How to fix "Operation cannot be performed because message has been changed" message. when using Outlook and Gmail.

Anonymous
2020-04-21T11:53:43+00:00

Over the last two years, I have been using Outlook 2013, now Office 365. I've been experiencing an ongoing issue where I receive this message "Operation cannot be performed because message has been changed" message.  Typical scenarios: 1) A new email arrives in my Outlook inbox. I preview, or read the email. I attempt to delete the email. Operation cannot... message appears.  I either type a new email, or reply to an email, go on to another task leaving the draft until later. When I return to the draft email, complete the email, and attempt to send the email, Operation cannot... message appears. I also cannot even save the draft, same error message. This is the worst part of this bug, as I've wasted/lost the time effort spent on the draft email.

I have run the Office repair utilities. I have tried unchecking the email cleanup boxes, and a variety of fixes recommended on these Microsoft answers communities. I've noticed sometimes when I come back to a message, it does allow me to move/delete the message. It's like there's a sync issue that needs time to resolve. However, nothing appears to work when a draft message gets hung in this loop. I have to start over with a new reply email.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-29T00:15:27+00:00

    Does anyone recognize how absurd it that community members have to fix a problem with Outlook? When does Microsoft assume responsibility for their product that us community members paid Microsoft for? Do we have to wait for Windows 11? I'm sure the car manufacturers would love to convince their buyers "you figure out how to fix our product"

    *** Email address is removed for privacy ***

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-07-28T22:08:24+00:00

    This is the most annoying error message of all that I have ever received, and it seems like it should be simple to fix. All users want to do is clean up their inboxes. Why should it be this hard? Why?

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-07-11T11:10:26+00:00

    This works perfectly and is simple enough as this error does not take place all the time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-06-19T04:54:55+00:00

    I cannot thank you enough for providing the solution to "message has been changed ....." problem.  Your simple solution WORKED!  Woohoo!  Many thanks, George.  10 Stars.  - M Naylor

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-06-18T00:39:54+00:00

    Hi Guys,

    Tghis has been happening to me a lot and I fell upon an easy fix.  Go to the DRAFT, delete it and a new draft will be created WITH THE CHANGES YOU HAVE MADE and you are good to send.

    It worked for me.

    Cheers,

    Bali Steve

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