Some people just don’t like the RSS feature in Outlook. Fortunately you can disable the RSS capability using group policy. While group policy is considered by many to be a ‘corporate’ feature, anyone can change their local group policy, or simply edit the registry.

Create the following key if it does not exist and restart Outlook:

Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\RSS
DWORD: Disable
Value: 1

Outlook 2010
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Options\RSS
DWORD: Disable
Value: 1

This turns off the RSS capability but does not remove the RSS folder from your message store. Personal folders created after you enable this registry value will not include the RSS folder; however, you will not be able to delete existing RSS folders using the Outlook UI. You’ll need to use a MAPI editor, such as Exchange Server MAPI Editor or Outlook Spy, to delete the folder.

Using the Group Policy template

To use the group policy template:

1. After extracting the files, go to Start menu, Run and type MMC
2. Choose File, Add/Remove Snap-in
3. Click Add
4. Select Group Policy and press Add
5. Press Finish, Close and then OK to return to the MMC
6. In the left column of the MMC expand Local Computer Policy then right click Administrative Templates in User Configuration and choose Add/Remove Templates
7. Browse to the location where you extracted the templates to and select OUTLK12.ADM and install it.
8. Locate the policies you wish to enable and apply.

Do It For Me

If you don’t want to edit the registry, we have registry files available for download. After downloading, double click to run.

DisableRSS – Outlook 2010 | DisableRSS – Outlook 2007

Delete the RSS folder using MFCMAPI

1. Download MFCMapi then run it.
2. Session menu > Logon then choose your profile (if asked)
3. Double click on the data file that contains the RSS folder you want to delete
4. Expand Root Container and Top of Personal Folders
5. Right click on RSS Feeds folder and choose Delete folder.

Note: While you could use MFCMAPI to delete most of Outlook’s default folders, if the data file is used as the default, Outlook will recreate the folders.

Using MFCMAPI to Delete the RSS Feeds Folder Video Tutorial

Articles that may interest you:

How to Compact the Data File When you Close O...

Folder Home Pages Aren't Available

Clearing Outlook's Most Recently Used (MRU) l...

Features Missing in Outlook 2007 "Standalone"

Last reviewed on Dec 14, 2011