Conversation Settings

Question

Conversation setting is locked and unable to change back to the way I had it where I can see the person who sent the email and not the subject line how do I get it back to the way it was???

Answer 1

Hi

I understand the Outlook.com message list view changed, and you want to see the sender name first instead of the subject line. I am happy to help. Please reply with: 

• Whether you are using Outlook.com in a browser or the Outlook desktop app. 
• The browser name. 
• A screenshot of the locked setting with your email address and personal details hidden. 

Meanwhile, try these steps: 

• Change the message list back to sender first 
  • In Outlook.com, go to Settings > Mail > Layout.  
  • Under Message list format, select Sender name first.  
  • See: Change how the message list is displayed in Outlook | Microsoft Support 
• Turn off grouped conversation view if emails are being combined 
  • Go to Settings > Mail > Layout.  
  • Under Message organization, choose to show email as individual messages instead of grouped by conversation.
  • See: View email messages by conversation in Outlook | Microsoft Support  
• Check the older display setting path if your screen looks different 
  • If you do not see the same menu, go to Settings > Display settings > Message list. 
  • Choose to show the sender on top and adjust the preview line if needed.  
  • See: Display settings for mail | Microsoft Support 
• Refresh the mailbox view 

After changing the setting, refresh the browser tab or sign out and sign back in to Outlook.com, then check the Inbox again.  

Please tell me how it goes. If the problem persists, please don’t hesitate to reply to this thread and I will be happy to help. Have a lovely day!   

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

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

Answer 2

In Outlook.com or Outlook on the web, the sender/subject display is controlled by the Conversation and message list layout settings.

To change it back so the sender is shown the way preferred:

1. At the top of the page, select Settings (gear icon).
2. Select Mail > Layout.
3. Under Message organization or Conversations, adjust how messages are grouped and ordered (for example, choose whether to group into conversations or show each message separately, and whether newest or oldest appears on top).
4. If using the new View tab layout, select the View tab, then under Messages > Conversations, choose the option that best matches the previous view (for example, Group into conversations or Show each message separately).
5. If the reading pane or message list layout changed, select the View tab > Layout > Reading pane and choose the layout that matches the old view.

If the option appears “locked,” check that Conversation view is not being controlled by the Messages/Conversations setting on the View tab; changing it there usually unlocks the appearance.

---

References:

• Get help with Outlook.com
• Display settings for mail
• Change the look of your mailbox in Outlook.com and Outlook on the web
• Mail settings
• View email messages by conversation in Outlook