How to get started with the new Outlook app for Windows 11

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. (Optional) Turn the "Use colorful app icons" toggle switch on or off to control the icons from the left pane.
6. (Optional) Turn the "Show app names" toggle switch on or off to show or hide the apps' names in the left pane.

 

Once you complete the steps, the theme will apply in the app as well as in the web version of Outlook.

 

Configure Outlook notifications

 

Outlook, like any other email client, can send notifications for new emails, calendars, and other tasks. The default settings should work for most people, but you can choose your preferred configuration.

 

To change the notification settings for Outlook, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on General.
3. Click the "Notifications" setting.
4. Turn on the "Notifications in Outlook" toggle switch to enable the feature within the 

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. Click the  "Notifications in Outlook" setting.
6. Check the "Allow notifications to play sounds" option. (If you clear the option, you will receive notifications, but they will not play sound.)

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

6. (Optional) Check the "Send notifications when Outlook is closed" option.
7. Turn on the "Mail" toggle switch to receive toast notifications for new emails on Windows 11. 

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

• Quick tip: You can open the "Mail" settings and further customize how notifications should appear.

8. Turn on the "Calendar" toggle switch to enable toast notifications for calendar events.
9. Turn on the "Documents" toggle switch to enable toast notifications for comments, edits, and mentions.
10. Click the Save button.

 

After you complete the steps, the notification settings will apply to the application.

 

Enable Outlook offline mode

 

To turn offline mode on or off in the Outlook app, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on General.
3. Click the "Offline" setting.
4. Turn the "Enable offline email, calendar, and people" toggle switch on or off. If you turn off the feature, you won't be able to use the app without an internet connection.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. (Optional) Select which folders to save a local copy, including "Default," "Default and favorites," or "Default, favorites, and recently used" option.
6. Choose the days of emails to save, including 7, 30, 90, or 180 days.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

7. Click the Save button.

 

Once you complete the steps, the Outlook app will continue to work even without an email connection. However, emails will not be sent, and no new emails will arrive until an internet connection is available.

Mail settings

In the "Mail" section, you will find the vast majority of settings related to each of the connected mailboxes. For example, the "Layout" page includes the settings to control "Focused inbox," which, while it may be a useful feature for many people, I don't use because I never check, and then I end up missing important emails.

 

On the "Compose and reply" page, you can change the settings for message format, replies, link preview, undo send, and more.

 

Customize Outlook layout

 

The layout settings allow you to customize various features in the Outlook app, such as "Focused Inbox," text, message organization, sender image, reading pane, and more.

 

To change the layout settings in Outlook, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Layout" setting.
4. Choose the "Don't sort my messages" option to disable the Focused inbox on the account.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. (Optional) Choose the "Small," "Medium," or "Large" option in the "Text size and spacing" section.
6. Select the "Show email grouped by conversation" or "Show email as individual message" option under the "Manage Organization" section.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

7. Choose the "Newest at the top," "Newest at the bottom," or "Show each message separately" in the "Arrange the reading pane" section to change the layout of emails.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

In addition, the "Layout" page allows you to change other settings, such as message list format, preview text, and date headers. You can also decide whether to view inline attachments and control animations.

 

Customize messages format

 

You can also customize the default format of messages. For example, you can choose to compose messages in HTML or plain text. You can also change the font size and style, reply settings, link preview, undo send, and more.

 

To change the format of the message for Outlook, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Compose and reply" setting.
4. Change the default font family and size under the "Message format" section.
5. Select the HTML or Plain text option for the "Compose message in (...) format" setting.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

• Quick tip: You can also change the default color for the font.

6. Choose the "Write inline" or "Pop-out to a new window" option in the "Pop-out settings" section to select the action when you compose an email.
7. Select the "Reply" or "Replay all" option for the default action when responding to an email under the "Reply or Replay all" section.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

8. (Optional) Clear the "Preview links in email" option to prevent the app from embedding a preview of the link you're inserting into an email.
9. Use the slider to choose how long (up to 10 seconds) to cancel an email sent using the "Undo Send" setting.

 

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10. Click the Save button.

 

On this page, you can also control the time to cancel a sent email, joyful animations, and flight information. 

 

Configure smart suggestions

 

In Outlook, "Smart suggestions" enable two messaging features. First, you can allow Outlook to suggest email replies. Second, the email client can also show text predictions as you type.

 

To turn smart suggestions in Outlook on or off, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button. 
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Start suggestions" setting.
4. Check or clear the "Show suggested replies" option to turn reply suggestions on or off.
5. Check or clear the "Suggest words or phrases as I type" option to turn text prediction on or off.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

6. Click the Save button.

 

Once you complete the steps, the new configuration will apply to the email client.

 

Set up Outlook rules

 

Outlook rules allow you to control how the app handles incoming emails. For example, you can create a rule to catch the email from a specific address and move it to a specific folder, but you can choose from a slew of conditions.

 

To set up Outlook rules, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Rules" setting.
4. Click the "Add new rule" option.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. Confirm a descriptive name for the condition.
6. Choose the condition. 

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

• Quick note: Outlook offers many conditions, and some of the categories include "People," "Names," "Subjects," "Keywords," "Marked with," "Message includes," "Message size," "Received," and "All messages."

7. Select the action ("Organize," "Mark message," and "Route") for the condition.
8. Click the Save button.

 

After you complete the steps, the rule will run, and when new emails arrive, they will go through your rules to apply the correct condition.

 

Set up Outlook conditional formatting

 

Conditional formatting is similar to the rules, but they are meant to match a condition and apply a format to that email.

 

To configure conditional formatting in Outlook, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Conditional formatting" setting.
4. Click the "Create a new conditional formatting rule" option.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. Confirm a descriptive name for the rule.
6. Choose a condition from the people, my name is, and subject categories.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

7. Click the Choose color button.
8. Select the color to format the email.
9. Click the OK button.
10. Click the Save button.

 

Once you complete the steps, emails that match your condition will change the formatting according to your configuration.

 

Configure junk email settings

 

Although email services usually control the traffic of junk email, the Outlook app offers a setting to control this feature on your computer.

 

To configure junk email settings in Outlook, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Junk email" setting.
4. Choose the "Standard" or "Strict" option in the "Incoming mail handling" section.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

• Quick note: I usually recommend using the "Standard" option since the "Strict" option requires you to set the email address allowed to send you emails.

5. Click the "Safe senders and domains" tab under the "Senders" section.
6. Click the "Add safe sender" button.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

7. Confirm the email or domain allowed to send you emails.
8. Click the OK button. 

• Quick tip: To add more filters, you may need to repeat steps 6 through 8.

9. (Optional) Click the "Blocked senders and domains" tab.
10. Click the "Add blocked sender" button.

 

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11. Confirm the email or domain is not allowed to send you emails.
12. Click the OK button.
13. Check the "Block attachments, pictures, and links [...]" option under the "Security options" section.

 

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14. Click the Save button.

 

After you complete the steps, the number of junk mail should now be reduced.

 

Customize email quick actions

 

In Outlook, you can choose the quick options that appear while hovering over an email, and here's how:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Customize actions" setting.
4. Check only the quick actions you want to use, such as "Delete," "Archive," "Pin," "Mark as read or unread," "Flag," and "Move to a folder."

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

5. Click the Save button.

 

Once you complete the steps, when hovering over emails from the left pane, you should now see the quick action buttons you specified in the settings.

 

Change message handling settings

 

Although the default message handling settings should be optimal for most users, Outlook also gives you more granular control. For example, you can choose the action for deleted messages, mark as read, read receipts, shopping, action confirmations, and translations.

 

To change the message handling settings, use these (optional) steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Message handling" setting.
4. Check the "Empty my deleted items folder" option under the "Message options" section to remove deleted items when you sign out of the app.
5. Check the "Mark displayed items as read when the selection changes" option under the "Mark as read" section.
6. Choose the "Never send a response" option in the "Read receipts" section to prevent others from knowing when you open their message.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

• Quick note: Alternatively, you can choose the "Ask me before sending a response" option, but I would always recommend never sending a response automatically.

7. Clear the Shopping option.
8. If you receive emails in other languages, you can choose the "Always translate" option.

• Quick tip: If you're bilingual, you can choose the "Never translate" option.

9. Choose the language to which to translate the message.
10. Select the languages you don't want to be translated.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

11. Click the Add button.
12. Click the Save button.

 

After you complete the steps, the new settings will apply immediately, according to your configuration.

 

Configure Outlook forwarding

 

Finally, the Outlook app also allows you to forward emails automatically to other addresses, and here's how:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Mail.
3. Click the "Forwarding" setting.
4. Turn on the "Enable forwarding" option.
5. Confirm the email address to which to forward emails.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

6. (Optional) Check the "Keep a copy of forwarded messages" option.
7. Click the Save button.

 

Once you complete the steps, Outlook will start forwarding new emails to the new address you specified.

Calendar settings

The "Calendar" section includes the different options to adjust the view as well as other features for the calendars. 

 

You can control the calendar appearance, events, weather information, actions, and you can control how to share calendars with other people.

 

Customize calendar basic settings

 

The Outlook app also includes a calendar experience that includes all the basic features you come to expect. The default settings should work for most people, but you can always customize various settings; for example, you can set the work weekdays, show the weather in the calendar, change event settings, and more.

 

To change the basic calendar settings in the calendar experience for Outlook, use these steps:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Calendar.
3. Click the "View" setting.
4. Choose the first day of the week.
5. Select the work weekdays.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

6. (Optional) Check the "Show week numbers" option to view the week numbers in the calendar.
7. Click the Save button.
8. Click on Events and invitations.
9. Change the default reminder for events you create.
10. Click the Save button.
11. Click on Weather.
12. Turn the Weather feature on or off for the calendar.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

13. Choose Fahrenheit or Celsius.
14. Click the "Add another location" button to set your weather location for the calendar.
15. Click on Events from email.
16. Choose whether to add package delivery, flight, hotels, and car rental reservations to the calendar.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

17. Click on Agenda mail.
18. (Optional) Turn off the "Send me a daily agenda mail" option to prevent the app from sending you daily emails with events and tasks.

 

After you complete the steps, the new settings will apply to the calendar.

 

Share an Outlook calendar

 

If you want, it's also possible to share the calendar with other people, and here's how:

 

1. Click the Settings (gear) button.
2. Click on Calendar.
3. Click the "Shared calendars" setting.
4. Choose the calendar under the "Share a calendar" section.
5. Click the Share button.

 

(Image credit: Mauro Huculak)

 

6. Confirm the email address to share the calendar.
7. Click the Share button.

 

Once you complete the steps, the calendar should be available for the recipients.

 

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