Beginning with Office 2013, the Office applications were designed with touch screen tablets in mind, and to this end, When Outlook is in Touch Mode, the ribbon is a little roomier and useful buttons visible along the right edge of the screen.
When you first install Office on a computer with a touch screen, touch mode is enabled by default.
All of a sudden, the delete button is missing next to the messages in the message pane and the reply, reply all, and forward buttons are no at the top of the reading pane. I have these buttons, along with Flag, Move, and others on the far right side next to my To Do bar.
The bar on the right is the Touch bar, putting the buttons close to the user's thumb in tablet mode.
Turn Touch mode on or off
To check out touch mode, expand the Quick Access Toolbar menu and select Touch Mode. This adds the Touch Mode button to the QAT which you can use to toggle Touch Mode off and on.
Although it's less than useful if you don't have a touch screen, if you like the roomier ribbon, you can use it with a mouse. If you like the Delete button in the message list, you'll want to stick with mouse mode unless you are using a touch screen.
This screenshot shows the Home ribbon in "normal" mode. The Touch Mode button was added to the QAT and is highlighted.
Touch Bar
When Touch Mode is enabled, a toolbar is added to the right side of the screen (see screenshot below) and the ribbon is roomier. I like the Quick Steps menu (especially on a window wider than I used for the screenshot.)
The Quick Delete, Mark as Read bar, and Flag buttons in the message list cannot be selected by touch, you'll need to use the icons on the Touch bar instead.
Use the touch bar on a tablet to reply (flyout includes reply all and forward options), quick delete, move or copy to folder, flag for followup, or mark messages read and unread.
| Icon | Command |
|---|---|
 |
Reply, Reply to All, Forward |
 |
Delete |
 |
Move or Copy to Folder |
 |
Flag for follow up |
 |
Mark as Read or Unread |
Thanks, very helpful!
Thank you! Annoying little unintuitive setting, particularly for those on their first touch-enabled laptop. Appreciate you taking the time to write this up with such a great explanation.
Thank you!!! This also fixed the issue where I could not remove the toolbar of icons on the right of my reading pane that showed "next email", "delete", and so on. It would display to the right of the calendar so that wasn't a very good place for it.
Thanks, been driving me crazy
Finally, the answer to my question. Thank you Diane.
Hello Diane! Thank you for this walkthrough with screenshots! I found this page via your answer to the trashcan icon disapearring issue on https://answers.microsoft.com
Diane wrote:
On the surface, is the deleted icon in a vertical bar on the right? If so, you have Touch mode enabled. Switch to mouse mode in the Quick Access Toolbar - i have screenshots in this article if you need them:https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/outlook-touch...
Making that change (from touch to mouse) did make my Outlook view look more normal, in that it restored the "Focused" and "Other" tabs - yay!
However, the verticle bar on the right side of the screen is still there and I still do not have a trashcan icon.
Not having the trashcan icon is driving me nuts!
Your advice would be greatly appreciated! Below is some info and a picture to show.
Thank you!!
- The laptop is in desktop mode (not tablet mode)
- Running desktop Outlook 2016
- Running Windows 10
- Touch/Mouse Mode is disabled
It looks like the button is not visible on the quick access, but that doesn't mean you are in mouse mode. You need to show it on the ribbon, then switch from touch to mouse.
very nice, people have been asked how to get the delete icon back on each mail in the inbox. i I have been annoyed too about it's been missing. just get it out of touch mode.
Using Touch Mode is NO answer to having the Quick Delete icon next to the Flag icon. I don't WANT the Touch Bar present - or any other touchy stuff enabled.
Making the Delete next to the Flag is stupid. NOT making it customisable is just crazy.
I wouldn't consider touch mode to be a solution to anything, except convenience when using a tablet or touch screen laptop. Unfortunately, the message list buttons are not customizable.