How to edit Outlook subject line

Thanks for your reply.

Like many others I want to change the subject line on emails I have received.

I have been able to do this 'for ever' but the latest MS update has stopped that. Why?

I can see that your suggestion of forwarding emails to yourself will work, but why should we have to multiply our email files just to work around something which has worked smoothly over many years?

I see you are a Support Specialist. Do you have access to the MS back office which made the change and get it reversed?

If not which update was responsible for this retrograde step so I have back out of it please?

Thanks

UK frustrated home worker

Hi

Thanks for your response and sorry for the delay in replying as I have been away.

Before Windows 11, in all earlier versions of Windows it was always possible to change/amend the subject line of a received email.

Why do it? Often if you are in a long exchange the subject changes, and it important to file that email correctly. Having a subject line which correctly reflects the contents often helps in identifying that email at a later date, sometimes several years.

Somebody in MS has deemed this an improvement, which it is not.

When something works, why change it?

I have seen a suggestion that the way around the problem is to forward emails to yourself and put in a more appropriate subject line. Yes that works, but come on! Is this how business it meant to work! Keep sending yourself emails just because the back office of MS have 'deemed' this an improvement.

I hope you have contacts in MS who can reverse this 'improvement'

Thanks

We edit subject lines so that our customers know which phase of the request we are in. For instance if we are quoting the subject line says quote, once it goes to order we will adjust it to state Order confirmation, when we are sending the proof and/or the tracking information we do the same thing. We also edit emails to include information needed to assist others processing orders for us.

Dear Barry

Thanks for your feedback.

You can also submit your feedback within any Outlook client via Help > Feedback feature. Thanks for your cooperation and your understanding.

Best wishes

Schale.P-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Dear user

Thanks for using Microsoft products and posting in the community.

Hi there! Are you trying to edit the subject line of an email you received, or an email you are writing?

When you send an email, you can click on the subject line and type the subject you want in the subject line.

However, if you mean changing the subject line of a received email, Outlook doesn't have a built-in feature to change the subject line of received e-mails directly. This is because the subject is part of the original email you sent.

Could you tell me why you want to change the subject line? Knowing the reason will help me suggest the best workaround. For example:

• Are you trying to organize your inbox better?
• Do you need to add information to the subject for your own reference?
• Is the subject misleading or incorrect?

In the meantime, here are a couple of common workarounds:

1. Forwarding: The easiest way is to forward the email to yourself and edit the subject line in the forwarded email.
2. Rules: You can create rules to automatically move emails with specific subjects to folders.

Let me know more about what you're trying to achieve, and I'll do my best to help. Also, please understand that in some scenarios there may be some restrictions, and you may not be able to achieve the goal you want. Thank you for your cooperation.

Best wishes

Schale.P-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist