If your Outlook for iOS app can’t save your drafts, and you’re looking for a solution to fix this problem, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll explore why this error occurs in the first place and what troubleshooting methods you can use to fix it.
The complete error message reads as follows:
Can’t save draft. Please copy and paste your draft content into a new message to continue.
When this error pops up, users can’t reply to a previous email and are left with no option but tap the ‘Continue’ button. This makes the error disappear but it does not solve the problem.
The text of the email remains visible but the Send button is greyed out and remains unusable preventing users from sending their reply. Let’s see how you can fix this issue.
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How to Fix Outlook Draft Errors on iOS
1. Load the problematic draft again
If this is only a temporary glitch, refreshing the email client should solve the problem. Go ahead and close Outlook for iOS. Wait a few seconds and then restart the app. Load the draft again and check if the error is gone.
2. Change your connection type
If you’re using cellular data, try switching to Wi-Fi. Disable cellular data and turn off your iPhone. Restart the phone and check if you can now save and send your drafts.
3. Enable S/MIME
It seems this draft error in Outlook for iOS is prevalent for emails using S/MIME. Enabling S/MIME should fix it:
- Open your Outlook app and go to Settings
- Select Mail Account
- Select the Security option and enable S/MIME.
As a quick reminder, the iOS Outlook app now supports S/MIME. When users reply to a message where there’s an S/MIME signature but they haven’t enabled this feature on their devices, they’ll get the ‘Can’t save draft‘ error.
Keep in mind that if you enable S/MIME, Outlook won’t be able to group messages by conversation thread. However, this is only a minor compromise compared to not being unable to reply to signed messages in Outlook for iOS.
Alternatively, as a workaround, you can ask senders to not use S/MIME. They can simply uncheck the blue padlock that appears when they’re composing the email.
4. Use Outlook.com in a browser
There’s another workaround that you can use if you still can’t save drafts in the iOS Outlook app: you can simply connect to Outlook in a browser on your computer.
There you go, one of these solutions should fix your Outlook for iOS draft problem.
