This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Hello,
I went out of my way to come here and share this after having spent a couple of precious hours navigating the "New" Outlook.
This is the version it says under settings that I have:
You have Microsoft Outlook Version1.2023.927.100*(Production). Client Version is*20230929003.10
Despite the neat and clean look and feel, I cannot wrap my head around something very basic that I (and I'm sure countless others) have become so accustomed to on the legacy Outlook, but let's call that the 'normal' Outlook, except that it simply vanished from the new edition.
I used to be able to sort emails by "From" and then start typing the name of the sender WITHOUT using the Search bar. This was a massive convenience as the way the results appear is different than how they appear when using the Search bar. Let's say I am searching for emails from 'Michael Lee' in this way. I will click Filter > Arrange By > From and immediately type the sender's name. Outlook would simply re-sort (not search) all the emails and the results will show emails from Michael Lee grouped under Michael Lee and sorted date-wise. If you got the spelling wrong, no biggie, simply collapse all the name groups so scrolling down is super quick. This was fantastic and something I thought would carry on to the New Outlook except that there is no such function there and this is bothering me to no end.
If this is the case, my question here is, why still have the Filter by Name function when a user can neither pull up the name they want nor collapse the name groups. Same for sorting by Subject. Once it is sorted by Subject, there is nothing one can do except to scroll down randomly.
As I manage the company's email accounts as an admin, I was on the phone with the MS365 representative and inquired whether the New Outlook I switched to is a fully launched product or still in beta, he confirmed it is fully operational and I am not using a sneak peek version of something under development. He also flatly suggested I can revert back to the normal Outlook. I know Microsoft is getting ready to remove Mail soon and one day down the line we all will be forced to use this New Outlook.
The annoying thing about the legacy Outlook is that the Red Flag button and the Delete Email icon are super close to each other. (see screenshot below)
Sorry to say this but apparently this is how it got approved by the Microsoft product leadership levels. That the distance between the email you want to trash and a super important one should be less than a cursor space. So that important email can be accidentally deleted! The New Outlook made a modest improvement in placement of the Flag and Trash bin icons (and increased distance between them to about two cursors lol) but then the sort feature is a major dealbreaker. My question is also, if ever there was any forum/platform Microsoft used to consult with users on how they use Outlook before deciding to do away with certain features that many consider to be in the DNA of Outlook?
Using New 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 agree with ALL- this is really simple and should not have been lost in the new look outlook. I hope they address this soon before old outlook goes away.
I have for some time had both versions of Outlook on my PC- I was talked through how to do this by a very understanding Tech Support person at MS. I can't remember now why I decided to keep the new version but think I was a bot concerned at some things not synchronising correctly (like Contacts, Calendar with email..
I didn't intend to have them both open and running at the same time, but I can do that. - I am speculating but wonder if when I click on a 'Contact us' button on a website the workings cause a new Mail Message template to open in New Outlook instead of just opening the template in Old Outlook. _ No matter, the issue is that both will work.
So in Old Outlook (I've just verified it) if I am on an incoming message from (a random example that my cursor was on I tried) Washington Post and then go to Filter by Sender the whole stream of messages is sorted to alphabetical order but the message that was highlighted remains that way so I can scroll up or down in order of all Washington Post emails.
But it seems now I look in New Outlook something has changed _ A PC Update earlier today took absolutely ages - well over an hour, so whether this just changed or not I don't know but the top of the Message Panel in Outlook looks different - I probably can't post a screen shot here but there is no drop down filter - and a few categories above the reading panel:
All Email Files People plus buttons for 'has attachments' 'Unread' 'To me' 'mentions me' 'flagged' and 'High Importance
Now I don't remember those previously, but then I don't use New Outlook out of choice. Nevertheless the problem of what we want - to sort by Sender or Subject or To is still not there.
My point after all that :-) is do you really HAVE to move to New Outlook or could you do as I have and continue to live in hope that someone in MS takes notice and does something to give us what we want and formerly had!
Now one year later, I have been forced off the legacy platform to (new) Outlook. There are a number of changes that it's taking me a while to get accustomed to, but by far the most annoying, and the one that most interrupts my workflow, is the inability to type the first few letters of a sender's name to jump to emails when sorted by from. I have been a fan of Outlook for over 25 years. Please restore this feature!
I take it that nothing has been done to restore this feature??
I am in the same boat, it is so frustrating they have removed this functionality.
Microsoft - sort it out!
Correct. Deafening silence from Microsoft. Not even an attempt at a reason for why they have changed it - much less why we are supposed to think it’s an ‘improvement’.
Now one year later, I have been forced off the legacy platform to (new) Outlook. There are a number of changes that it's taking me a while to get accustomed to, but by far the most annoying, and the one that most interrupts my workflow, is the inability to type the first few letters of a sender's name to jump to emails when sorted by from. I have been a fan of Outlook for over 25 years. Please restore this feature!
I take it that nothing has been done to restore this feature??