Highlight Color of Selected Message in Outlook for Mac

Anonymous
2023-09-11T15:46:07+00:00

I have my Outlook for Mac inbox setup with the list of emails on the left and the reading pane on the right.  When scrolling through the list of messages in the list on the left, in my inbox as well as messages stored in other folders, it is very difficult for me to tell which email is selected in the list.  Many years ago, when a message was selected in the list it was highlighted in a deep blue color… Now it’s a very faint light blue color that is really hard for me to see (yes I do have some vision issues... but it's also so faint I have to imagine others have the same issue).  

As a result, I frequently delete the wrong email etc. because I can't tell what is actually highlighted.  Is there a way to change the default color of a highlighted message in the list, to make it easier to tell which message is highlighted?  I tried messing around with the overall theme in the settings, and while the red theme made it a bit better I sort of hate the look of the other themes... so is there a way to only change of the highlighted message? If not, do you have any recommendations on how to avoid these mistakes?

Thanks for your help

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-02-06T22:44:49+00:00

    Not an option on Mac and I've been using the "new" outlook for years. I think different teams so they were just slower to make the design change on the windows version. I've also found a decently color calibrated monitor makes it significantly better, so if you've never messed with your screen settings, try that, particularly if you're using a second monitor on mac, run it through the display calibrator assistant (there's more advanced mode as well that is more fine-grained for those that don't know, cmd click it I believe).

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-11-09T00:22:12+00:00

    By not fixing this issue, Microsoft is making people's vision problems get worse and worse. Would a class-action lawsuit help in motivating your company to spend a few hours of coding on this issue?

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-15T18:15:09+00:00

    Are you going to get this issue fixed? It is an obvious improvement and should be an easy fix. Why can't you do this?

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-08-02T01:59:36+00:00

    It's not a mystery. If MS cared enough about Mac users and their UX, it would have fixed it after all the complaints on this thread, and probably others. The fact that it hasn't fixed it tells you all you need to know.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-08-02T00:26:22+00:00

    Dear David Lamp,

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

    As per the description you have shared, we understand that you have a concern with Highlighting Color of Selected Message in Outlook for Mac.

    After thorough tests and consults from my end, it’s been concluded that this is a product design and it doesn't seem feasible to change default color of a highlighted message in the list in the Outlook for Mac at the moment. I do understand your concern and we do apologize if we are not able to meet your requirements. However, we will surely raise you concerns to our Product Team and hopefully this can be included in the future updates.

    In the meantime, you can provide feedback on this feature request by creating a new post in the Feedback Portal at Outlook · Community (microsoft.com), Microsoft is committed to enhancing the customer experience by continually examining suggestions to include in the design and development of future product upgrades based on your suggestions.

     

    Your kind understanding is highly appreciated. Thank you for your cooperation.

    Thank you for your precious time and kind understanding.

    Sincerely,

    Libeamlak | Microsoft Community Moderator

    Mr. Libeamlak,

    Your response is 100% unresponsive and ridiculous.

    The inability of Microsoft to a) have never deleted this very important feature with software updates; and b) not immediately correct the deficiency; is the reason I for one... attempt to never download software updates as Microsoft either takes delight in randomly deleting important features and never shows any urgency in rectifying their problems. How I love the spin Microsoft always puts on Upgrades... "to improve the user experience". Total b.s. The "user experience" is always worse with each successive upgrade.

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