Get the most out of Outlook’s new Focused Inbox feature

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Published January 28, 2022

A new UBmail feature (included with Microsoft 365) is designed to automatically pre-sort email in your Outlook inbox based on what it thinks is important to you.

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You can help “train” Outlook to better know which emails are important—or, if you prefer, turn this feature off entirely.

Focused Inbox separates your Outlook inbox into two tabs: Focused and Other. Your most important email messages are on the Focused tab, while the rest remain easily accessible—but out of the way—on the Other tab.

If you’re not satisfied with the Focused Inbox feature, you can easily disable it from the Outlook app. If you like the feature, you can help improve it by identifying messages that were incorrectly sent to the Other tab.

Turn off Focused Inbox

If you’re using the Outlook desktop app, go to View and de-select Show Focused Inbox (or, on a mac, Turn On Focused Inbox).

If you’re using Outlook on the web instead, you can turn Focused Inbox on and off by clicking the gear icon in the upper-left, and looking for the Focused Inbox toggle switch.

On a mobile device, open the Outlook app and go to Settings (click the icon in the top-left corner, then look for the gear icon at the bottom-left of the menu that appears). De-select Focused Inbox in the Settings menu.

I like Focused Inbox, but it occasionally sends important emails to Other. What can I do?

To tell Outlook to deliver messages from a certain sender to your Focused Inbox, right-click (or control-click on a mac) on the message in your Other Inbox. Then, select Always Move to Focused, and click OK. Future emails from that sender will be directed to your Focused Inbox.

Need help with UBmail?

As of 2021, UBmail is powered by Exchange Online, part of Microsoft 365. You can find out more about your UBmail on the UBIT website.

For help with UBmail, contact the UBIT Help Center, online at buffalo.edu/ubit/help, or by phone at 716-645-3542.