Pinning Emails

Question

All my emails have recently started pinning in New Outlook (and web version). I do not have any rules setup, and I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling and the only thing that fixes it is going back to the Classic version. This is my work email.

Answer 1

Hi Chastity,

Based on your sharing, since the issue happens in both New Outlook desktop app and web version, this pinned state is likely related to the mailbox/service level.

First of all, I highly recommend bulk unpin the affected emails:

• In Outlook on the web/New Outlook, go to Inbox and make sure you are viewing the folder where the messages appear pinned.
• Select one first message and press Ctrl + A to select all visible messages.
• Select the Unpin option (the Pin icon) on the toolbar

After bulk unpinning, send yourself a test email. If every new email becomes pinned again, this would be a service-side or mailbox corruption/setting issue.

In this case, the best next step is to reach out to your company's administrator and ask for their help. You can share this article to your administrator Get-InboxRule (ExchangePowerShell) and ask them to run the Get-InboxRule command via Exchange Online PowerShell to check whether there is any hidden inbox rule affecting your mailbox.

Just in case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support  

Hope this information will help you move forward smoothly. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments of this post. I'm happy to assist you further.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

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Answer 2

This behavior matches a reported New Outlook issue where messages can appear pinned unexpectedly, especially when switching between Classic Outlook and New Outlook.

Since rules are not configured and reinstalling did not help, the practical workaround is:

1. In New Outlook, load the message list.
2. Press Ctrl + A to select all messages that are showing as pinned.
3. Right-click and choose Unpin, or use the Pin/Unpin option on the Home tab.
4. After unpinning, sign out and sign back in on affected clients to refresh mailbox state.

If the issue keeps returning, avoid switching frequently between Classic Outlook and New Outlook, because the two versions can handle pins, flags, and categories differently.

If New Outlook remains unusable for the work mailbox, staying on Classic Outlook is a valid workaround.

If a rule was migrated from Classic Outlook, New Outlook may not support it the same way. New Outlook does not support client-side rules, and some migrated rules cannot be edited or viewed. Rules can be checked in Settings > Mail > Rules, but the described pinning issue is not explained by normal inbox rules alone.

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