Why sent mail goes to outbox
When you send an email using a mail client like Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Apple Mail, the email is not immediately sent to the recipient's inbox. Instead, it is stored in a temporary holding area called the "outbox" or "sent items" folder.
Here's why:
- Temporary storage: The outbox is a temporary storage location where emails are held until they are actually sent to the recipient's email server. This allows the email client to manage the sending process more efficiently.
- Connection establishment: Before sending an email, the email client needs to establish a connection to the recipient's email server. This connection is typically established through a protocol like SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
- Authentication and authorization: The email client needs to authenticate with the recipient's email server to ensure that the email is sent from a legitimate sender. This involves verifying the sender's email address and password.
- Email processing: Once the connection is established, the email client processes the email, including adding headers, formatting the message, and encrypting the content (if necessary).
- Sending the email: Finally, the email is sent to the recipient's email server, which then delivers it to the recipient's inbox.
During this process, the email is stored in the outbox until it is successfully sent to the recipient's email server. If there are any issues with the sending process, such as a network connection problem or authentication failure, the email will remain in the outbox until the issue is resolved.
In some email clients, you may be able to configure the outbox to automatically send emails after a certain period of time or when the email client is closed. However, by default, the outbox is designed to hold emails until they are manually sent or until the email client is configured to send them automatically.