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Mobile Outlook App Advanced Settings

Overview

This article provides step-by-step instructions for customizing your email and calendar experience on mobile devices using the Outlook app. It covers disabling Focused Inbox, syncing calendar events to your phone’s native calendar (Android only), managing mail and calendar notifications, and changing your default email app on both Android and iOS devices. Following these steps helps you streamline your workflow, reduce distractions, and ensure your email and calendar are set up according to your preferences.

Getting Started

Disabling Focused Inbox

Focused Inbox intelligently pre-sorts your email so you can focus on what matters. It places your most important emails in Focused and the rest in Other. If you would prefer your emails to appear under one pane, follow the steps below to turn off the feature.

  • Tap on the Outlook/Exchange icon (top left of the screen).
  • Select the Settings or gear icon.
  • Under the General section, select Mail.
  • To the right of Focused Inbox, toggle the switch to disabled.

View Calendar Events in the Phone's Native Calendar App (Android Devices Only)

On Android devices, you can show your calendar events on your phone’s built-in calendar like the Gmail app. Unfortunately the feature is no longer available on iOS devices.

  • Tap on the Outlook/Exchange icon (top left of the screen).

  • Select the Settings or gear icon.

  • Under the General section, select Calendar.

  • Toggle the switch for 'Sync calendars' to enabled.

  • Tap the back arrow to get back to your mail.

Disable/Enable Mail or Calendar Notifications

• Tap on the Outlook/Exchange icon (top left of the screen).
• Select the Settings or gear icon.
• In Notifications under Mail or Calendar, you can adjust push notifications or turn them on or off for your Mail (All, Focused, or None) and Calendar and choose sounds for each.

Change Default Email App

Not all phones and device Operating Systems support changing the default email apps. 

For Android Devices:
  1. Open the Settings app on your phone.
  2. Tap Apps or Apps & notifications (it may look different depending on your phone).
  3. Scroll down and tap Default apps. It might be under Advanced settings.
  4. Tap Default email app.
  5. Pick the email app you want to use as the default.
  6. The app will now be your default email app.
For iPhone (iOS 14 and Later):
  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Scroll down and find the email app you want to set as the default (like Gmail or Outlook).
  3. Tap the app to open its settings.
  4. Tap Default Mail App.
  5. Tap the app you want to make the default.
  6. A checkmark will appear next to the app, showing it’s now the default.
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