue with Outlook Web App (OWA). Whenever I try to send an email, the message is not delivered and instead goes straight to the Drafts folder.

Could you please help me investigate and resolve this issue?

Outlook | Web | Outlook on the web for business | Email
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  1. Jade Ng 16,535 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-10-28T02:39:52.0766667+00:00

    Dear Felicity Amy,

    Thank you for reaching out. From your description, it appears that when you try to send an email from Outlook on the web (OWA), the message is not sent and instead remains in or returns to the Drafts folder.

    To help narrow down the cause, could you please confirm the following?

    • Does this happen with every email and every recipient, or only with specific recipients?
    • Are other users in your organization experiencing the same issue?
    • Does the issue also occur when sending from the Outlook desktop or mobile app, or is it limited to Outlook on the web?
    • Are you sending from your own mailbox or a shared mailbox?
    • When you open one of those stuck drafts and click Send, does anything happen? Does the draft disappear and come back, or just stay there without moving? Do you receive any error message or notification after selecting Send? If so, please share a screenshot of the exact message.

    In the meantime, please perform this quick test:

    1. Open Outlook on the web using an InPrivate/Incognito browser window.
    2. Create a completely new email addressed to yourself.
    3. Enter a short subject and one line of text, without adding any attachments.
    4. Select Send and check whether the message appears in Sent Items and is received in your Inbox.

    If the issue persists, please let me know the results of this test along with the information above.

    Thank you very much for your time and cooperation. I wish you all the best!

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  2. AI answer

    2026-10-28T01:55:30.26+00:00

    For Outlook on the web, start with these checks:

    1. Check whether the message is in Drafts or Outbox.
    2. If the message has an attachment larger than 25 MB, remove it, use a smaller file, or upload the file to OneDrive and attach a link instead.
    3. Check whether the mailbox is full. If the inbox is full, new mail cannot be sent or received. To free space, empty Junk Email.
    4. If Microsoft cloud storage is full, email also cannot be sent or received.

    If the message is stuck in Drafts because it is too large:

    1. Open Drafts and select the message.
    2. Remove some attachments, then select Send.
    3. If deleting the message is preferred, delete it from Drafts and then permanently delete it from Deleted Items.

    If the issue continues after reducing attachments and confirming storage is available, use Help > Contact Support in Outlook.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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