Folder Pane cannot decrease the width

[jayponn75]

Hello,

With the recent Windows 10 update, my Outlook 365 folder pane width has changed, width has increased and cannot be decreased. Is anyone facing this issue? I googled for help but no one has any solutions. I chated with a Microsoft Rep and he also could not help me and suggested I post my issue at this forum.

I hope somebody can assist me.

Thanks,

Jay

[#2]

@jayponn75 Try creating a new Outlook profile so all settings get refreshed.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-an-outlook-profile-f544c1ba-3352-4b3b-be0b-8d42a5404...

[#3]

Thank you@ChristianBergstrom 

I didn't want to mess with my work laptop and created a similar profile on my home laptop.

It did not help. Still the same width.

[#4]

@jayponn75Please attach a screenshoot of the issue you're experiencing.

[#5]

@ChristianBergstrom 

Please see screenshot : The width of the folder pane cannot be decreased.

[#6]

@jayponn75 Hello! I believe it's by design. But there's a workaround where you can change the W10 settings (it will affect the navigation pane/folder pane as well).

[#7]

@jayponn75 Yup, same issue with me.  Used to be able to make it tighter to only have 2 or 3 navigation icons showing in compact mode.

[#8]

@AndyMax25 Hello Andrew, thanks for your feedback. I have no idea why they keep changing the spacing/font size in the builds. It's something I hear a lot from our users as well. Especially when the possibility to easily manage the folder font size (for example) was available in previous desktop versions.

[#9]

@ChristianBergstrom 

So how do you do it, that is work around the W10 settings.

Thanks for your help.

[#10]

@jayponn75 Well, it's obviously a "workaround" that doesn't fit everyone's needs as it decreases all settings. But some like it, others don't. Go to: Settings - Easy of Access - Display - Make everything bigger.

[#11]

@jayponn75  It's not a profile problem - its a new change. Microsoft heard the complaints and will be reducing it - best guess (from my experience) - it probably won't be able to be as narrow as before, just narrower than it is now. 

You can delete two registry keys to restore the ability to resize it (and move the search field back to the message list)  or you can rollback to an older build until its fixed. 

The keys are here: https://forums.slipstick.com/threads/96961-folder-pane-width-change/post-355973 

[#12]

@Diane_Poremsky_MVP Hello Diane! Yes, when the screenshoot was attached it became clear that it's not a profile issue. Thanks for the info and the reg. keys to revert. So typically MS that you have to edit the registry to "fix it" and not particular user-friendly either.

[#13]

@ChristianBergstrom You need to edit the registry pretty much every time you restart outlook until they fix the problem.  Those keys are set when office "calls home" - so it might work for couple of restarts then not. 

It's not whether the fix is user-friendly as its not one Microsoft would recommend. It's a hack until they fix it. Nothing more. 

[#14]

@Diane_Poremsky_MVP Thanks for the heads up Diane, even though the "folder space" does not bother me I am going to try it later! By the way, not my intention if the previous reply had a negative tone. It was just me thinking out loud 🙂

[#15]

If the "hack" stopped working for anyone else in recent builds, any other bright ideas? Theory: another part of the Registry (not one of the Experiments) matters now for the newer builds (only).