The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on January 9, 2025.
EMO is a weekly publication. To receive your own copy of EMO by email, subscribe here.
Support Exchange Messaging Outlook Sponsors
Increase Your Productivity!
ReliefJet Essentials for Outlook is a set of more than 160 tools for performing a wide range of tasks in Outlook: processing email messages, contacts, appointments, meetings, tasks and other Outlook items.
Today's Highlights »
- Navigation pane width in classic Outlook Calendar
- Email Display Names in Outlook
- Templates in new Outlook
Navigation pane width in classic Outlook Calendar
A user had a problem: "In the calendar, my folder pane displays two months in the thumbnail calendar and the list of calendars under it. My issue is with the width of that pane: it's not quite wide enough to show the entire week within the little calendar and the “next” button is missing. How do I make it wider? I tried adjusting the width but the next time I open the calendar, it goes back to the narrow width."
Well, it definitely should “stick” when you make the folder list wider, but the width is global in Outlook, so if you make it narrower it in the mail pane, it will be narrow in the calendar too.
There is some weirdness in adjusting the width, for example if you drag the pane to make it wider, it might jump back to narrow. Or drag a little and it jumps wider. Or, it won't move at all. You pretty much need to move the bar the width of one thumbnail calendar - less and it won't move, more and it doesn't go quite as wide.
Hover over the left edge of the calendar and click and drag slowly to the right. If it gives you problems and snaps back, try dragging as far right as it will go and release the mouse then drag it slowly back to the left.
If the width keeps changing on it’s own, start with a Quick Repair of Office. Right click on the Windows Start menu and choose Apps & Features, find and select the Office installation (search for Microsoft 365 if using the subscription). Choose Modify then select the Quick repair option. Use the Quick Repair option first as it will fix many things and complete quickly.
Email Display Names in Outlook
When you add a POP or IMAP account to Outlook, the display name on your outgoing email defaults to your email address. You need to open the account settings and change to the name.
In all versions, including older versions of classic Outlook, it’s in File > Account Settings > Account Settings. Double click on the email account to display the dialog. In current versions of Outlook, you can save a step and open this dialog from File > Account Settings > Account Name and Sync Settings.
Enter your preferred display name in the Your name field.
The Account name field is a friendly name for your email account. This name is used in the From field when you are composing an email (if you show the From field) and in the Account settings > Email Account dialog. The default is your email address.
It is not recommended to use the reply to address field unless you want email directed to another address as replies will be sent to your address by default.
Only POP and IMAP accounts can change the display name. Exchange accounts, including Outlook.com, get the display name from the Exchange directory. Outlook.com users can change their name in the Microsoft account but only admins can change the display name in business Exchange accounts.
At this time, display names in new Outlook cannot be changed. Exchange accounts use the name in the Exchange directory while POP and IMAP accounts use the email address. Gmail accounts may use the Gmail account display name.
Templates in new Outlook
A user wanted to know how to create a template in the new Outlook, complaining that it it does not have a File or a Save as tab.
New Outlook doesn't have templates (or a File tab or Save as option). It can use templates created in classic Outlook or you can save drafts and either make a copy of the saved draft (Ctrl+C,V) and send the copy or right-click on the draft and Forward.
If you just need to insert text and are using a Microsoft address, you can use the My Template add-in but it only supports plain text. It's really just a way to insert frequently used content. Click the My Template button to display it on the right, then position the mouse where you want to insert and click the template.
New & Updated Microsoft 365 & Exchange Server Support Articles
New & Updated Outlook Support Articles
Classic Outlook hangs when using the Copy shortcut
How to use Outlook Support and Recovery Assistant diagnostics in Windows Get Help
Outlook for Mac stops syncing when Conditional Access is enabled
Page Title is blank when you send a meeting from classic Outlook to OneNote
Unable to add a Gmail account to classic Outlook
Outlook receives a message that has an attachment that is named "not supported calendar message.ics"
This article describes a scenario where Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 receive a message that contains an attachment that has the file name "not supported calendar message.ics." This occurs when third-party email clients or Lotus Notes clients send a recurring meeting and use a custom recurrence pattern that Outlook does not support. The .ics attachments contain iCalendar data, also referred to as iCal.
You cannot open linked file attachments in Outlook: "Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments"
Describes an issue where Outlook may block certain linked file attachments. A workaround is provided.
Classic Outlook missing from new computers
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com
Delete Empty Folders using PowerShell
I tweaked the PowerShell that prints a list of folder names to list only the folders that are used for messages and if the folder is empty, it is deleted.
Classic Outlook is NOT Going Away in 2026
While new Outlook s going to be the default Outlook app beginning in early 2025, users can switch back to classic Outlook. Classic Outlook will be supported until at least 2029.