How to Turn On or off Focused Inbox in Outlook

How to Toggle Focused Inbox on 🪟 Windows 11

You can turn Focused Inbox on or off in Outlook on Windows 11 from the Settings ⚙️ gear in the top right corner. The path is Settings › Mail › Layout When the feature is on, your mail splits into two tabs. Your most important messages appear in Focused, and the rest go to Other.

1. Open the Outlook app on your computer. Your inbox should open with your message list on the left.

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3. Click the Settings gear icon in the top right corner. A Settings window opens with a list of categories on the left.

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5. Select Mail and then Layout. The Layout page lists options for how your message list looks, including Focused Inbox.

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7. Choose your email account. If you have several accounts, check that the one you want is selected, because the setting applies to the account shown. If an account does not offer Focused Inbox, it is probably a POP or IMAP account.
8. Under Focused Inbox, select Sort messages into Focused and Other to turn the feature on, or Don’t sort my messages to turn it off.

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10. Save your changes and restart the 🔄 app. If a Save button appears at the bottom of the window, click it first. Then close Outlook completely and open it again. If you turned the feature on, you should now see the Focused and Other tabs above your message list. If you turned it off, you should see one list with no tabs.

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Managing Focused Inbox on Mobile

You can manage Focused Inbox in the Outlook mobile app too. Open Outlook on your iOS or Android phone, tap your profile icon or the Home icon in the top left, and open the settings ⚙️ menu. This lets you keep important messages separate from newsletters and updates while you are away from your computer. The exact layout of the menu can vary a little between iOS and Android, and between app versions.

1. Open the Outlook app on your phone. Your inbox should appear.
2. Tap your profile icon or the Home icon in the top left. A side menu with your accounts and folders slides out.
3. Tap the Settings (gear) icon at the bottom. The app’s settings list opens.
4. Find Focused Inbox and toggle the switch to On or Off. Go back to your inbox. With the switch on you should see Focused and Other tabs at the top of the list. With it off you should see a single list.

What happens: Your notifications will now only alert you for emails that land in the Focused tab. If you still get alerts for every message, open the notification settings in the app and check that they are set to alert you for Focused mail only. You can reverse the change at any time by flipping the same switch.

How to Reclassify Emails

You can teach it your preferences in a few clicks. This only works while Focused Inbox is turned on.

1. Right-click an email in the "Other" tab. A context menu opens.
2. Select Move to Focused. The message jumps to the Focused tab. Outlook may also offer to always move mail from that sender there. Accept if you want future messages from them to land in Focused.
3. To go the other way, right-click a message in "Focused" and select Move to Other. Outlook may offer the same kind of choice for that sender.

The system learns from these actions to improve your future email organization. It takes a few corrections before the sorting matches how you work, so be consistent for the first week or two.

Summary

Focused Inbox helps you manage your email better by sorting important messages separately, so you can focus on what truly matters. If it does not suit the way you work, you can turn it off with the same steps and go back to a single inbox.