Receiving Duplicate Messages in Outlook 2003

Summary: Outlook 2003 has a bug whereby in certain cases when the "Leave a copy of message on server" feature is enabled it will continuously download duplicate copies of messages which have already been received.

Resolution: Microsoft has resolved this issue in Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2. Further information on this issue as well as information on downloading Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2 can be found on the Microsoft Support Website.

An alternate work around to the issue exists in disabling the "Leave a copy of message on server" feature:
  1. Start Outlook 2003.
  2. On the Tools menu select Email Accounts.
  3. In the next window select the option View or change existing Email accounts and click the button Next.
  4. In the next window click the tab Advanced.
  5. Disable the option near the bottom called Leave a copy of messages on the server.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for each POP account in the list.
  9. Click Finish.
  10. Close Outlook 2003.
  11. Start Outlook 2003.
Note: After completing the steps above, you will receive the duplicate message one more time, after which it will not occur again.