Common Problems with E-Mail and their Solutions

E-mail has become an integral part of our daily lives, and as we continue to rely on it, small problems may arise that can annoy the user. We have already discussed some of these problems, such as returned messages and lost connections, along with their solutions. However, there are a few more problems that can cause frustration to an e-mail user, which we will address below and provide reasonable solutions for overcoming them.

Problem 1 – Unable to Send a Message

Sometimes, despite having a connection, you may try to send an e-mail and find that it continues to remain in your outbox.

Solution

This is typically a software problem caused by damage or corruption to one or more e-mail messages that may not be apparent. To fix this, first, copy any unsent messages as text and save them on the computer’s hard drive or a backup storage device. Then, highlight all the messages in your outbox and click on “delete” or “clear” to start over. Copy the unsent messages from the text files, create new e-mail messages and resend them.

Problem 2 – Missing Attachment or Unable to Open an Attachment

Sending and receiving attachments is a convenient feature of e-mail. However, attachments can also cause problems. A common frustration is to receive an e-mail message that refers to an attachment, but you find that there is no attachment.

Solution

Request the sender to try again as they may have forgotten to attach the file. If the problem persists, ask the sender to paste the contents inside an e-mail message and send it again. In some cases, anti-virus software may have detected a virus and deleted the attachment, which is better off without it anyway.

If the attachment has been transmitted, but you are unable to open it, the problem may be that the software used by the sender does not match that of the recipient. Ask the sender to copy and paste the contents of the attachment within a follow-up mail message. Alternatively, save the document to your hard drive and then open the software program that was used initially to create it. If you do not have the appropriate software on your computer, you can download it from the Internet.

Problem 3 – Too Much Incoming Mail or Unable to Download Mail

If you are receiving a large volume of e-mail, you may face several difficulties.

Solution

Many Internet service providers have limits on the amount of storage provided to each user. If you reach the pre-set limit, additional messages will be bounced back to those who sent them. You can download your mail and weed it out or access your e-mail account via Web mail to see a listing of all messages and quickly delete any that do not appear to be of interest. This step can save a lot of downloading time if you’re using a dial-up modem and add an extra measure of virus protection. If you do not have a Web mail account, it’s easy to get one by registering with a provider such as Yahoo or Lycos or using a site such as mail2web or webmail4free.com.

A similar challenge may be caused by unusually large messages that may take an annoyingly long time to download. Use of Web mail can also be a solution. Log on to the third-party service provider and download the attachment from there.