Sending emails to self when replying to an email chain

Question

Sending emails to self when replying to an email chain

Dr Charlie Vivian 0

There's a really frustrating element of outlook. When there's a long email chain, if I reply to the chain and I was the last person to send an email, the reply comes back to me. I have no idea how anyone could think this is a useful tool.

the only way around it so far seems to be to 'reply to all' with every email, but this requires thought, since I automatically hit 'reply'

In every other email app I've used, the reply will always go back to the other person, not send the email to me.

is there a way of switching this off? Even better, could Microsoft remove it all together?

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Answer 1

Please note that this is a user-to-user community. As moderators, we have limited access to internal details, but we will do our best to guide you to the right support resources.

Hi Dr Charlie Vivian

Reply with only the following information:

Does this happen only in Legacy Outlook for Mac, or also in Outlook on the web?
Is Conversation View enabled?
Are you replying from your latest sent message, or from the other person’s message in the thread?

Please try the workarounds below:

1) Reply from the other person’s message, not your latest sent message

Open the conversation and select the last email that came from the other person. Then choose Reply from that message.

This helps avoid replying to your own latest sent message in the same conversation.

2) Use Reply All, then remove yourself before sending

If you need to reply from the latest point in a long conversation, choose Reply All, then remove your own address from the To or Cc field before sending.

3) Check whether Outlook on the web behaves differently

Sign in to the same account in https://outlook.live.com/mail/ and test the same conversation.

If the issue only happens in Legacy Outlook for Mac, this helps narrow the issue to the Mac client.
If the same behavior happens on the web, it may be related to the message thread or mailbox behavior instead.

4) Send feedback or report the behavior to Microsoft

You can submit feedback from Outlook for Mac.

For Outlook for Mac support, Microsoft says you can go to Help > Contact Support, where available: Contact support within Outlook for Mac
You can also use Microsoft’s general feedback guidance for Microsoft 365 apps: How do I give feedback on Microsoft 365?.

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!

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Dr Charlie Vivian 0 Reputation points

2026-08-02T05:49:35.1933333+00:00

Thank you for your response, Alice. I only access emails through the Outlook app on my Mac. I use the normal rather than legacy version.

What is the significance of viewing by conversation? If I switch this off, does this mean that my replies won't sit in the email thread? I presume this means I won't reply to myself, but also won't see my replies, which isn't a great solution.

I don't view selecting a specific email in a thread as a good solution. It's a conversation. Why can't I carry on the conversation by hitting 'reply'? Why would I reply to myself? Which Microsoft planner had this 'brainwave'? Who finds this feature helpful?

thank you for the advice about Microsoft support: I'll try that next, but what I was hoping is that there would be an option somewhere to switch this off. When I was searching the internet for the answer, it's clear there are many others who are frustrated by this incredibly silly idea.
Alice-N 13,340 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-02T06:38:33+00:00

Please note that this is a user-to-user community. As moderators, we have limited access to internal details, but we will do our best to guide you to the right support resources.

Thank you for clarifying, Dr Charlie Vivian. I understand your frustration.

Turning off Conversation View mainly changes how messages are grouped, so it may not be the best workaround if you still want threaded conversations.

For now, reply from the other person’s latest message, or use Reply All and remove your own address before sending. Since you are using the new Outlook for Mac, you can also send this as feedback through Help > Feedback, or contact support through Help > Contact Support. Hope this helps. Have a nice day !