Outlook 2016 App Search Bar

I applied these steps. Now, I no longer have the “Show Apps in Outlook” under File > Options > Advanced. Further, the annoying box is still there. But it does not have a magnifying glass!

Microsoft posted the official workaround at this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/outlook-unexpectedly-has-an-app-search-bar-above-the-message-list-c1bed629-0d4e-42d4-b66e-877cccb74b47

Essentially, you roll back to the last version before the App Search box was added and then disable updates. They claim that the next update on 2/13/2024 should fix it. So you should re-enable updates in Office Account after that date and see what happens. If it is still bugged you can revert to the older version again.

Here's the post in case the link is broken:

Outlook unexpectedly has an App Search bar above the message list Outlook 2019 Outlook 2016

Last Updated: February 2, 2024

ISSUE

After updating to Version 2402 Build 17231.20182 Outlook now unexpectedly has an App Search bar above the message list. Depending on how you have the Reading Pane set this may crowd the Search box.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

The Outlook Team has implemented a fix for this issue and currently anticipates it to go out in the February 13th public update.  We will update here if that changes. 

Workaround 1: 

If you need to work around the issue to be able to search, you can set the Reading Pane to the bottom by clicking View, Reading Pane, Bottom or to Off. 

Workaround 2: 

If you urgently need to remove the App Search Bar you revert to the build before the issue started.   

Revert the Office M365 Click-to-Run installation to Version 2312 Build 17126.20132.

To do this:

1. Exit all Office applications.
2. Select Start, type cmd in the Search box, right-click Command Prompt(or cmd.exe), and then select Runas administrator.
3. In the command prompt dialog window, type the following two command lines, pressing Enter after each command line:

cd %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun

officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17126.20132 4. When the repair is done, open Outlook and selectFile > Office Account. 5. Select Update Options and choose Disable Updates. 6. Add an appointment on your calendar for after February 13th to check back to this topic to confirm the issue is fixed. If it is re-enable updates by clicking File> Office Account > Update Options > Enable Updates.

Thanks Susan.

This worked for me.