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)
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?
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.
This is really painful for technical workers and programmers that discuss code with variable names. We need to be able to optionally turn this feature off.
This is the kind of ridiculous app design we get when the product people don't bother to understand the actual customers. Had they bothered to ask ANY database person inside Microsoft they would have instantly discovered that their slick "solution" was actually a maddening impediment to productivity. Every developer can tell you that TESTING MATTERS!
PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP, AND YES I AM YELLING AT YOU!!!
this is getting annoying I hope MS fix this issue
As already highlighted by others, it's very annoying for all developers and engineers that deal with databases or other code-related words that have underscores in them.
The workarounds mentioned, such as hitting backspace or ctrl+z right after the autoformat happens, do work. However, it is unnecessary overhead. Let us decide when we need to use italics, please.
I also am very frustrated with this. Please let us know when there is a fix in place, and sooner than later would be appreciated. It's already been a few months. I do not like this "feature" in the new outlook and may revert back because of this issue alone. What I don't understand, is who would use _underscores_ to force italics when there are several other good options, including CTRL+I.