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Turning the Reading Pane off in all folders

Some people find Outlook’s Reading pane helpful while others wish to banish it forever. It is easy to turn on/off or move the Reading Panel using the options on the View Menu.

Any change made in this way however only applies to the current folder and can be easily undone by changes made to other folders. For a more permanent way of turning the Reading Pane off try the following.

  • Select your Inbox


  • Click the View menu and then Change View > Manage Views


  • Select the ‘Current View Setting’ and click Modify…


  • Select ‘Other Settings…’


  • Select Off in the Reading Pane section and then click OK three times to close all the dialogue boxes


  • So far this change only applies to the current folder. Click Change View > ‘Apply Current View to Other Mail Folders…’


  • Either select the folders to which you wish to apply this view or tick the box for ‘Apply view to subfolders’ if you wish this to apply to all incoming mail folders’. Click OK


  • You should now find that the Reading Pane is no more in your inbox or any folder in your cabinet. It will still be present in your ‘Sent Items’ however as that is a separate view and so must be turned off individually.