How to Mass Delete Duplicate Emails in Outlook – Finest 7 Ways
We all know that Microsoft Outlook is a popular desktop email application that is used by both Windows and Mac users. However, many Outlook users face a common and frustrating issue: email duplication. Duplicate emails not only clog your inbox but also eat into your application’s performance and take up storage space. If you’re looking for a way to delete duplicate emails in Outlook, then you’re in the right place.
Email duplication is defined as the stack of several copies of your mailbox data especially email messages in the inbox. Duplicate emails in your PST file not only take up space on your hard drive but also affect the application’s overall efficiency and productivity.
So it is very important to deal with duplicates so, in this blog post, we’ll go through the top seven ways to mass delete or selectively remove duplicate emails in Outlook effectively.
Table of Contents
- Why Delete Duplicate Emails in Outlook? Common Causes
- Check Account Settings in MS Outlook Application
- Use the Import/Export wizard
- Set Up the rules properly
- Configure the inbox updates frequency
- Use the clean Up tool
- Turn off the antivirus application
- What Should Do If Manual Methods Aren’t Working?
- Professional Solution to Remove Duplicate Emails in Outlook
- Conclusion
Before we get started, let’s look at the causes of duplicate emails in Outlook PST files
Why Delete Duplicate Emails in Outlook? Common Causes
- The very first reason is that if you’ve created an IMAP account in Microsoft Outlook and set it up to retry new emails and open the inbox automatically when Outlook starts up, you’ll see that each message is repeated in your mailbox.
- If a user’s network or server is down, a message on the server becomes damaged, causing a duplicate to appear when Outlook starts the Send/Receive process.
- When you check the Leave a copy of the message on the server option in your account settings, Outlook produces duplicate emails every time you send or receive a message.
- If the mail server or Outlook fails to react during the sending and receipt of the message, the prior message will be downloaded on the next sync of your Outlook account.
- If you have more than one alias for the same email account in your Outlook profile, you will very certainly get the same email on the email aliases, resulting in several duplicates.
#Method 1: Check Account Settings in MS Outlook Application
Sometimes an account is configured multiple times in Outlook that leads to the same email being repeated several times. In reality, these emails belong to different configurations. By removing the duplicates accounts, users can delete duplicate emails in Outlook efficiently.
Here are the steps to do so:
- Initially, open Microsoft Outlook and go to the File tab.
- Next, go to Info, then Account Settings.
- Then, open the Email tab and look at the account names configured in Outlook.
- If users are seeing that the same account is configured multiple times, then start removing them. Just make sure to keep one account among all the duplicates active and delete the rest.
- Finally, hit the Close button.
#Method 2: Use the Import/Export Wizard
The Import/Export wizard is another way to mass delete duplicate emails in Outlook. Here’s how to use it:
- To begin, open Outlook and go to File >> Options and then Open & Export Option to Import/Export.
- Now, in the Import/Export Wizard >>, choose “Import from another program or file.” Next
- Then choose Outlook Data File PST and press the Next button.
- Now, choose the PST file using the browse button and select the “Do not import duplicate” option >> Next.
- After you’ve made all of your adjustments, choose the Outlook Data File you wish to export and click the Finish button.
Method 3: Set Up the Rules Properly
Check whether the MS Outlook rules are organised appropriately or not. If rules are not configured properly. It will make a mix-up between altered email folders. Set up the rules appropriately.
Method 4: Configure the Inbox Updates Frequency
- Initially, launch the MS Outlook application on your local machine.
- After that, go to the Send/Receive tab > Send/Receive Groups > Define Send/Receive Groups option.
- A new dialogue box will open, and click on the collection users want to change.
- Hit on the new button to generate new groups if users want.
- Then, the mouse hits the edit button > schedule an automatic send/receive every minute option.
- Lastly, choose the preferred moment> OK button.
Method 5: Use the Clean Up tool
Outlook Clean Up tool is a built-in utility that helps users mass delete duplicate emails in Outlook effortlessly. Follow these steps:
- First, launch Microsoft Outlook on your Windows computer.
- Now, from the ribbon bar, select the Clean Up tool.
- Select the option to Clean Up Folders and Subfolders.
- A dialogue window will appear when you click on the Clean Up folder and subfolder, asking if you want to Clean Up or Cancel. Simply select Clean Up from the drop-down menu.
- To find the location of the deleted items folder, go to the Setting option.
- The Outlook options box will pop up once you click on the Setting. To upload the PST file, simply click the Browse button.
- Select Deleted Items and then click the OK button.
- After that, go to Outlook’s settings and select the Clean Up Folder option to remove duplicate emails in Outlook inbox.
#Method 6: Turn Off the Antivirus Application
If there are duplicate files in your mailbox, it can be because of the server connections closing and the antivirus application’s settings. If the server link is not shut appropriately, emails that are not highlighted as received will create duplicates. To delete duplicate emails in MS Outlook, users just go through the manual antivirus software and disable the email protection.
We have mentioned all the possible manual solutions to delete duplicate email messages in MS Outlook. But these solutions aren’t safe and secure especially when users are novice users. So, we have another solution that will assist users in eliminating duplicate emails in Outlook with any data loss.
What Should Do If Manual Methods Aren’t Working?
In certain cases, manual procedures are insufficient to delete duplicate emails in Outlook. Basic cleanup can be done with manual methods, but manual methods take time, particularly for large mailboxes. If manual approaches don’t work, opt for an automated solution.
Now, the question is what is the best solution to complete this task? To know the answer keep reading the blog because you are so close to knowing the best method that will complete this task for you.
Automated Method to Remove Duplicate Emails in Outlook
For comprehensive results, you should use an expert-suggested solution such as Outlook Duplicate Remover. This tool enables users to mass delete duplicates from various Outlook file formats like PST, OST & BAK files. The tool is capable enough to delete duplicate contacts in Outlook & also offers a simple and easy-to-understand user interface.
In addition, the tool is capable of deleting duplicates from password-protected, damaged Outlook files without compromising data integrity. So whether you want to mass delete duplicates or remove them selectively, this automated software can do both.
Steps to delete duplicates from Outlook using automated professional tool:
- Open the professional tool on the local machine.
- To upload your PST file(s) use the “Add File(s)” or “Add Folder” option.
- Select one of the two available options to eliminate duplicates: “Across Folder“, “Within Folder.”
- To set the destination path where the final PST file will be saved select the ‘Change’ button.
- Decide which types of data you will need to filter and remove duplicates; Emails, Contacts, Calendars, Journals, Tasks, and Notes.
- To identify duplicate you can use the ‘Specify Duplicate Criteria‘ feature and specify the properties or fields on the basis of which duplicates will be identified.
- Once the process finishes you will get a confirmation message and your Outlook duplicates have been successfully removed.
Conclusion
As we said duplicate emails not only consume your space but also affect the productivity of MS Outlook. To keep your inbox clutter and redundant free, it’s important to proactively identify and remove duplicate emails in Outlook. If you prefer manual methods or want to use an automated tool like Outlook Duplicate Remover, then this blog will give you the solutions to take care of the issue. Pick the method that suits your needs and experience an out of the box Outlook experience.