How to Turn Conversation View On or Off in Outlook
Conversation view stacks every email in a thread — the original, the replies, the replies to the replies — under one line in your inbox. Some people love it: one topic, one row. Others find it hides messages and makes the newest reply hard to spot. Either way, it's one switch.
Quick reference
| Version | Where |
|---|---|
| New Outlook / web | Settings → Mail → Layout → Message organization |
| Classic Outlook | View → Show as Conversations |
| Newest on top | Same settings → Newest on top |
| Expand a thread | Click the arrow next to it |
1. New Outlook and Outlook on the web
1. Click Settings → Mail → Layout.
2. Under Message organization, choose:
• Show email grouped by conversation — conversation view on, or
• Show email as individual messages — off.
3. If you keep conversations on, choose Newest on top or Newest on bottom for the order inside each thread.
4. Click Save.
2. Under Message organization, choose:
• Show email grouped by conversation — conversation view on, or
• Show email as individual messages — off.
3. If you keep conversations on, choose Newest on top or Newest on bottom for the order inside each thread.
4. Click Save.
You can also get there quickly from View → Conversations on the ribbon.
2. Classic Outlook
1. Click the View tab.
2. Tick or untick Show as Conversations.
3. Outlook asks whether to apply it to This folder or All mailboxes — choose All mailboxes to be consistent.
2. Tick or untick Show as Conversations.
3. Outlook asks whether to apply it to This folder or All mailboxes — choose All mailboxes to be consistent.
Click Conversation Settings on the same tab to fine-tune:
• Show Messages from Other Folders — includes your sent replies in the thread (recommended).
• Show Senders Above the Subject — names first, subject second.
• Always Expand Selected Conversation — open the whole thread when you click it.
• Use Classic Indented View — indents replies to show who replied to whom.
• Show Senders Above the Subject — names first, subject second.
• Always Expand Selected Conversation — open the whole thread when you click it.
• Use Classic Indented View — indents replies to show who replied to whom.
3. Reading a conversation
A conversation shows as one row with a small arrow (or a number) on the left. Click the arrow to expand it and see every message. The one in bold is unread. Click the arrow again to collapse.
Deleting the collapsed row deletes every message in the thread, so expand it first if you only want to remove one.
4. Why messages seem to go missing
With conversation view on, a new reply doesn't appear as a new row — it slots into the existing conversation, which jumps to the top of the list. If you keep thinking "I'm sure I got an email about that", it's probably tucked inside a thread. Either turn conversations off or get used to looking for the bold row.
5. Phone
In the Outlook app: tap your profile picture → Settings cog → scroll to Organize mail by thread and switch it on or off.
Troubleshooting
Emails from different topics are grouped together. Outlook groups by subject line (and hidden thread headers). If someone replied to an old email to start a new topic, it joins the old thread. Ask them to start a fresh email — or turn conversations off.
My sent replies aren't shown in the thread. In classic Outlook, tick Show Messages from Other Folders in Conversation Settings. New Outlook includes them automatically.
The setting keeps changing between folders. In classic Outlook, choose All mailboxes when prompted, or set it per folder deliberately — some people like conversations in the Inbox but not in Sent Items.
Wrapping up
Try conversation view for a week with Newest on top. If you're still losing messages, switch to individual messages and sort by date — there's no wrong answer, just the one that suits how you read.
