The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on March 3, 2022.
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Today's Highlights
Change flag color?
A user wanted to know if he could change the flag colors in Outlook.
“I recently started using Outlook wanted to know if there’s a way to change the flag color when you flag an email. By default, its Red."
No, you cannot change the color. Flag color is based on how soon the flag is due and can't be changed. Dark red is due soon, pink is due next week (or later). And yes, color-blind users may have problems seeing the flags.
Long time users of Outlook may remember that Outlook 2003 had different flag colors. Beginning with Outlook 2007, colors were moved to Color Categories and flags went back to shades of red.
Teams Addin Missing in Outlook
A client called me because Teams adding kept disappearing from Outlook when he reopened it. He had to uninstall and reinstall teams to bring it back.
After trying his steps with the same result, I exported the registry key for TeamsAddin.FastConnect addin at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins from my computer and ran it on his computer.
The addin came back but went away when we restarted Outlook.
II checked the registry and saw there were only a few keys for Outlook where I expected to see a long list of keys and realized what the problem was. The user had the Windows Store version of Office. Most addins do not work with it because uses a virtual registry.
The user had two options: run the registry file before starting Outlook or uninstall Office and reinstall the click to run version.
Because uninstalling the store version of Office deletes the Outlook profile and the user had several email accounts, he used the registry file until he had time to install the click to run version.
Brown File Drawer icon in Windows 11
Since upgrading to Windows 11 some users are reporting they have an ugly brown icon on the lower left corner of the file icon. Some users have it on files stored in OneDrive. Others, myself included, have it on files stored in DropBox (but not on my files in OneDrive).
The brown icon looks like a file cabinet drawer or a bankers box and indicates the file is stored offline, using Smart Sync in DropBox or File-on-Demand in OneDrive, to save disk space. These options sync pointers (shortcuts) to the files in the cloud and they are downloaded when you open them. When you check the file properties, the file size on disk is 0 bytes, which is correct for offline files. If you are signed out of OneDrive, you may see these icons because you are offline.
This is a change in behavior from Windows 10, where offline files had an X icon overlay on the offline files.
Years ago, the icon for was a black clock and indicated the file was “archived to tape and will take a long time to access”. Archiving to tape is so last century but the premise is the same for files synced to the cloud – the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_OFFLINE flag is set because the file is not stored locally and the offline icon is overlaid on the file icon. Fortunately for many users, it won’t take a long time to access these files, unless the file is huge or the internet is slow.
For more information and screenshots, see What is the Brown File Box Icon on Files in Windows 11?
New & Updated Microsoft Support Articles
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Windows (office.com)
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Mac (microsoft.com)
Other Resources
Format Images in Outlook Email
This variation of the Resize Images in Email macro puts a border and shadow around all images in the message you are composing.
Set Outlook Online or Offline using VBScript or PowerShell
How to use PowerShell, VbScript or VBA to set Outlook to work offline.
Use PowerShell to backup Outlook PST files
How to use PowerShell to create a backup copy of your Microsoft Outlook PST files.
Remove Office Licenses from Windows
How to remove old Office 365 licenses from your Windows computer when you change Office licenses.
What is the Brown File Box Icon on Files in Windows 11?
Files synced using DropBox, OneDrive or other cloud service may have a brown file drawer overlay icon when using sync options to save hard drive space.