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Outlook's postage stamp-sized windows

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› Outlook › Outlook’s postage stamp-sized windows

Last reviewed on December 7, 2019     No Comments

Applies to: Outlook (classic), Outlook 2010

When the compose mail window in Outlook is the size of a postage stamp, it is often a sign that Outlook (and the computer) recently had problems with resources - usually too many windows open and not enough memory.

You can fix it by resizing the window then reopening it or by editing the registry.

Resizing the window, closing it then reopening it will fix it. Do not resize the window then compose a message and send it - this will not set the new window size. You need to resize the window then close it for Outlook to remember the size and location.
Drag the lower corner to enlarge
Note: While you can maximize the window, this may not fix the problem.

An old Windows trick for setting window sizes works with Outlook: after resizing the window, press the Shift key while you double-click in the top left corner of the window. This will close the window and when you reopen, it should remember the size and location.
Hold Shift and double click in the top left corner then reopen the form

If resizing the window doesn't work, you can delete the Frame value from the registry. Each Outlook window has a Frame value in their registry key. To get the compose mail window back to full size, find and delete the Frame value under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Message, where xx is your version of Outlook. If you have a value called Namespace under the same key, delete it as well.

Complete instructions, including for the individual item windows and a ready-to-use registry file, is at Outlook Windows won't open or resize

Outlook's postage stamp-sized windows was last modified: December 7th, 2019 by Diane Poremsky
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About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.

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