Outlook (New) auto-capitalizes lowercase "i" in email body when not writing in English

Question

I am experiencing an issue with Microsoft Outlook (New) both on the desktop application and on Outlook on the web. The desktop version currently in use is [1.2025.1017.100]. The issue occurs in both environments consistently.

My operating system is Windows 11 (display language set to English), and I am using an Italian keyboard layout. Outlook language settings are inherited from my Microsoft 365 account configuration. In the Editor settings, I have explicitly configured three proofing languages: Italian, English, and Spanish. Italian is the primary language I use, representing approximately 80–85% of my total emails.

The issue is the following: when composing a new email or creating a calendar event, the lowercase letter “i” is automatically converted to uppercase “I” while typing in the body of the message. This happens even when the text is clearly not written in English. The behavior appears to follow English grammar rules (where “I” as a pronoun is always uppercase), even though the content is in Italian.

This behavior occurs only in the message body and does not occur in the subject line. The subject field correctly preserves the lowercase “i” when typed.

I have already performed the following checks and troubleshooting steps:

• verified Microsoft 365 account language settings;
• configured Editor languages manually (Italian, English, Spanish);
• ensured Italian is included as a proofing language; disabled automatic language detection;
• verified that the active Windows input language is Italian;
• tested both the desktop app and the web version. The issue persists across both environments.

Expected behavior: when writing in Italian, the lowercase letter “i” should remain lowercase unless it appears at the beginning of a sentence, according to standard Italian grammar rules. English-specific capitalization rules should not be applied when the text is written in Italian.

Could you please confirm whether this is a known issue related to the new Outlook editor engine? Is there a way to force Italian as the default proofing language specifically for the message body? Is this behavior tied to language priority logic within the proofing engine?

Answer 1

Hi @Camponesco, Mattia,

Thank you for sharing your feedback and for confirming the workaround you tested.

As you rightly pointed out, there is currently no fully comprehensive solution for users who regularly work in multiple languages and need more granular control over how the editor applies language‑specific grammar rules. I genuinely hope that Microsoft will continue to invest in more customizable options in this area, so users can better tailor the editing experience to their real‑world, multilingual workflows.

From a moderator standpoint, I don’t have the ability to change or influence the editor behavior directly. However, I completely understand your concern, and I truly agree with you that this is a practical and very valid requirement. Many users today work across multiple languages, and the behavior you described around this specific letter is something others are likely experiencing as well.

I would strongly encourage you to submit this as feedback directly to the Outlook product team, either through the in‑app feedback option in Outlook

or via the Microsoft Feedback Portal. It can also be helpful to search for similar feedback entries there and support them with votes or additional comments. The development teams actively review this input, and many features and improvements have already been shaped by community feedback.

If you decide to submit your feedback, please feel free to come back and share the link here. I’d be more than happy to support it as well, and it can also help increase visibility so more users who face the same situation can find and endorse it. The more support a request receives, the higher the chance it will be carefully considered.

Thank you again for taking the time to document this so clearly. I sincerely hope this option will be reviewed and considered by Microsoft in the near future.

Answer 2

Dear @Camponesco, Mattia,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A. 

Thank you for your detailed description, based on what you shared, I understand that New Outlook automatically capitalizes the lowercase “i” in the message body, even when you are clearly writing in Italian and have already configured Italian as a proofing language.

I’ve personally encountered very similar behavior with other non‑English languages, and through testing I noticed a clear pattern: when the Outlook account or region is set to English, the New Outlook editor may still apply English‑specific capitalization rules in the message body. This can happen even if you are using a different keyboard layout and have other proofing languages enabled.

I tested this behavior with Vietnamese and Croatian, and the result was the same as long as the Outlook region remained English, the editor continued to apply English grammar logic (such as auto‑capitalizing “I”). This points to a limitation in how the new Outlook editor determines language priority, rather than an issue with your keyboard or individual proofing settings.

What consistently helped in my case and for others was changing the Outlook region to match the primary writing language. After switching the region to Italian, the editor began to respect Italian grammar rules, and the unwanted capitalization behavior stopped.

You can change the region in New Outlook by going to: Settings > General > Language and time > Set Region to Italy (or the region matching your primary language)

Restart Outlook to ensure the change is fully applied

Once the region is updated, New Outlook tends to follow the capitalization and grammar rules of that language more reliably in the message body.

I hope this explanation helps clarify why you’re seeing this behavior and provides a practical way to resolve it.

If this response helped you better understand the situation and pointed you toward a workable solution, please consider marking it as the Accepted answer, this helps keep the solution visible and makes it easier for others with the same issue to find it.

Thank you for raising such a thoughtful and well‑documented question.

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Answer 3

The issue you are experiencing with Outlook auto-capitalizing the lowercase "i" in the email body while using an Italian keyboard layout and writing in Italian is likely related to the language settings and proofing engine behavior in Outlook. Although you have configured your proofing languages correctly, the editor may still be applying English grammar rules due to the primary language settings or the way it interprets the input based on the keyboard layout.

Currently, there is no specific setting in Outlook that allows you to force Italian as the default proofing language solely for the message body. The behavior you are encountering—where the lowercase "i" is capitalized—can be attributed to the language priority logic within the proofing engine, which may not fully respect the context of the language being used in the body of the email.

To address this issue, you might consider the following:

1. Check Language Priority: Ensure that Italian is set as the primary language in your Microsoft 365 account settings, as this may influence how the proofing engine behaves.
2. Disable Auto-Capitalization: If possible, check if there are any additional settings in the Editor options that may help disable auto-capitalization features.
3. Feedback to Microsoft: Since this appears to be a known issue, providing feedback to Microsoft through the Outlook app may help them address this in future updates.

If the problem persists, keeping your Outlook application updated and monitoring for any patches or updates that address language handling issues may also be beneficial.