ISSUE
You send email from an IMAP account in Outlook for Windows and when you check the Sent Items folder you notice that the sent email shows duplicated and one of the emails is marked Unread.
This issue will occur for many different email providers including Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, and others.
For some email providers another symptom may occur where Sent Items does not show BCC recipients. This issue is dependent on the email provider and not controlled by Outlook. The workaround below will not always help with this issue.
STATUS, WORKAROUND
The reason there are duplicates in the Sent Items folder for some email providers is that the server automatically creates an item in the Sent Items and Outlook uploads the same item again.
For Read/Unread status of an email Outlook relies on the server. If the status from server is unread Outlook sets it accordingly.
To work around the issue, select your device and follow the steps to turn off saving sent items in an IMAP email account.
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On the File menu, select Account Settings > Account Settings.
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Choose the IMAP, and then select Change.
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Choose the Don't save copies of sent items check box.
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Select Next, then Done.
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See Also
Outlook for Mac IMAP Sent Messages duplicated and unread in Sent Items folder
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Windows
Outlook for Mac IMAP Sent messages duplicated and unread in Sent Items folder
