Outlook 365 for Mac - Editor is Grey and not working

Question

Hello, how do I get my Editor to work in my emails? I just switched over from Legacy because my Outlook PW would not stay and every time I logged in I had to get a new PW. Therefore, I am on the latest version of Outlook for Mac. I just did the latest updates.
Editor has not worked since I switched over from legacy. Anything I can do to get this to work?

Thanks for advice!

Answer 1

Hi Julie O,

This can happen in New Outlook for Mac, especially after switching from Legacy Outlook, if privacy/Connected Experiences settings, proofing options, or the Office sign‑in state aren’t being picked up correctly.

Please try the steps below, in order:

1. In Outlook, go to Outlook > Settings/Preferences > Privacy and make sure Connected Experiences is turned on. In some builds, this may instead be under View > View Settings > General > Privacy & Data > Privacy Settings.
2. Open a new email and type a misspelled word. In New Outlook, try single‑clicking the underlined word to see suggestions. This behavior is different from Legacy Outlook.
3. Go to Edit > Spelling and Grammar and confirm Correct Spelling Automatically is enabled.
4. In the draft window, go to Edit > Language > Language and make sure the correct language is selected. Enable Detect language automatically if available.
5. Check Outlook > Settings/Preferences > AutoCorrect and confirm the correction options are enabled.
6. Sign out of Office on your Mac, completely close Outlook, reopen it, and sign back in using the same Microsoft account tied to your subscription.
7. If it still doesn’t work, go to Tools > Accounts, select the account, and choose Manage > Reset Account.

Spelling and grammar suggestions should start appearing again in new messages.

As a comparison, please also test the same account in Outlook on the web. If Editor works there but not in New Outlook for Mac, that usually points to a local app issue. If nothing helps, switching back to Legacy Outlook temporarily can still be useful to compare behavior.

A couple of quick checks to help narrow this down:

• Do you see red underlines for misspelled words (yes or no)?
• Are you using Microsoft 365 Personal/Family, or a free Outlook.com account?
• When you click an underlined word, what exactly happens?

Please let me know if this proves useful to you, or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

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Answer 2

Editor issues after switching from legacy Outlook for Mac are not covered in the provided material. The context only describes how to switch between legacy and new Outlook, end of support for legacy Outlook, and some specific attachment and toggle issues, but does not mention the Editor feature being greyed out or disabled.

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References:

• Outlook for Mac
• End of support for legacy Outlook for Mac
• Missing toggle button in Outlook for Mac
• Some options are grayed out in the attachment dropdown menu in legacy Outlook for Mac