Using Focused Inbox in Outlook

Overview

Focused Inbox helps organize your email by automatically separating important messages from less important ones.

Your mailbox is divided into two tabs:

  • Focused – Contains messages Outlook believes are most important to you.
  • Other – Contains lower-priority messages such as newsletters, automated notifications, and bulk email.

Focused Inbox learns from how you use your email. As you read, move, and respond to messages, Outlook becomes better at determining which emails belong in each tab.

You can turn Focused Inbox on or off at any time.

Benefits of Using Focused Inbox

Focused Inbox can help you:

  • Reduce inbox clutter
  • Find important emails more quickly
  • Separate automated or bulk email from personal correspondence
  • Improve productivity by highlighting priority messages

Note: Messages in the Other tab are not deleted or hidden—they remain available whenever you need them.

Turn Focused Inbox On or Off

New Outlook for Windows

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Select Settings (⚙️).
  3. Navigate to Mail > Layout.
  4. Under Focused Inbox, choose one of the following:
    • Sort messages into Focused and Other to enable the feature.
    • Don't sort my messages to disable it.
  5. Select Save if prompted.

Classic Outlook for Windows

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Select the View tab.
  3. Select Show Focused Inbox to turn the feature on or off.

When enabled, the Focused and Other tabs appear at the top of your Inbox.

Outlook for Mac

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Select the View menu.
  3. Choose Turn On Focused Inbox or Turn Off Focused Inbox.

Outlook on the Web

  1. Sign in to your Microsoft 365 account.
  2. Open Outlook.
  3. Select Settings (⚙️).
  4. Navigate to Mail > Layout.
  5. Enable or disable Focused Inbox.
  6. Save your changes if prompted.

Teach Outlook Which Messages Are Important

If Outlook places a message in the wrong tab, you can move it manually. This helps Outlook improve future sorting.

Move a Single Message

Right-click the message and choose:

  • Move to Focused if the message belongs in the Focused tab.
  • Move to Other if the message belongs in the Other tab.

Only the selected message is moved.

Always Move Messages from This Sender

If you always want messages from a particular sender to appear in the same tab:

Right-click the message and choose:

  • Always Move to Focused
  • Always Move to Other

Future emails from that sender will automatically be sorted into the selected tab.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is email in the Other tab less important?

Not necessarily.

The Other tab simply contains messages that Outlook predicts are lower priority based on your email habits. You should review this tab periodically to ensure important messages have not been placed there.

Will Outlook learn over time?

Yes.

Focused Inbox continually learns from how you read, move, and reply to messages. The more you use it, the more accurate it becomes.

Can I turn Focused Inbox off?

Yes.

If you prefer to see all messages together in a single inbox, you can disable Focused Inbox at any time.

Troubleshooting

I don't see the Focused and Other tabs.

Verify that:

  • Focused Inbox is enabled.
  • You are using a supported Outlook version.
  • Your Microsoft 365 account supports Focused Inbox.

If necessary, restart Outlook after enabling the feature.

Important emails are going to the Other tab.

Right-click the message and select Move to Focused or Always Move to Focused.

Outlook will use this information to improve future message sorting.

I want all my email in one Inbox.

Turn off Focused Inbox in your Outlook settings. All messages will then appear together in a single Inbox.

Tips and Best Practices

  • Check the Other tab occasionally for messages that may have been incorrectly classified.
  • Use Always Move to Focused for colleagues, supervisors, instructors, and other important contacts.
  • Use Always Move to Other for newsletters and automated notifications that do not require immediate attention.
  • Remember that Focused Inbox is designed to assist with organization—it does not delete or archive messages.

Related Tasks

You may also find these Outlook articles helpful:

  • Organize Email Using Rules
  • Create Automatic Replies (Out of Office)
  • Search for Email in Outlook
  • Create and Manage Email Folders
  • Reduce Inbox Clutter with Categories and Flags
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