Why?įirst of all, it’s easier to set categories in the Inbox in single-line mode because you can right click in the Category column that is displayed in that mode. For me, if I am working on a computer whose screen is 12 inches or larger (so most laptops and desktops), and if using a mouse or touchpad, I prefer the non-compact, single-line mode. Which is better, Compact Layout, or single-line layout? That depends on your personal preference and what type of computer you are using. You’ll also see that all column names at the top of the list view are hidden in compact layout but those column names are displayed in single-line layout. If none of those apply to the email, you’ll see no symbols off to the right. And there are symbols shown to indicate when there is an attachment, or when the flag is set, or what if any Outlook category is set. For example, the date of the message is always show there. There is other email information also shown in Compact Layout, too it’s shown off to the right. Otherwise, one or both might be truncated in a single line. The idea of course it that by placing the sender name and subject top to bottom when the screen is narrow, you can see more of each. With Compact Layout turned on, the two prominent lines shown are the From column at the top (which is the sender information), and the Subject column or title of the email at the bottom. The latter is used very little these days due to html email being so common (which defeats the feature). (You might have to minimize the Reading Pane to make this change happen).ĭon’t get Compact Layout confused with Outlook’s message preview or auto preview feature by the way. If you are currently using a moderately-wide computer screen, try dragging your Outlook window wider and narrower right now, to witness this change taking place. Non compact layout shows one line per email message, as I show here:

But you can change when and how it shows, which I teach below. And it is turned off automatically when your Outlook window is made wider, such as when on a larger-screen computer. With default Outlook settings, this Compact Layout view is turned on automatically when your Outlook window is relatively narrow, which is good when using a tablet.

You’ll know it is active in the Inbox when the Inbox list view shows two lines for each email item, as I show here: Windows Desktop Outlook has an Inbox feature called Compact Layout that can help you better scan your list of Inbox mail.

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