What does “queued” mean in Gmail? + How to keep your emails out of the queue

Have you ever checked your outgoing folder, only to notice that an important email you wanted to send has been “queued,” but not sent?

Answer “what does ‘queued’ mean in Gmail?” once and for all, and discover why your emails may be stuck in this in-between state. We’ll then share seven steps you can take to keep your emails on the move. 

What is a “queued email” in Gmail?

If any of your emails are showing up as “Queued” in your outbox folder, it means that it is in the process of being sent. In other words, Gmail was not able to send that email immediately for some reason, so it will try again later. 

Why are my emails queuing?

There are several different reasons your emails may be queueing, and they range from network issues to glitches with Gmail to problems with your device. 

Often emails sit in the queue if your internet connection is weak; your email will be sent once there’s stronger WiFi connectivity.

Another reason Gmail may not send your emails right away is if you’re attempting to send a massive amount of emails. If you’re sending hundreds of emails at once, some of them may be queued so Gmail can send them in batches. Gmail may also queue emails that include attachments that are over the size limit of 25 MB. 

A final common reason for queued emails is a lack of storage space on your device. Limited storage can cause emails to live in the queue until some space is freed up.

If you’ve noticed certain emails have been marked as queued, here are a few solutions you can try.

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7 ways to solve queued emails in Gmail

Before you start looking for a solution, it helps to understand exactly what’s going on. Attempt to send an email to yourself from both your computer and mobile device to test whether it’s an issue with your device or something else. 

Once you have a better idea of what’s causing your emails to be queued you can start troubleshooting. 

1. Check your internet connectivity

Internet issues are an unavoidable part of life. Weak connectivity is often the reason that emails end up queued and not in a recipient’s inbox. Check your device and your router if possible. Are both showing a strong connection? If you’re using a VPN, it may be impacting Gmail’s connection as well.

2. Check for offline mode

You may need to make sure that Gmail isn’t in offline mode. To do this:

1. Open the Gmail app in your browser. 
2. Click on the gear icon to open your Settings. 
3. Select See All Settings.
4. Select Offline from the top and make sure that Enable offline mail isn’t checked. 

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3. Schedule your emails

Google limits how many emails each account can send per day. For personal Gmail accounts, the limit is 500 a day, and for workspace accounts, the limit is 2,000 (with a few caveats). Once you reach that limit, you won’t be able to send any new messages for another 24 hours. 

Not only can exceeding your sending limit result in a slew of queued emails, but it can also result in your account being suspended. 

The good news? It’s easy to schedule your emails to avoid maxing out your send limit.

By clicking on the blue arrow next to the Send button, you can select Schedule send and choose to send your email at a later date and time. Gmail suggests a few common choices, but you can select any date or time that works well for you. 

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The Schedule send feature is easily accessible in the Gmail app, so you can use this trick on a mobile device or computer, but please note — this feature isn’t compatible with Streak email tracking. You won’t be able to track any emails that you schedule through Gmail.

But thankfully, Streak’s send later feature does the exact same thing.

Using Streak, you can schedule your emails to be sent later and track when they’re opened and clicked through. Select More tools (a 3x3 grid) at the bottom of your email and you can then select Send Later. Just be sure to do this on a desktop; the feature isn’t available on mobile yet.

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4. Work around attachment restrictions

Gmail limits your attachments to 25 MB per email. The total number of files you attach doesn’t matter, just their aggregate size; it can’t exceed 25 MB. Including attachments that surpass this limit may cause your emails to be queued. 

There are a few ways to bypass the gmail size limit and get your emails promptly where they need to be. 

1. Upload large files to Google Drive. You can then copy the link to the file(s) and add a hyperlink to your text. You can also select the Insert files using Drive option at the bottom of an email draft to browse Google Drive files and make a selection.

2. Use Streak to send files to others within your team or company. Skip attachments all together because Streak’s able to display files right within a recipient’s dashboard. They can view it, modify it, add comments, tasks, and more.

3. Send a compressed or “zipped” version. For especially large files like videos and detailed slide decks, sending a compressed version may be your best option. Here are two ways to do that, depending on the kind of device you’re using.

How to compress large files for sending on a Mac

1. Highlight the files and/or documents you want to send. 
2. Control-click the group.
3. Select Compress. 
4. Attach the compressed file to your email.

How to compress large files for sending on a Windows

1. Highlight the files and/or documents you want to send. 
2. Right-click the group.
3. Select Send To, then select Compressed (zipped) folder. 
4. Attach the compressed folder to your email.

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5. Sync your account on your phone

Queued emails are sometimes the result of Gmail not syncing between your phone and desktop correctly. To make sure everything is syncing correctly across your devices and account, here’s what you should do on your phone:

1. Open the Gmail app and go to Settings.
2. Select your account.
3. Scroll down under General to Sync settings.
4. Adjust your settings to sync for the past 30 days.
5. Restart your phone.
6. Go back to settings and make sure your sync preferences are saved.

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6. Check the date and time on your device 

If your device thinks it is the incorrect date or time, that can prevent Gmail from syncing correctly, resulting in queued emails. To check your settings:

1. Open your Settings. 
2. Scroll down and select General.
3. Select Date & Time. 
4. Toggle Set Automatically to “on.” (It should show up green!)

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7. Update your software and overall operating system

Outdated software could be causing your emails to queue. If you’re on a computer, make sure your internet browser and operating system are up to date. If you’re on a mobile device, make sure you have the latest Gmail app and operating system update. 

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Additional troubleshooting options

If you’ve tried all of the suggestions above and your emails are still queueing, try these general troubleshooting tips. 

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Clear your browser cache and cookies

An out-of-date cache may be the culprit. Here’s how to clear your browser’s cache if you’ve never done this before. Choosing the option Empty Cache and Hard Reload only refreshes the page you’re on so that you don’t lose data from other websites. 

You can also opt to clear all your browsing data from Chrome, which deletes all of your saved passwords, browsing history, and more. This option is effective, but a little more frustrating because you’ll lose all of your autofill information. 

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Sign out and back in again

This is the Gmail-version of the classic troubleshooting move of turning something off and back on again. If you’re on a mobile device, you may even try removing an account and then re-adding it. 

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Organize and schedule emails with Streak

Now you know what “queued” means, you’re well-equipped to keep your Gmail emails out of the queue. 

Ready to take your email outreach to the next level? Use Streak mail merge to plan email outreach sequences with automatic follow-up to keep your emails from queueing and get more responses from your recipients. 

Streak is a CRM that includes powerful email tools and integrates directly with Gmail to help you organize your emails for each process from hiring to fundraising to sales. Streak’s browser extension allows you to easily track link clicks, email opens, deal progression, pipelines, and more - right inside Gmail. More than 750k+ people across the globe use Streak to manage their VC firms, start-ups, growing businesses, and everything in between.

Curious about this Gmail integration? Try Streak for free today and see for yourself how it simplifies common workflows.