Reader Ginny K. wrote about accidentally sending multiple copies of large emails:
Hi Terry:Have been having a couple of problems lately.
1. When I send attachments, usually in pps form, they are received numerous times. Also, I was just informed that when I sent a link to an email buddy, they received it the email twice, which has never happened before.
2. I am using Outlook express and just in the last couple of days, I have received numerous messages saying that IE has encountered a problem and needs to close.
I did a system restore – did it twice – and right now things seem to be ok; but I never know. That same message came back after the first system restore and that is why I did it the second time.
Any info on this would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Ginny K.
Unknowingly and accidentally sending duplicate emails is almost always a situation of your software or internet connection messing up. If you have a dialup connection, a noisy phone connection could cause it.
Basically, what happens is:
- your email program tells the remote mail server that it wants to send an email
- the mailserver says “ok, send it”
- your email program sends it
- your email program waits for an acknowledgment that the mailserver received the email correctly
- the mailserver checks whether it received the email correctly – if yes, it confirms to your email program. — if no, it tells your program to send (at least some of) the data again
- when your email program receives the confirmation that the email was received correctly, your email program moves the email from the Outbox to the Sent folder
- If anything happens to prevent that confirmation being received, your email program will send the message again.
So, you see, a communications bobble can cause a duplicate email to be sent.
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