The reasons for duplicate messages in Outlook are many like when you import files in Outlook & duplicate detection is turned off. After completing the import, you can’t remove duplicates. Also, incorrect functioning, configuration of main synchronization, etc. also create duplicates in Outlook.
Through this post, we will focus on why duplicate messages (.msg) occur in Outlook and how to remove these duplicates.
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Reasons for duplicate messages in Outlook
Here are the most common reasons for duplication of messages in Outlook:
- Repeated synchronization attempts can create duplicates.
- Interruptions while messages are downloaded from POP3 mailboxes
- Backup copies of email messages are duplicated with existing ones
- When receiving, sending or synchronizing, messages can be duplicated
- Anti-virus can create multiple copies of messages when you send or edit a message
- Running multiple copies of Outlook on same computer at same time is also a reason for message duplication.
- Improperly configured rules in Outlook can copy the same message to different folders
- Server synchronization failure results in duplication of email messages in Outlook.
Solutions to Prevent Duplicate Messages From Appearing in MS Outlook
- Configured Rules correctly
Review Outlook rules that they are configured correctly. If the rules are not set correctly, it will create confusion among various email folders. Also, make sure to close extra instances of Outlook.
- Set Inbox Updates Frequency
Increase the inbox update frequency and then start Outlook, go to Send/Receive. Under Define Send or Receive groups, set the value within 15-30 minutes.
- Select Do not Import duplicates while import Outlook items
When you import data in Outlook using Import/Export feature, make sure to choose ‘do not import duplicate items’ option to avoid import of duplicate data.
- Clean up Inbox
You can clean up inbox with add-ins. Perform the given steps to clean up your mailbox –
- Open Outlook
- Select a mailbox folder
- Select Home and then Clean up Now. Then, configure the below options:
- Clean up conversation will delete and move duplicate items of the conversation.
- Clean up folder to remove duplicate emails from particular folder
- Clean up folders & subfolders to remove duplicates from folders & subfolders
- Right-click Deleted Items folder and click on Empty folder that delete the emails permanently.
- Anti-virus application
If there are duplicates in Outlook, this can be due to closing of server connection and settings of anti-virus application. For resolving this issue, go to anti-virus application and disable email protection. However, it is not suggested to disable antivirus as this can get severe virus attacks on your PC through emails.
- Third-party software
You can directly opt MSG Duplicate Remover professional software. This software smoothly works and proven the best solution to find & fix duplicates. It offers you several features that make the task easier.
Instead of going through several manual ways and checking out them one by one to fix MSG duplicates is lengthy & complicated, users can go with this smart & reliable third-party software which is simple to use & provide instant results by removing duplicate messages from Outlook.
Given Are The Steps to Clean Up MSG Duplicates in Outlook:
- Install and Launch Outlook Message Duplicate Remover Software on your system.
- Add MSG files or folder from which you want to delete duplicates.
- Select either remove duplicates across folder or within the folder option.
- Use the Browse option and set a path to save the resultant MSG files.
- Click on Remove Duplicate Emails button.
This is how easily the software find & remove duplicates from Outlook MSG files. There is no such manual solution that can do the needful. Therefore, to save your valuable time & efforts, this software is highly suggested to use. One of the best parts of this tool is it can work without installing MS Outlook.
Final Words
When you have duplicates in Outlook it creates a lot of confusion and affects daily work flow. Therefore, with this post, we have explained reasons and solutions to get rid of MSG duplicate items. Manually, it is difficult for users to find and clean up MSG duplicates so it is recommended to use third-party software to get instant and safe results.