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Issue Solved: Sent Items Not Showing In Outlook

In Outlook, once you send an email to a specific recipient, you might want to forward or resend it to another person. So, you have to locate that sent email. You can retrieve the email easily because Outlook saves all your email messages in the Sent Items folder. However, you cannot see this folder, at times. In other situations, you would see the folder, but not the email messages inside it. Usually, from the list of folders in your account, you can spot the Sent Items folder. But if you cannot, you might have to change your Outlook settings.Now, let’s discuss how to resolve the issue of Sent items not showing in Outlook.

Sent Items Not Showing In Outlook

NOTE: The following instructions will apply to Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, and also versions 2016, 2013, and 2010.

  • Step 1:Launch Outlook on your computer.
  • Step 2:From the list of folders in your account, select Sent Items.
  • Step 3:If you cannot see the Sent Items folder, try clicking on the arrow to the left of your account folder. This action will expand your list of folders and fix the issue sent items not showing in Outlook.
  • Step 4:Now, you can search for the email that you wish to resend using specific keywords. And then, you can resend or forward it to another recipient.
  • Step 5:We have now seen how to locate your Sent Items folder if you cannot view it in your folder list. In other words, we have resolved the Sent items folder not showing in Outlook issue.

In case you cannot locate a specific email or item in your Sent Items folder, there might be several reasons for that. Now, follow these steps to fix this sent items not showing in Outlook problem:

Case 1: The Item Would Not Have Been Sent Yet

Sometimes, the email message that you try to send wouldn’t have been sent successfully. It would have got stuck in the Outbox folder. This scenario happens if there are any login or connectivity issues. So, if you see an email message in the Outbox folder, confirm that your connection is working.

Case 2: The Item Has Become Too Old

Many email accounts are configured to synchronize the sent items only for certain periods. This is true in the case of Cached Exchange Modes or IMAP accounts. If you use any of these two, you can keep your emails offline only for a few weeks or months. However, you can modify this interval. By doing this task, you can fix the Sent items not showing in Outlook issue. Follow these steps to do the same:

  • Step 1:In your Outlook account, click the File menu.
  • Step 2:From the displayed options, choose Account Settings.
  • Step 3:In the main window, select the Account Settings option.
  • Step 4:Choose your email account and click on the Change button.
  • Step 5:The Change Account window will now display.
  • Step 6:In this window, locate the Mail to keep offline slider.
  • Step 7:Adjust the slider to a longer interval.
  • Step 8:Click on the Next button.
  • Step 9:You have now changed the interval to a longer period. So, your emails will be stored for more weeks or months (as you choose).
  • Step 10:You have now resolved the Sent items not showing in Outlook problem.

Case 3: The Item Might Have Been Deleted

At times, your sent items could get deleted. So, you need to check the Trash or the Deleted Items folder. See if you could retrieve your sent email from one of these folders.In some situations, you cannot see the sent items if Outlook is not set up to keep (or maintain) a copy of the sent items. To fix this problem, follow these instructions:

  • Step 1:Go to your Outlook account and click the File menu.
  • Step 2:Choose Options and then select Mail.
  • Step 3:Scroll down the screen to the Save messages section.
  • Step 4:Select the checkbox next to the following option: Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder.

You have now seen different cases where the Sent items not showing in Outlook problem occurs. You have also seen some ways to resolve the issue.