Outlook 2003 repeatedly downloads the same e-mails. Why?

[Guest]

I just got a new laptop with Office 2003 pre-installed. I set up Outlook to
check mail on a pop3 server. I leave messages on the server for several days
after checking them. Each time Outlook connects to the server, it downloads
all the messages still on it. Basically, Outlook downloads the same messages
every 5 minutes, so I wind up with multiple copies in Outlook. This does not
happen with my desktop which is running Outlook 2002 and checking the same
e-mail account.

 

[BillR [MVP]]

This can sometimes happen when a send/receive barfs or when an antivirus
product stops a download for some reason. The fix is to clear the messages
from the server and ensure it doesn't happen again.
Disable any antivirus email scanning then download all the messages on the
server using another Outlook profile or another email application.