A considerable number of Apple Mail, Outlook for Mac and Gmail users reportedly suffer from a comparatively common issue of duplicate email account in the drafts folder. This problem is common when the mailbox is configured with IMAP account.
In normal situations, the emails are usually automatically saved in the local drafts folder once you start composing. These email messages remain in the drafts folder if not saved directly, until they are either sent or discarded. However, if the email messages are saved purposefully, they will be removed from the drafts folder only when they are sent or manually deleted.
Issue Of Duplicate Emails In IMAP Accounts-
If the Outlook for Mac users connects to the Gmail IMAP account they might undergo the issue of duplicate email account in the drafts folder. If your mailbox is configured to an IMAP account, an option is automatically enabled to save a copy of all the email messages from all the folders of the mail account to a corresponding drafts folder on the IMAP server. Hence, with each send/ receive, a new copy of the draft folder messages will be saved.
In order to deal with the issue of duplicates in draft folders you need to select the advanced account level option to “Don’t store a copy of sent messages”.
Steps to be followed-
- In Outlook for Mac, go to Tools menu.
- Select Accounts.
- From the list, select the Google based account.
- Now click on Folders tab.
- Click on the option “Don’t store a copy of sent messages”.
Alternative Solution-
One solution to resolve the issue of duplicate email account in drafts folder is to use the local copy of the drafts folder and other messages and hence prevent errors with the server resulting due to propagation of draft messages. When this feature is not made use of, it is no use of enabling it.