The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on April 1, 2021.
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Today's Highlights:
Count Selected Messages
Over the past few days, several people asked me how to get a count of the messages they have selected.
It's easy in Outlook on the web as the count is shown in the reading pane area, but in Outlook desktop the status bar will show you the total number of items and total unread, but not the number selected.
Fortunately, you won't be relegated to counting the messages yourself – you can use a macro or copy (using Ctrl+C) and paste into Excel or Notepad, subtracting 1 from the line count. You will need to use a List view in Contacts or Calendar.
If you are using Notepad, you'll need to enable the Status Bar on the View menu. Click in the last line and get the Line count from the status bar.
A macro is a one click method: Add the macro to the Quick Access Toolbar or ribbon, select the items using Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click then click the button.
The macro works with non-contiguous selections but will not count messages within a selected conversation. You'll need to select each message within the conversation to count them.
Get the macro at Count Selected Messages
Too many Outlook Calendars
Another popular request this week: removing extra calendar and contact folders.
I have 3 email accounts with Calendars, and each has a birthday calendar. I only want to see one calendar, can I delete the others?
No, you cannot delete calendars in Exchange mailboxes. You can try to hide the calendars using MFCMAPI or a macro, but it's a temporary fix as Outlook (or Exchange) will unhide the calendars eventually.
Birthday calendars can be disabled in Outlook on the web. Log into your account in Outlook on the web, open Settings (gear icon) > View all Outlook settings > Calendar. There is a checkbox for the birthday calendar at the bottom.
If you have holiday calendars to remove, you should remove them from the calendar module. Click Add Calendar, find the calendar under the holiday group and remove the checkmark.
While you can delete the holiday calendar from Outlook desktop, it just sets a hidden flag and you will have problems adding the calendar back if you change your mind.
If you want to hide the calendars, see this article for the steps and a macro:
How to Hide or Delete Outlook's Default Folders
Remove the Holiday or Birthday calendar from Outlook.com or Office365
Tip: Jump to the top of a folder
A user was annoyed by Outlook's behavior to keep the last selected message in a folder selected when you switch in and out of a folder. This is "by design" based on customer requests.
When I change folders, the list always defaults further down on the scroll bar rather than at the top of the list and I'm constantly having to scroll back up to the top to see the beginning of the list. How do I fix it so that whatever folder I am accessing starts at the top of the list instead of partially down it?
While you can't disable this feature, it's faster to jump to the top of the folder by pressing the Home button on the keyboard. Use the End button to jump to the bottom
The selected message should reset to the top of the folder when you restart Outlook
New & Updated Exchange KB Articles
Messages in an e-mail thread are automatically moved to the Deleted Items folder