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Magnus_Knight's avatar
Magnus_Knight
Copper Contributor
Jan 27, 2026

PSA - Tip I found to help with Outlook slowness to load emails

 I just wanted to share something I learned that helped me out a great deal with my Outlook desktop.  I am running Outlook version 2512.

 

I was having an issue where my Outlook was running frustratingly slow.  Anything I tried to do in Outlook was sluggish, and especially opening, writing, and replying to emails was very painful.  I would open an email and watch the ribbon load piece by piece across the top as it tried to load, and this could take 10 seconds or so for any email.  Anything in Outlook was like this, as I tried to do anything and it was just load everything very slowly.

 

For this PC, it's just a standard office PC with low specs to do the work.  What I read, and observed through Task Manager, Outlook is using GPU to help with its processing.  This basic office PC doesn't have a powerful GPU, so this was making it even slower.

 

I found an article that suggested to disable hardware acceleration for Outlook.  I did this and my Outlook has ran perfectly since, very quick and very snappy.  This was a huge quality of life improvement.

 

I created a registry key at: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Graphics

DWORD(32-bit): DisableHardwareAcceleration 1

After this, a reboot is necessary.

 

Just sharing this in case it helps someone else with the same issue.

outlook for windows
Slowness

1 Reply

  • Miroslav1's avatar
    Miroslav1
    Copper Contributor
    Jan 27, 2026

    Nice tip — disabling GPU acceleration can definitely help on low-spec office PCs where the graphics stack becomes the bottleneck.

    Quick PSA before anyone edits the registry: make a backup first, so you can roll back if something goes wrong.

    How to back up the Windows Registry (safe approach)

    Option A (recommended): export just the key you’re changing

    1. Press Win + R, type regedit, press Enter
    2. Navigate to:
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Graphics
    3. Right-click Graphics → Export
    4. Save the file as something like: Outlook_Graphics_Backup.reg

    To restore later: double-click the saved .reg file (or in Regedit: File → Import), then reboot/sign out-in.

    Option B: create a System Restore Point (extra safety net)

    1. Open Start → search Create a restore point
    2. Select your system drive (usually C:) → Configure (turn protection on if needed)
    3. Click Create and name it (e.g., “Before Outlook registry tweak”)

    That way you can undo more broadly if needed.

    Also worth noting: on some Office builds there’s an Office UI setting for hardware graphics acceleration, but the registry method is great for enforcing it when the UI option isn’t present or doesn’t stick.

    Thanks for sharing — this will save people a lot of frustration.

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