Yesterday, I tried to send an email on my iPhone. But it seemed that my email was stuck in my outbox. My email would not go. For some reasons, the iOS mail app could not reach the email server to send my mail. I wanted to delete it and resend again. but I could not delete the email because the “Edit” button was grayed out.
The Edit option is grayed out and the message has a perpetually spinning status icon
This short article explains how you can clear a stuck email in your outbox.
There may be many issues stopping the mail from being sent; such as:
- A bad connection
- Offline mail server
- Corrupt messages
- Too large file (videos, pictures etc) attachments for your email server to handle
- Wrong password for the email account
- Wrong email address
Also note that iPad, iPod touch and iPhone users may experience this problem. If you think that your email sending process takes too long on your iOS device, here is how you can troubleshoot:
How to clear stuck emails
1-Turn on Airplane mode (Settings > Airplane Mode)
2-Restart your iPhone or iPad by pressing and holding the on/off (sleep/wake) button until you see the red slider. Slide the read slider. Wait a few seconds. Then again press and hold the on/off button until the Apple logo appears.
3-Do not turn off Airplane Mode
4-Launch the Mail app
5-If you have more than one email accounts, select the one you are having problems with, e.g., iCloud, Gmail etc
6-Tab Outbox. Note if you do not see an Outbox, this means that your email was already sent successfully.
7-Now you can tap Edit as you will see this option is no longer grayed out or dim.
8-Select the stuck email message in the Outbox and then tap Trash
Now you can turn off Airplane mode. You may want to resent this email again.If your cannot send the email again, you may want to do the followings:
- Contact your email provider
- Make sure that your email account settings are correct
- Remove your email account and add again by going to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Your Email Account > Delete
See also:
Did these tips work for you? Let us know.
Ina Bahatyrevich says
April 19, 2017 at 6:11 pmThanks a lot! It was working for me!
Tom May says
June 6, 2017 at 1:08 pmThank you that worked!
Phyllis G says
September 9, 2017 at 5:53 pmThank god! Ive been trying got two days. THIS WORKED!!! Thank you!
Yvonne says
October 16, 2017 at 11:41 amSorry this did not work for me as I was prompted to turn off Airplane mode prior to accessing my e-mail outbox. I deleted the e-mails but once airplane mode was turned off in settings the mails appeared again. Any ideas?
Kayli says
April 26, 2018 at 12:15 pmAwesome! Thank you for helping me fix this!
Karyn says
May 6, 2018 at 8:06 pmFantastic – great solution!! Thank you
VICKI says
June 12, 2018 at 10:24 pmFINALLY a “solution” that worked (iPhone 7)!!
Frustrated says
August 3, 2018 at 7:12 pmMany thanks for the tip, worked a charm!
I Win!! says
August 24, 2018 at 2:20 amYou are the best!!!! Thank you
Kimberly says
September 7, 2018 at 3:57 pmFANTASTIC!
First time I’ve ever had this issue and it worked, THANKS!
Karan says
December 3, 2018 at 5:23 amfantastic, thank you so much. im computer stupid so love exact step by step instructions. thank you very mucu
Steven Gleason says
December 12, 2018 at 3:12 pmI had an email that just kept trying to send and I didn’t even know it. I followed the advice here and it worked great. Thanks.
Vanessa says
January 10, 2019 at 4:05 amDon’t work, tried everything any other suggestions?
Libby says
January 12, 2019 at 2:53 amThought this was going to do it. Loved the visuals, thank you.
Unfortunately, when I launch the mail app in ios 9.3.5, all I get is the white page before the app closes itself.
Tried airplane mode suggestion.
Any further ideas are welcomed!
Thank you.
Kara says
January 13, 2019 at 2:58 amThis is the ONLY thing that worked!
Carol says
January 14, 2019 at 3:16 pmSadly, this trick did not work for me. I’m on IOS 12.1.2. Any other ideas, please?
Steven says
January 18, 2019 at 11:11 pmThank you. Great solution
Lena says
January 31, 2019 at 3:26 pmThis works. Thank you, thank you!
Sheila says
February 10, 2019 at 7:33 pmAirplane mode did not work for me. Any other suggestions.
Tony says
February 20, 2019 at 6:24 pmThis worked perfectly, Thank you
Pam Stansfield says
March 22, 2019 at 5:33 pmThank you SO much. Your tip worked! Very grateful!