Sent Items Not Showing in Outlook 365: 4 Ways to Fix It!

Why Are My Items Not Showing in Outlook?

Outlook is one of the most widely used email applications in the world. When you send an email or attachment to anyone in Outlook, by default, it is saved in Outlook Sent folder. However, sometimes you cannot find these emails or attachments in the Sent folder.

Before taking a solution, we would like you to first familiarize yourself with the possible reasons that may cause sent items not showing in Outlook.

• Unexpected closure of Outlook: If the application abruptly shuts down, the drafted and sent emails may not be sent, resulting in their absence in the Sent folder.
• Disabled "Save a copy" option: When the option to save copies of emails in the Sent Items folder is turned off in Outlook, sent items will not be reflected in the designated folder.
• Full storage space: If the storage space is filled with old and unnecessary emails, the recently sent items may not appear in the Sent folder.

No matter what the reason is, we recommend that you optimize the backup of your Outlook data, which can effectively prevent various accidental data losses.

👉Back Up Outlook Emails to Keep It Always Safe

How to Fix Outlook Sent Items Missing Problem

Now that you know the reason why the sent folders are missing in Outlook, let's dive into how to fix this problem.

#1. Select the Save Copies of Messages in the Sent Items Folder Option

Something that can save you from trouble is to make some adjustments to Outlook's settings. There is an option to save sent items folder which, when enabled, can help you see what you have sent in your mailbox. So, if Outlook's sent items are missing, check it first.

1. Launch the Outlook mailbox to begin and hit on "File".
2. Go to "Options" right after that and click on "Mail" in the left panel.
3. Now, simply check "Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder" to turn it on. Click "OK" to confirm.

#2. Check Outlook Group Policy Settings

When you find that your Outlook Send Items is missing, this is another thing you need to do. Follow the steps below to check Outlook 2016 as an example.

1. Press Windows + R to open the "Run" dialog box.
2. Type "gpedit.msc" in the Run box and press Enter or click OK.
3. Then click Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Outlook 2016 > Outlook Options > Preferences and E-mail Options on the left of the Group Policy Editor window.
4. Double-click Message handling on the right of the window.
5. Select Enabled on the Message handling window if that isn’t currently selected and choose the "Save copies of messages in the Save Items folder" option.

#3. Select An Alternative Folder for Sent Emails

If your Sent folder is missing in Outlook, you can select an alternate folder to include sent messages when you send them. If the message is not in Sent Mail, you can at least view Sent Mail in another folder.

1. Launch Outlook's email by clicking "New Email".
2. Choose "Options" followed by "Save Sent Item" drop-down menu.
3. Choose "Other folder" and click "New" given in the Select Folder window.
4. This will set a new folder which will save your sent messages. Click "OK" to confirm.

#4. Delete Older Emails from the Sent Items Folder

If you send items that do not show up in Outlook, it may be because the maximum storage space is being used by the Sending Emails folder. Therefore, we recommend you to delete some old emails to make room for the recently sent emails.

1. First, right-click on the Sent items folder and select "Properties".
2. Select the "AutoArchive" tab and then select "Archive this folder using these settings".
3. Depending on your choice, change the setting to "Clean out items that are older than” the specified time.
4. Then select "Permanently delete old items” and click "Apply" > "OK".

Back Up Outlook Emails to Keep It Always Safe

Your email messages are valuable and if it gets deleted or corrupted by mistake, you will lose them completely. To ensure that you always have complete and safe access to them, it is recommended to backup Outlook emails by creating a copy. The best Outlook backup software - AOMEI Backupper Professional can help you.

Step 1. Open Outlook and make sure you are logged in with the account that contains the emails you want to back up.

Step 2. Launch AOMEI Backupper Professional and click Backup and Outlook Backup.

Step 3. Click Add Outlook data and select the account containing email messages you want to backup. Then click OK.

Step 4. Click the second box to select a local path, network or NAS location, or cloud drive to store your Outlook emails.

Step 5. Enable “Daily”, “Weekly”, “Monthly” or “Event triggers ” schedule backup and click Start Backup to backup Outlook emails automatically.

Notes:

• By default, if you enable scheduled backups, the software will use "Incremental backup" to back up only the changed files. You can also change it to "Differential Backup".
• If you are worried about full backup disks, the best thing to do is to enable the automatic backup cleanup method in the Backup Scheme. It will automatically delete old backup images according to the selected method.

FAQs About Sent Items Not Showing in Outlook

Summary

This article explains the possible causes of sent items not showing up in Outlook and 4 effective ways to solve them. If you are struggling with this problem, follow the tips in the article to check the cause and fix it thoroughly. Also, if you don't want to lose any important data in Outlook, it is recommended that you take backup of Outlook emails frequently.