How to remove "External" tag in Outlook subject lines

Anonymous
2022-12-13T16:44:21+00:00

Recently my outlook business account has started tagging emails as "External" with a massive grey box that takes up a third of the available space it the preview pane. It was bad enough in the subject lines but this is making my inbox unusable.

Whoever designed it obviously doesn't use email.

Is there a way to disable the External Tagging?

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-23T17:42:27+00:00

    tagging box! Sucks! I hate it...

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-13T07:53:51+00:00

    By default this is disabled, but it is turned on after applying the "Strict Preset Security Policy". Worthless nevertheless and contributing to alert fatigue indeed.

    To DISABLE it:

    Open PowerShell

    type: Connect-ExchangeOnline

    Log in with sufficient permissions

    type: Set-ExternalInOutlook disable

    "Feature" will be gone after max. one hour.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-11-26T07:28:05+00:00

    Too terrible for words!!! Very frustrating to constantly have to work around these things.

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  4. Robert Sparnaaij [MVP] 18,396 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-05-07T17:14:46+00:00

    I would like to add that this "EXTERNAL" word is appended not only once, but every time a reply is sent, thereby cluttering the subject line with multiple "EXTERNAL" words, making emails difficult to identify as the actual subject get pushed to the right side and only "external" words visible.

    That is not the "External" feature from Microsoft but a custom implementation of your company. Most likely they have used Exchange Transport Rules to customize the subject and haven't set any proper exceptions. Contact your Exchange admin or Servicedesk for more information or to report the flaw in their implementation (in case it isn't intentional to function like that on their end).

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-04-29T07:30:20+00:00

    you're a genius!

    simple but effective

    thankyou!

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