Volume 30 Issue 6

Issue Date: February 13, 2025 « Previous Issue | Next Issue »

The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on February 13, 2025.

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Today's Highlights »

Opening Multiple Contacts in New Outlook
Groups in Outlook
Fixed: Outlook message list ‘jumps around’
Outlook (new) name change

Opening Multiple Contacts in New Outlook

A user asked an interesting question:

Is it possible to have multiple contacts open simultaneously in the new Outlook? New Outlook's design seems to limit me to opening just one contact at a time, and that notes are merely an afterthought (tiny text fields, have to open the contact, then select Edit before you can actually see/edit notes).

The answer: Yes, you can open multiple contacts, in a roundabout way. You can’t do it the sensible way by double clicking on a contact or clicking a “open in new window” button, you need to open the People module in a new window to view (and Edit) a different contact.

To do this, right click on the People icon in the left bar and choose “Open in new window”.

Yes, its annoying that notes can’t be edited directly, like you can in classic Outlook, but you should see the notes in the reading pane – select the Contact tab (under the Contact name) to see the notes. Clicking on the “Show more contact information” link on the Overview page will switch you to Contact tab.

Groups in Outlook

When you add a Microsoft 365 Work or School account to classic Outlook, a folder called Groups appears at the end of the folder list.

This is for the Office Groups feature and cannot be removed or hidden in Outlook. If you created or joined groups, they will be listed in this section. It’s a bit less intrusive in new Outlook and Outlook on the web as Groups now have their own module and you only have a link for “Go to Groups” at the bottom of the folder list.

Note: Groups created in outlook.com accounts do not display in classic Outlook, only in new Outlook and Outlook on the web.

Tip: When you need to create a new contact list (distribution list) in classic Outlook, click New Contact Group, not New Group. New Group will create a new Office group, not a contact list.

Fixed: Outlook message list ‘jumps around’

Microsoft released a fix for the issue where the message list jumps around. Restarting Outlook fixes it.

Outlook (new) name change

In the coming months, Microsoft will drop the “(new)” from the new Outlook app name. Classic Outlook will continue to be called “Outlook (classic)” on the menus.

The new Outlook icon will not be changing.

Note that if the classic Outlook icon on the start menu does not include the word "(classic)", you can manually delete the old icon from %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. It will be recreated by Outlook, with "(classic)" added. for more information, see Outlook icon on the Start menu is not updated to Outlook (classic)