How to Switch "From" Email Address in Outlook WITHOUT Opening a New Message Window

Dear Todd B B,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

Based on your description, I understand that you have a query "How to Switch "From" Email Address in Outlook WITHOUT Opening a New Message Window?"

To switch the "From" email address in Outlook without opening a new message window, you can follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Options" tab in the ribbon at the top of the Outlook window.
2. Click on the "Show From" button in the "Show Fields" section.
3. A "From" field will appear above the "To" field in the message window. Click on the "From" field.
4. Select the email address you want to use from the drop-down list.
5. The "From" email address will now be changed in the email you are working on.

I tested this on my end, and I can switch "From" Email Address in new Outlook freely. If the issue persists after trying this, please try remove the account and readd it or try repairing your outlook.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, please let me know and provide details like version of Outlookso we can explore other options. Please understand that our initial response may not always resolve the issue right away. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Thank you for your help.

DePaul, thank you for your note.

That is exactly what I've been doing and how it should work. But, it doesn't. See below.

The issue is that if I select any of the alt addresses in yellow, it works. But, if I select any of the addresses in red, it open a blank new email message. It never did this in old Outlook.

Let me know if you have any idea what the issue is. Thanks!

Dear Todd B B;

Hope you are doing great.

Based on the information you have provided; it seems that the issue might be related to the email addresses in red. Are they email addresses that you have recently added to your contacts or are they email addresses that you have been using for a while? Are these email address in the same organization? I tested this on my end, and I got the same as yours, I added many addresses in my new outlook, it seems when open first compose email windows and change the "From" address, when select the email address form the same domain, it opens in the same window, however, when selecting an email address from different organization (With different domain), it always opens the new window.

This seems to the design behavior of the new outlook. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please kindly understand that many functions are not designed at present. To get this feature more quickly, I suggest creating an entry as a feature suggestion in feedback collection at Outlook · Community (microsoft.com) and many other users could vote for it. Many features of our current products are designed and upgraded based on customers’ feedback. You can also make suggestions on that website and hope Microsoft will notice this in the future.

I will update here if I get any useful update on this feature. Thank you for your understanding and support.

For other concerns, please do not hesitate to add you post in the Microsoft Community Team.

De Paul,

Thanks for your response and for testing this out. Yes, it appears that, if the email have a different domain, Outlook defaults to a new email. It's really unfortunate that it does this as this is a feature I used all the time on the old Outlook. I've experienced so many downgrades and loss of functionality with new Outlook that I can't believe Microsoft ever released it. It's super frustrating and disappointing. And, it seams I can't even switch back to the old Outlook now.

Anyway, I guess the lesson is to not break software that's already working.

Thanks again. I wish there was a solution to this glitch but, given all the issues with New Outlook, I'm not hopeful this will ever be fixed...

Todd

Hello Todd B B,

Have a nice day and thank you for your reply.

We do understand your concerns here, but since it's related to the New Outlook for Windows product design, and the product team is still working on a number of features, and also based on customer requests, more features will be added.

Therefore, Microsoft recommend submitting feedback by going to Help > in the new Outlook for Windows app or in the Ideas Community (microsoft.com).

This community team and the Microsoft product development team are separate. Therefore, for feature suggestions or design queries, users need to submit feedback to the Microsoft product team from their side. Once a user sends feedback through the above means, it is sent directly to Microsoft and routed to the relevant product team that can review it.

To see more details on how to submit feedback, see this article Learn how to provide feedback to Microsoft - Microsoft 365 admins Microsoft Learning.

Also, for the new Outlook for Windows, new features will be updated on this blog New Outlook for Windows - What to Expect in the Microsoft Community Center so you can observe the new updates. You can also observe the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, a place that updates all the upcoming Microsoft 365 features and details about when it will be released.

Since this is by design, I hope I have provided you with all the information you need about your requirements. If you need any further information from our side, please feel free to ask. We will be happy to assist.

Thank you and have a nice day.