Outlook select button

Question

Outlook select button

S L Hughes 25

My Outlook has suddenly stopped allowing me to use the "select" button on my email to select all email all at once and delete it. I now have to select each item individually. Was working just fine 2 day ago 7/1/26. How to get it back?

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Answer accepted by question author

Ferdinand Nanalig 31,240 Independent Advisor

Hi! Let me help you.

Can you please click the first email in the list, then press Ctrl+A? This often works even when the visual "Select all" checkbox/button is misbehaving.

Phillip Stroud-Watts 1 Reputation point

2026-07-04T23:50:16.91+00:00

I too have the same problem and if I click the first square next to the first email in my junk folder it brings up the square at the top left just left of the folder name that always came up before when selecting the Select button allowing me to click it thus selecting all the emails.

It was so much easier to click the select button then the button besides the folder heading thus selecting all emails in said folder then Block, Delete etc.

So will there be a fix or do we have to keep putting up with work arounds?

2 additional answers

Your answer

Phillip Stroud-Watts 1 Reputation point

2026-07-04T23:50:16.91+00:00

I too have the same problem and if I click the first square next to the first email in my junk folder it brings up the square at the top left just left of the folder name that always came up before when selecting the Select button allowing me to click it thus selecting all the emails.

It was so much easier to click the select button then the button besides the folder heading thus selecting all emails in said folder then Block, Delete etc.

So will there be a fix or do we have to keep putting up with work arounds?

Answer 1

S L Hughes 25

Thank you. It's an alternative that works. Better than manually selecting what can be quite a pile of emails. Still want my "select" button to function again though.

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Answer 2

S L Hughes 25

Phil:

Thanks for your idea. I went and tired it: I get the upper left box but it only allows me to select one item. I have to revert to the cntrl A trick listed by another person here. The upper right "select" button is the one I want back. I suppose your idea that this might be something that went wrong at the MS level gives some peace: I thought maybe I'd hit something I shouldn't have.

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