Forum Discussion
Backspace key in Outlook
Hello, out of the sudden the backspace key stopped working in Outlook. Usually pressing the backspace key in editing mode each press does delete the last letter. It works in every other program...
In Outlook 2016 and Outlook for Microsoft 365, a "feature" called the backspace-to-archive keybind was introduced. It allows one to archive messages by selecting them and then pressing the Backspace key. Folks who don't like this feature can turn it off by editing the Registry on their computer. Unfortunately, that edit disables the backspace key altogether. See the Disable the Backspace keyboard shortcut section of https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/outlook-2016s-archive-button/. Perhaps someone in your organization made a group policy change that disabled your backspace key.
BTW, a much better way to disable that backspace button's archiving feature without disabling the button altogether can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/archive-in-outlook-for-windows-25f75777-3cdc-4c77-9783-5929c7b47028?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us
BTW, a much better way to disable that backspace button's archiving feature without disabling the button altogether can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/archive-in-outlook-for-windows-25f75777-3cdc-4c77-9783-5929c7b47028?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us
Wow, it's 2021 and I have to hack my registry in order to prevent Outlook from archiving my email by mistake. Did anyone think to ask if anyone wanted the backspace feature? I can't imagine anyone actually did. With so many applications/monitors open it's easy to forget where the focus is and accidently hit the backspace key.
Rule #1 as a software vendor: always provide a feature flag to have the ability to disable newly introduced features. And the registry doesn't count as a feature flag.
Rule #1 as a software vendor: always provide a feature flag to have the ability to disable newly introduced features. And the registry doesn't count as a feature flag.
