Outlook not saving drafts correctly

Hi Steven,

Start Outlook in safe mode following steps mentioned below and then try sending emails and verify the result.

* Hold Windows key + R.
* Copy and paste, or type the following command in the Open box, and then press Enter.

Outlook /safe

Note: There is a space between Outlook and '/'

If Outlook works as expected in safe mode, disable the add-ins by following steps mentioned below and determine the problem causing add-in:

a) Click on File menu, click Options, Add-ins, Go button besides Manage: Com-in Add.
b) Check if there are add-ins listed, clear the checkbox.
c) Close the Office program and restart it.
d) Disable each add-in one at a time, restart the Outlook, and repeat the above procedure. If the issue reappears again, it will help you to determine which add-in is causing this issue.

Hope the above information helps. Try the suggestions and let me know the result at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.

Thanks for your response, Vardhaman.

Running in Safe Mode does not resolve the issue.

Through more experimenting, I have discovered two things:

One, the problem occurs also if you manually save - not only autosave.

Two, the problem does not occur if formatting in Rich Text or Plain Text.

I have set my default to Rich Text for now, but that's just a workaround and I'd still like to figure out what's going on.

As an aside, what are the practical differences between Rich Text and HTML? A quick search online seems to indicate it may not display properly on non-Microsoft systems?

Thanks for your help.

EDIT: I've already found that Rich Text attaches files differently. It puts them in-line rather than as a normal attachment. I can't use this workaround for long. Most of my clients use Outlook and they will expect my attachments to appear normally. I expect responses saying I forgot to attach files.

Hello Steven,

Thank you for the reply.

-What is the  Full version number of Office are you using?

Update Office by going to File>Office Account>Office Update>Update Now and verify the result.

If issue still persists, create new profile configure the email account and verify the result.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-an-Outlook-profile-f544c1ba-3352-4b3b-be0b-8d42a540459d?CorrelationId=0e1f94a7-8ab5-42b2-8a1b-dce0bd7651e3&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US&ocmsassetID=HA102749460

I updated but that didn't resolve the issue. Current version is 16.0.7070.2033.

I created a "Test" profile and the issue seemed to be resolved.

So does this suggest I need to create a new profile for myself and delete the old one? How will this affect my settings? I have custom search folders, views, macros, defaults, etc. I'd rather not have to redo them all.

Thanks again.

EDIT: It turns out creating a new profile didn't resolve the issue. Continue reading below.

Hi Steven,

When you set up new profile settings will be reset to default. There might be possibilities that this issue is occurring due to you customized settings you may try to change settings and check if issue is causing due to any of the custom search folders, views or macro.

Thank you.

Sorry for the delayed response. I've been busy.

I created a new profile and the problem has not been resolved. I must have been mistaken that the new profile worked earlier; it was a quick test.

I have not set up any of my customization that you suggested may be the culprit.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

I took a screenshot to illustrate the issue:

The window at the back is my drafts folder, with the email in the viewing pane. When I right click the message at the top ("This is the most recent version...") it opens up the other three windows shown. I've had the email composer open and have been typing numbers in every so often. As you can see, each time I edit the email it auto-saves, with the top window being the most recent version. But in order to get to that version, I have to click to open all other versions of the email.

In my work process, email composition often takes a while, so this happens often, sometimes with dozens of "versions", and I have to find the most recent (not always easy) and close all the others. It's super frustrating.

Any ideas are appreciated.

bump

Anyone have suggestions?

I was kinda hoping the Anniversary Update would fix this. It didn't.

Anyone have ideas?