Remove Duplicate Emails From Outlook-Best Ways!
Microsoft Outlook — a robust and most favored choice for managing the mailbox. Often having duplicate emails, attachments, and files results in the cluttering of mail inboxes. Therefore, if you’re seeking methods to remove duplicate emails from Outlook application. Then, consider this article to learn different approaches for deleting and merging duplicate emails in Microsoft Outlook.
Either to clean up the space or improve the sluggish performance of Outlook, there are many reasons behind removing unnecessary emails from Outlook email clients. Besides this, users can opt for the steps guidance to delete duplicate emails Outlook. Now, let’s dive into it.
Reason to Remove Duplicate Folders in Outlook
There are various reasons behind to remove duplicate emails from Outlook. Here, read the common causes in the below section:-
- Error Configuration in Account:- Due to a lack of functionalities, users might configure mistaken steps while accessing the email address in Outlook. Hence, it results in either a duplicate email account or faulty synchronization of email messages.
- Incorrect Setup of Rules:- Another factor includes incorrect configuration of rules. To fix this error, users frequently search for methods to delete duplicate emails in Outlook application.
- Continuous Emails Forwarding:- Besides the above reasons, sometimes users unintentionally send or forward emails multiple times. Unfortunately, users are just creating copies of similar emails. With this, users look for ways to delete duplicate emails in Outlook.
- Human or Technical Error:- Both human and technical bugs are yet another factor for creating duplicate mailbox items in Outlook. To manage the data, users aim to delete duplicate emails from Outlook.
Need to Remove Duplicate Emails From Outlook
Previously, we have highlighted the causes behind forming duplicate items in MS Outlook. In the following section, we will discover the advantages of merging or removing redundant items from Microsoft Outlook.
- Since duplicate emails are considered as complete clutter in the mailbox. As it brings the chance of losing crucial email messages. Therefore, users need to remove duplicate emails Outlook application.
- Another reason behind merging the duplicate emails includes cleaning up the storage. Moreover, duplicate emails certainly consume unnecessary space due to emails, large attachments, and files.
- To delete duplicate emails in Outlook efficiently benefits users to increase its slow performance. With this, users can easily prevent confusion in organizing the data of emails.
Overall, these are the prominent benefits to remove duplicate emails from Outlook. Hence, deleting unnecessary emails refers to data management, enhancing efficiency, and performance.
Method 1: Manual Way to Delete Duplicate Folders from Outlook
Earlier, we uncovered the steps of an automated solution. Here, we will provide an overview of the manual solution to remove duplicate meetings from Outlook. Now, read the curated list of different approaches of free ways for deleting unnecessary Outlook emails.
- Steps to Check Account Settings
Step 1. Go to File >> Info >> Account Settings.
Step 2. Account Setting windows will open. Click the Email tab and search for the name of the account you configured for Outlook. If the same account appears multiple times, remove it. For this, select the email account and click on Remove.
Step 3. After removing the duplicate account, click Close.
Method 2: Use Import/Export Options to Remove Duplicate Emails from Outlook
Using this way, users can select the option to remove duplicate folders in Outlook while importing or exporting the mailbox data.
Step 1. Click on File menu >> Open & Export >> Import/Export.
Step 2. Choose Import from another program or file.
Step 3. Select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
Step 4. Browse to the .pst file and check the “Do not import duplicates” option.
Step 5. Select the required folder to import and check the “Include subfolders” option. Check the “Import items into the same folder” option and click the Finish button.
Method 3: Clean Up Option to Remove Unnecessary Conversations
Implementing the below steps of Clean up method, users can clean the complete folder while deleting the redundant conversations from MS Outlook.
Step 1. Click on the Clean Up.
Step 2. From the three options, choose Clean Up Folders & Subfolders option.
Step 3. Perform the right-click then, move to Delete Items and lastly, Empty Folder.
- Setup Manage Rules
Sometimes unknowingly users configure incorrect rules that certainly result in the creation of multiple copies of emails. To avoid such errors, users can setup new rules while using Manage Rules & Alerts to mitigate the risk of forming clutter in the mailbox.
Method 4: Remove Duplicate Emails from Outlook Using the VBA Script
Using a VBA script to delete duplicate emails from Outlook can be an efficient process and you need to be comfortable with programming. Here are detailed step-by-step guide:
- Download>>Install>>Open the Microsoft Outlook and Access the VBA Editor by clicking “Alt + F11”
- Insert a New Module by going to the menu and selecting the Insert > Module
- Write the below VBA Script by copying the VBA script and paste it into the new module
Sub DeleteDuplicateEmails()
Dim olApp As Outlook.Application
Dim olNamespace As Outlook.NameSpace
Dim olFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Dim olItem As Object
Dim dic As Object
Dim i As Long
‘ Initialize Outlook application and namespace
Set olApp = Outlook.Application
Set olNamespace = olApp.GetNamespace(“MAPI”)
‘ Prompt user to select the folder to clean
Set olFolder = olNamespace.PickFolder
If olFolder Is Nothing Then
MsgBox “No folder selected. Exiting…”, vbExclamation
Exit Sub
End If
‘ Create a dictionary to store unique email identifiers
Set dic = CreateObject(“Scripting.Dictionary”)
‘ Loop through each email item in the folder in reverse order
For i = olFolder.Items.Count To 1 Step -1
Set olItem = olFolder.Items(i)
‘ Construct a unique identifier for each email
If Not dic.exists(olItem.Subject & olItem.SenderName & olItem.ReceivedTime) Then
dic.Add olItem.Subject & olItem.SenderName & olItem.ReceivedTime, “”
Else
olItem.Delete
End If
Next i
‘ Clean up
Set dic = Nothing
Set olItem = Nothing
Set olFolder = Nothing
Set olNamespace = Nothing
Set olApp = Nothing
MsgBox “Duplicate emails have been deleted.”, vbInformation
End Sub
- Run the VBA Script
- Close the VBA editor by pressing the alt +Q
- Come back to Microsoft Outlook and press the “Alt + F8” button to open the “Macro” dialog.
- Select the “Delete Duplicate Emails” from the list of macros.
- Click on “Run” to erase the duplicate emails
- Check the Results by going to the folder you have selected to verify that identical emails have been removed or not
By following these steps, you can effectively use VBA scripting to delete duplicate contacts from Outlook for Windows, making your email management more efficient. you can also perform the same steps to delete duplicate emails Outlook for Mac.
>Method 5: Remove Duplicate Emails from Outlook Using Sorting
You may find and manually remove duplicate emails by organizing your emails according to several criteria. If you have a reasonable amount of duplicate emails and emails, this strategy can be helpful.
- Open MS Outlook on your machine.
- Go through the Folder where you find the duplicate:
- Sort the Emails according to the subject, From, and Received
- Identify the duplicate emails with the same subject, sender, and received date :
- Select and Delete Duplicates emails by pressing the delete button or right-clicking on the selected emails:
Note- This manual method takes a lot of time and a chance of data loss also. Therefore, taking a backup before going to use this method to remove duplicate emails from Outlook.
Why are Manual Ways Not Recommended for Remove Duplicate Emails Outlook 365?
- Implementing a manual solution means exercising similar steps and guidance till completion of the task. Hence, it increases the chances of errors and complexities.
- To remove duplicate meetings from Outlook using manual steps can bring challenges for securing data or fear of maintaining the originality of emails. It is suggested to look for an expert solution for combining the duplicate emails.
- For both trained and untrained professionals, implementing manual guidance is quite a complicated yet tiresome task. Hence, users can opt for incorrect steps due to a lack of knowledge.
How to Mass Remove Duplicate Emails from Outlook with Attachments?
In this section, we will explain the best yet expert-suggested way to delete duplicate emails in Outlook with embedded attachments. For the same, consider EmailDoctor Outlook Duplicates Remover, one of the advanced and intuitive choices for batch deleting duplicate items from MS Outlook. Using this software, users can find duplicate emails, attachments, calendars, contacts, and more. And, even delete duplicate Notes in Outlook easily.Most importantly, users can de-duplicate the items while opting for the feature of deleted permanently. Other key functionalities of this tool, offering advanced filter settings for removing redundant emails at once. It allows Outlook delete duplicate emails without installing Microsoft Outlook.
Concluding Words
In this write-up, we have two different approaches to remove duplicate emails from Outlook. As manual methods hold chances of errors, misconfiguration, and other faults. It is suggested to consider the expert way of deleting duplicate emails with attachments from Outlook. Besides this, users can apply filters to remove unnecessary emails from specific date ranges. So, opt for this secure solution for seamless email management in Outlook.
Commonly Asked Queries
Q. How do I delete duplicate items in Outlook 2019?
You can follow some manual tricks to delete/duplicate emails Outlook items:
- Configure the rules
- Select “Do not import duplicates”
- Clean Up Inbox
Q. Is the manual method give me quick results to remove duplicate emails from Outlook?
Well, it depends on the size of the emails. If you have a few emails, the manual method works well. In addition, the automated solution allows you to combine and delete a large number of emails without loss.
Q. How to delete duplicate emails from Outlook for Mac?
You can read the above method like the VBA script for delete duplicate emails from Outlook Mac.
