Most email servers use “Sent” folder by default to store their outgoing mails. Every email client has their own label system for sent messages such as Gmail uses “Sent Mail” to store its outgoing mails whereas “Sent Items” is Outlook’s own system label where all emails sent through the mail server are stored.

Unlike Outbox which stores the pending messages for delivering, Sent folder enlists the sent messages that are being successfully received by the recipient. Simply put, Outbox is the place where the outgoing messages are stored until they are fully sent and received by the recipient. Once the messages are delivered, they are cleared from the Outbox. If the connection is lost, the email client will automatically try to resend the message once the connection is reestablished. Until the message gets successfully delivered to the recipient, the message remains in Outbox. The message also stays in the Outbox if the connection is failed to establish or because of any internet connectivity issues. When you compose a message and hit send, the outgoing message moves to the Outbox until a secure connection with the configured SMTP server is available and successfully established. Outbox is a temporary holding area where your composed messages are stored temporarily until your email client establishes a connection with the mail server and the recipient successfully receives your message. We present an unbiased comparison between the two. Emails stuck in the Outbox are a common issue in email programs, mostly because it fails to connect to the SMTP server.

If the messages fail to send, they stuck in the Outbox folder as the communications in and out of the mail server are blocked. After the messages have been successfully delivered to the recipient, they are being moved to the “Sent” or “Sent Messages folder”. When you compose an email and hit send, it first goes to the “Outbox” folder before it connects to the mail server and is successfully sent to the recipient. However, they have different meanings in terms of delivery.

The terms Outbox and Sent messages are often used synonymously when it comes to sending and receiving emails via an email program such as Gmail, Outlook, and more.

How do you find sent mail in outlook