photo email stuck in outbox

[#1]

My wife's laptop uses Windows Live Mail and Mailwasher. Mailwasher doesn't seem to be a problem, but I mention it just in case the cause is there. There are two problems.

(1) When my wife logs into Windows Live Mail, it claims there is a problem with either her user id or her password, but if you click the bit in the top righthand corner of the window that tells of the problem, it disappears, and you can carry on as if nothing has happened. What is causing that? I have never used Live Mail, and I haven't been able to figure out how to check her settings, so some guidance there would be helpful please.

(2) When she tries to close down Live Mail, it says there is a photo email stuck in the Outbox. As before, if you click in the top righthand corner of that window, it goes and Live Mail closes down. I have no idea where this Outbox is hiding (hence mentioning Mailwasher just in case). I have looked in Mailwasher, but no sign of an Outbox there.

At the moment she doesn't seem to be able to send emails, so this is more than just a nuisance.

If anyone can help with either of these problems I would be very grateful

Thanks, and Happy New Year

[#2]

Mailwasher only checks inbound mail, so can be discounted as a problem, and doesn't have an 'outbox'

Can't help with WLM -I've not used a MS mail orogram for close on 20 years, but I have seen mention of its' current iteration being a bit of a pig/law unto itself.

[#3]

Thanks John. At least it rules out Mailwasher, which like you, I thought wasn't the cause. I use Mozilla Thunderbird and I rarely have cproblems with it. However, instead of using Mailwasher to delete any 'iffy' emails then downloading them, it seems my wife has been reading her emails on Mailwasher, then downloading them to Live Mail but not then reading them or deleting them so she has nearly 5000 (yes thousand) emails in her Live Mail Inbox.

If I went through her Sent emails deleting any with photos, would that clear the blockage?

[#4]

Last point first The only answer I can give to that is 'highly unlikely', because if it says it's stuck in the outbox, it won't be in 'sent'. Is there nothing showing in WLMs' outbox?

If I were you, I'd try and get your wife to read mail in WLM, then delete those she doesn't need to keep - I don't know if there's a size limit on WLMs storage, but I wouldn't risk finding out the hard way.

[#5 · Accepted solution]

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@penneck wrote:

(1) When my wife logs into Windows Live Mail, it claims there is a problem with either her user id or her password, but if you click the bit in the top righthand corner of the window that tells of the problem, it disappears, and you can carry on as if nothing has happened. What is causing that?

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By default Windows Live Mail tries to log in to your Microsoft account (to sync your contacts, I think).  You get an error message if that fails.  I'll quote the solution given elsewhere, which works for me whenever I use it.

Select 'Options', then click on 'Mail' from the selection offered.

In the mail 'Options' property pages, select the 'Connection' tab and click 'Stop Signing in' from the 'Connecting to Windows Live Services' section.

Click 'stop signing in' to any warning messages.

Click 'OK' to exit the 'Options' Property pages

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@penneck wrote:

(2) When she tries to close down Live Mail, it says there is a photo email stuck in the Outbox. As before, if you click in the top righthand corner of that window, it goes and Live Mail closes down. I have no idea where this Outbox is hiding 

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Usually all the folders are listed in the left hand pane.  Some folders have a little arrow just to the left of the name which you need to click in order to see the nested folders.  Outbox will be in there somewhere.  If the folder pane has been turned off you need to find how to turn it on again.  Once you can find the Outbox, drag each message to the drafts folder.  Then open and send them one at a time until you find the one that gets stuck, presumably because it is too large.   

[#6]

First, my thanks to John for his suggestion. I have been deleting unwanted emails as fast as I can check them, but it seems ReedRichards has pointed in the right direction to find the Outbox.

ReedRichards - thanks for your suggestions. I have found the Outbox at last, deleted the oldest email in it (it had photos), and the remaining emails have now moved from the Outbox to the Sent Tray, so hopefully soon we will get responses from their recipients. Certainly, the fault message has gone now. However, the first problem still remains, but then I couldn't find the first 'Options' you listed on your instructions so I couldn't click on 'Mail'. I assume it is in Live Mail, but I could be wrong. If not, where should I be looking for it?

[#7]

Its okay ReedRichards. I've found it. There is a very tiny icon for a dropdown menu in the top lefthand corner of Live Mail, and the first 'Options' was on there. I've followed your instructions from that point, and now the first of my two problems is also solved.

Many thanks for your help

[#8]

Glad you've got it sorted @penneck .

[#9]

Likewise.  Pleased to be able to help.

Unlike older programs like Outlook and Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail stores individual emails as individual files, not one big file for the entire Inbox.  Therefore I don't think there is actually anything to be gained by deleting old emails in the way that there is for the two aforementioned email programs.   

[#10]

I would suspect that an over size email (such as one having photos attached) might cause a send error whilst uploading, such a failure would stop next in queue items being attempted to be sent.

Some lazy email clients unhelpfully report many SMTP errors as login failures.

Such might have been encountered here.

[#11]

Yes Townman, I agree. It was a large email with photos that I was looking for, but I couldn't find it or the Outbox. Eventually, with John and ReedRichards help, I found the latter and then the former. Having deleted the email, the other emails flowed. I'm not sure what kind of warning my wife got that the email hadn't gone, but I suspect just a little window that asked about emails still waiting to be sent. Other than that, by chance she met one of the addressees of a later sent email only to find out they hadn't received it. At this point, she still did not tell me about the problem (not that I could fix it, but at least I could ask the forum for help). However, she eventually did tell me, and now the forum has solved the problem. Thanks all