Outlook keep resetting ribbon back to default after changes

Anonymous
2023-04-14T13:41:45+00:00

In my Outlook (updated Office 365 ClickToRun with Exchange On-line) there are newer ribbon groups I don't have any use for.

New groups (OneNote, 1-click actions, My templates and Add-In) are in the Home- and Message-ribbons.

I've edited the ribbons but as soon I edit f.i. the Home ribbon, the groups are restored back in the Message ribbon. If I edit the Message ribbon, the groups are again restored in the Home ribbon.

I've tried resetting the ribbons and start all over again and I also made an Office repair but nothing helps. It looks like editing one of the ribbons toggles back the default in the other ribbon.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-06T18:48:04+00:00

    Well, it turns out that I was a overly optimistic. Today I had a couple of icons graciously shoved back on the inbox ribbon by the all-knowing managers of Microsoft (they obviously were quite sure that I had removed the icons by mistake and desperately needed them...). Fortunately this only happened on the inbox ribbon, none of the others were changed (for now).

    Nevertheless the frequency of MS invasiveness is MUCH lower than before so I'll keep the registry item for now and keep the form updated

    The other thing I've done to 'lock' my ribbons is make the .officeUI files read only in this folder: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office

    This is the most important one to lock:

    Main UI - olkexplorer.officeUI

    The other ones you might want to try locking are:

    Calendar Item - olkapptitem.officeUI

    Contact Item - olkaddritem.officeUI

    Mail Appointment, Responding - olkresponseread.officeUI

    Mail Meeting Requests - olkmreqread.officeUI

    Mail Reading - olkmailread.officeUI

    Mail Sending - olkmailitem.officeUI

    When I want to make a change, I take off read only and make sure I put it back after I'm done.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-06T20:03:11+00:00

    Unfortunately... This is a work computer on a huge network and I don't have permissions to access those kinds of files. I'm pretty much limited to in-app settings.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-06T20:13:40+00:00

    Unfortunately... This is a work computer on a huge network and I don't have permissions to access those kinds of files. I'm pretty much limited to in-app settings.

    Everyone has access to their own Local AppData folders. Otherwise, many programs will fail. Try pasting this into your File Explorer bar:

    %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-07T20:20:32+00:00

    New idea: recently someone suggested changing the outlook customizations file stored locally on the computer as "Outlook Customizations (olkexplorer).exportedUI" to read-only. I kind of doubt that it will work but, hell, it's worth a try. I will update the forum regarding whether it works or not.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-12-07T21:13:00+00:00

    That solution won't work for those with multiple mailboxes. Reason being is that you can only change one mailbox, and it will revert if you try to change another mailbox (under the same Outlook profile, of course). I suppose I could change one mailbox, lock down the files, but then I can't change another mailbox. I wish Microsoft would just fix this customization thing to work right, and not force anything upon us.

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