How to unpin email messages

Andrew Kanime 0 Reputation points
2025-10-10T05:50:32.99+00:00

Most email messages are coming through already / automatically pinned. This is now affecting the stability of my Outlook so I do not want to have messages pinned.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-10-10T07:15:54+00:00

    Hi @Andrew Kanime

    Thank you for posting your question in the Q&A Forum. 

    I completely understand how frustrating it is to have emails automatically pinned, especially if it's affecting your Outlook's performance. 

    As you mentioned, your post is tagged under Classic Outlook for Windows (for business). Just to clarify, the Pin feature is available in the new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web, but not in the classic Outlook version. 

    1. If you’re using the new Outlook version 
    You can unpin a message by simply clicking the Pin icon (thumbtack) next to it. If new messages continue to pin automatically, the most reason is a Rule. Please check and remove any rules that might be causing this: 

    • Log in to Outlook on the web. 
    • Click the Settings > Mail > Rules. 
    • Look for any rule with the action “Pin to top” and delete it. 

    2. If you’re using Classic Outlook for Windows 
    On the classic desktop app, what may appear as pinned messages could actually be: 

    • Messages flagged for follow-up.
    • Focused Inbox showing important messages first.
    • Inbox Sort settings keeping certain emails at the top.

    You can try going to View > View Settings > Sort and make sure your inbox is sorted by Received Date.

    Additionally, it’s worth checking your add-ins under File > Options > Add-ins, in case any third-party tools are automatically managing your messages. 

    Once you’ve performed these checks, could you please confirm which Outlook version you are currently using? Knowing this will help us guide you with the most accurate steps to resolve the issue. 

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".    

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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