How do I make the Attachment area of my MS 2021 Outlook emails smaller?

Susan Ferriola 40 Reputation points
2026-07-09T19:52:38.3733333+00:00

The attachment area is so large, the body of the email is tiny. How do I make the email attachment area smaller? I only need to see one line of attachments. Full screen-sized screenshot. More area is devoted to the attachments thatn the email.

[Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed] 

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
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Answer accepted by question author
Darren-Ng 12,775 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-07-09T23:57:10.0733333+00:00

Dear @Susan Ferriola,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Please understand that our forum is a public platform, and I will modify your question to cover your personal information in the description. Please notice to hide these personal or organization information next time you post error or some information to protect personal data.

Based on your description, the attachment section in Outlook 2021 takes up most of the message window, leaving very little space for the email body. you wonder there is a way to reduce the size of the attachment area and display attachments in a more compact view.

Unfortunately, no built-in setting in Outlook 2021 to manually resize or reduce the height of the attachment area. Outlook displays attachments as attachment cards, and the size of this section is largely controlled by the application's interface design rather than a user-configurable option.

You can, however, try the following workarounds as:

  • Check Windows Display Scaling (Settings > System > Display). If the scaling is set to 150%, 175%, or higher, reducing it to 100% or 125% may make Outlook display the attachment cards more compactly.

If the attachment area continues to affect your workflow and none of the workarounds help, you may wish to submit feedback to Microsoft through File > Feedback > Send a Suggestion or submit feedback through the Microsoft Ideas Community at Ideas · Community. User feedback helps the product team understand how Outlook's interface impacts usability and may be considered in future updates. The higher votes, the more attention the related team will pay on. And a lot of the features are developed and improved based on customer feedback.  

Please understand that as a forum moderator, I do not have the authority to influence Microsoft’s updates, features, or design decisions as user. I always try my best to provide helpful information and possible workarounds to support you with the issue you’re experiencing. 

I hope information above meet your expectations, please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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