The typical post reads like this:

"After viewing the Outbox, opening an email and changing it, clicking Send on the email and clicking Send/Receive, Outlook will not send the email. I have to leave the email open, switch the view back to Inbox (or some other view), then click Send in the email window, before clicking Send/Receive to send the email. Microsoft, please fix the problem."

This problem is linked to Outlook add-ins that use the .Net Framework. We discovered during the Office beta that BCM (Business Contact Manager), and more recently other .Net add-ins for Outlook, causes it. The Send to OneNote Power Toy for Outlook is another add-in that causes this behavior. The add-ins that cause problems apparently read the message and mark it as read, and since Outlook won't send read messages, it remains in the Outbox.

Until the cause is identified and the applications fixed, be it Outlook, the .Net framework, or the add-ins that cause it, don't go to the Outbox to watch the mail get sent. If you do need to open the Outbox, open the message(s) and select another folder, then click Send on each message. You're only other option is to identify the add-in and disable it.

If viewing the Outbox is important to you, identify the add-in that results in this behavior and disable it. Look in Tools->Options->Other->Advanced->COM add-ins for your installed add-ins. Disable the add-ins and re-enable them one at a time and test it.

Since BCM, and possibly other add-ins, aren't listed in the COM add-in list, check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins. Export the keys, then change the LoadBehavior value to 0 in order to disconnect an add-in. Restart Outlook and test.

See http://www.slipstick.com/problems/outbox.htm for current information, and be sure to let me know if you discover any other add-ins that exhibit this behavior.

Diane Poremsky is the president of CDOLive LLC and a Microsoft Outlook MVP. She's author of Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours (Sam's, 2003) and coauthor of OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide). For questions or suggestions for future columns, write her at outlook@cdolive.com.