Outlook.office.com | Can't turn off auto converting underscores to italics formatting

Anonymous
2024-07-16T18:57:57+00:00

UPDATE: This issue appears to have been fixed. On 8/27, my version of Outlook was updated and this auto italics formatting is no longer occuring. "You have Microsoft Outlook Version 1.2024.821.200 (Production). Client Version is 20240822057.09." I can't find any tech hotfix or release notes to confirm this, nor do I find any new changes in options to enable/disable this feature. It has simply stopped converting my underscores.

Outlook.office.com | Can't turn off auto converting underscores to italics formatting

Typing "sand_wich_" automatically converts to "sandwich" and I can't find in web new outlook where to turn this off.

In old Outlook, I can go to "Options --> Mail --> Editor Options --> Auto Correct Options --> AutoFormat As You Type" and turn this feature off.

In new Outlook, "Options --> Auto format options" this option is not available to disable and having it disabled in old Outlook doesn't seem to carry over into new Outlook.

Please help me, where do I disable "*Bold* and _italic_ with real formatting" in new Outlook?

Outlook | Windows | New Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-25T15:52:09+00:00

    For a company that works in code you would imagine whomever had this idea and wrote the code for this was not thinking of the rest of us. When do we expect a fix for this very_irritating_problem?

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-07-23T16:42:57+00:00

    Same as the other people - I don't really mind if the underscores have a space before them, that's likely what I actually meant. However when it's in the middle of a word or not surrounded by spaces, don't make the replacement.

    It's a serious time sink at times when sending an email with a lot of database and code related comments in them.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-07-22T19:32:20+00:00

    Agreed with the other complaints here. There needs to be some option to disable this kind of autoformatting in new outlook

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-07-25T13:30:56+00:00

    Completely agree! This is causing me no end of issues. I work a lot on databases as well and I have to correct their correction constantly. This is really a massive oversight. I liked the browser version, but it's just getting in the way of doing my job now.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-07-26T22:34:53+00:00

    Hello Eben,

    I'm not sure you understood the issue from the original poster. There is no issue with the spelling correct. The problem is the new "feature" in web-based outlook where it is automatically replacing words between underscore characters with italic versions of those same words and removing the underscores.

    MY_FILE_NAME becomes MYFILENAME

    This is not acceptable behavior. Microsoft forced this feature upon web-based Outlook users with no option to disable this feature. Anyone who works in databases, file management or in coding languages knows that underscores can frequently be used when typing emails. We must communicate with peers and colleagues the correct names of files, database tables or coding functions, which often contain multiple underscores.

    This should be a very high priority to fix as this is forcing many developers, engineers, DBAs, support personnel, etc., to type up their emails outside of Outlook, or to stop using Outlook altogether. Does Microsoft really want to upset their entire technical customer base?

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