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Save a Draft Message in Outlook on the Web – Instructions

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Save a Draft Message in Outlook on the Web: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “Saving Message Drafts,” shows you how to save a draft message in Outlook on the Web. This video lesson is from our complete Outlook on the Web training, titled “Mastering Outlook on the Web Made Easy v.2016

Save a Draft Message in Outlook on the Web: Overview

            You can save a draft message in Outlook on the Web at times when you may not be able to finish creating an email before you are ready to send it. Outlook on the Web automatically saves any new email message you create as a draft. The program attempts to save draft messages every three minutes. In the “Folders” section, there is a “Drafts” folder that will contain any unfinished email messages you have created.

            If you are working on a new email message and want to manually save a draft message in Outlook on the Web, click the “More actions” downward-facing arrow in the bottom command group below the message body field to open up the extra selections. You can then click “Save draft” to save the email message. You can also click the “More commands” dots at the top of the message creation pane and choose the “Save draft” command. This replaces any drafts automatically saved by Outlook on the Web. In the bottom, right corner of the email creation pane, the time the draft message was last saved appears.

Save a Draft Message in Outlook on the Web - Instructions: A picture of a user saving a draft message in the Outlook on the Web.

Save a Draft Message in Outlook on the Web – Instructions: A picture of a user saving a draft message in the Outlook on the Web.

            To open a draft message to continue working with it, click the “Drafts” folder in the “Folders” pane. In the Inbox pane, find the message you want to work with and click it to open the message in the “Reading” pane.

            If you have a draft email you no longer want to send, you can click the “Drafts” folder and open the message. Then click the “Discard” button at the bottom of the message. A “Discard Message” popup box will appear. You can click “Discard” to delete the message or click “Don’t discard” to return to the message and continue editing, as needed. Alternatively, you can find the message in the “Drafts” folder and right-click on the message and then choose “Delete” to send the message to the “Deleted Items” folder.

            When you “Discard” a draft message, it is placed in the “Deleted Items” folder and will remain there until the folder is emptied or 30 days has passed. This is helpful if you decide to go back and continue working with the discarded draft message at a later date.

Save a Draft Message in Outlook on the Web: Instructions

  1. Outlook on the Web automatically saves draft emails every three minutes.
  2. To manually save a draft email message, click the “More actions” downward-facing arrow below the message body field and then choose “Save draft.”
  3. To open a draft message, click the Drafts folder.
  4. If the folder contains only one draft message, it automatically opens.
  5. Otherwise, choose the message to open and click it to continue creating the message.
  6. To delete a draft message, find the message in the Drafts folder and open it. Click “Discard” at the bottom of the message.
  7. Click “Discard” in the popup confirmation box to discard the message.
  8. Alternatively, you can open the “Drafts” folder and right-click a message and choose “Delete.”
  9. All discarded draft messages are sent to the “Deleted Items” folder.
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