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Today my desktop Outlook application was updated and a new "App Bar" was moved to the left of the screen, previously it was located under my folders list with small icons and took up zero screen real estate, not so anymore.
Now it appears as a full screen height column with medium sized icons to the left of Outlook and it takes up way too much screen real estate, on my screen only about 15% of it can be even used with "app" icons pinned to it, the rest is just grey wasted space that takes away from the main job of Outlook reading/writing emails.
Is there a way to move this app bar, remove it, or at least minimise it to somewhere that doesn't use up so much space.
What's the reason for Microsoft to try and replicate a poor version of the Windows Start Menu within Outlook, one that's only limited to 3 Microsoft apps, I don't get this and would really like Microsoft to stop messing with UI, Windows 11 taskbar ahem.
Regards, LK
Using Classic Outlook on Windows for personal email, calendar, and contact management
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I went to:
File>Options>Advanced>Checkbox titled "Show Apps in Outlook"
After you uncheck and then click "OK" outlook will require a restart to make the change. After restart the "Apps Bar" returns to the pervious location below the folders.
Good morning,
I have Office 365.
Thank for your reply. This worked for me also.
The lay out is normal again.
Yvonne van der Haar
I had read elsewhere that the new 'feature' had landed after a period in 'coming soon' and was no longer optional/configurable, but tried the safe mode option with high hopes. Sadly it's just defaulted my view settings and the new App Bar is still down the entire side of my main screen just to show me the same 3 buttons that used to hang out at the bottom of the folder list quite unobtrusively.
I have seen other screenshots with other Office apps shown in the App Bar and making better use of the space annexed, and while that's completely redundant in my use case because my particular copy of Windows comes with a 'task bar' where these applications can already be accessed, my main concern is just that yet again a design that is to the detriment of most of the people I know is not configurable and is being forced on users to suit the plans of UI strategists and evangelists.
One day you open your Outlook to do some work and the controls are not where they were for the previous forever, it's like an anti-Christmas has landed. Hope something useful happens with this area of screen in the not too distant future if it's going to be taking up so much space, just glad I'm on a high DPI screen rather than a tablet/travel laptop etc or it would be a criminal misuse of such precious screen space.
Hopefully someone publishes a registry key where the change can be reverted but presume as it's a part of a grand plan that it's going to be forced eventually and we might as well 'learn to love' the new 'feature' sooner rather than later.
I tried same, and no change and fully agree with everything you said.
Those button have lived under the folders column since at least Office XP, so that's 20 years of muscle memory I have when I want to switch between email and calendar view that's gone! Let alone the wasted grey space...
Shame, here's hoping they do something more productive with the space soon. Just thought I'd reply as I failed to follow the basic instructions, the App Bar was gone/returned to traditional location only AFTER running Outlook in normal mode again after starting it in /safe mode. I skimmed the instructions poorly and presumed the safe mode instance was the 'fixed' version!
Not clear how long this 'fix' will remain working (presume bouncing an app into and out of safe mode is not the official way of setting UI preferences?) but here's hoping for a config option until this area of screen does something indispensable (i.e. not yet!).
Hoping this helps someone else who followed the instructions too hastily!
Thanks for raising the post.