Why is the Outlook for macOS Report Message plug-in inactive/disabled?

Question

Why is the Outlook for macOS Report Message plug-in inactive/disabled?

David Jones 101

Button seems to work OK when reporting messages in the Inbox. However, if you want to report anything in the "Junk Email" box, the plug-in button is inactive.

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Answer 1

ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,126 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @David Jones ,

Welcome to our forum!

Based on my test, I find that when Reading Pane is turned off, Report Message button is greyed out.

To enable the Report Message option, please turn on the Reading Pane.(via Organize>Reading Pane>choose Right or Bottom)

Hope the above help!

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David Jones 101 Reputation points

2022-01-24T07:43:57.073+00:00

Please note - My post is using the "new look" Outlook (now the version officially designated as Microsoft's current supported version of Outlook for macOS), whereas you are using the "old look" now officially designated by Microsoft, previous version of Outlook for macOS. Also, I had the "Reading Pane" open already, I just hadn't included it in my screen grab.

The failure here is that, if the message is in the "Junk Email" folder, you can't actually use the "Report Message" plug-in!

This is even worse than Microsoft failing to make the plug-in for reporting malicious messages in shared mailboxes!

I have been using and deploying this, since the rebranding and relaunch of Defender for MS 365, over the last couple of days and already I am finding holes and bugs all over the plug-in. This is something MS have had in the product pipe-line for over 18 months. How can they have missed so many problems an omissions in this product!?
ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,126 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-24T08:03:42.077+00:00

Hi @David Jones ,

Thanks for your reply and sorry for not observing the screenshot you provided carefully!

For the screenshot you provided, I noticed that you didn't turn on the reading pane. Then I tested it in new outlook (with Reading Pane turned on), the Report Message can be dispalyed normally, as shown in the below figure.

Considering that you may have turned on the reading pane on other folder pages, please click the Junk Email folder and click View>Reading Pane>choose Right or Below.
David Jones 101 Reputation points

2022-01-25T05:29:09.34+00:00

Hi Christy,

Thanks for the further responses. I can confirm the issue is that the "Reading Pane" was not open in my "Junk Email" folder. I'd have to ask the question, why should the plug-in require it to be open? Perhaps more importantly and strangely... If there is this dependency then why is the "Reading Pane" automatically hidden by Outlook? Each time I go back to the "Junk Email" folder to review said junk email I have to unhide the "Preview Pane" before I can act on the emails.

Cheers,

David.
David Jones 101 Reputation points

2022-01-25T05:34:49.997+00:00

Also, When in the "Junk Email" folder, it is invariably easy to spot groups of spam or other phishing/malicious emails, without needing to preview them (hence why prerequisite of "Reading Pane" is so bizarre). When this is the case, it would be smarter and easier to allow us to multi-select emails from the list and report them all together. However, another interface design weakness is that on multi-selecting emails the plug-in becomes inactive, again.

It is these, seemingly small, adjustments to the way in which the UI behaves that can make a major difference to the productivity of users of these products.
ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,126 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-26T09:29:46.997+00:00

Hi @David Jones ,

Thanks for your reply!

I can fully understand that you want a better sense of experience when using Outlook for mac. Please kindly understand that many functions are not designed at present. It is recommended that you could post the functions you expect and your sincere suggestions on the website dedicated to collecting feedback I mentioned earlier. We sincerely welcome your suggestions, and thanks for your understanding and support!

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Why is the Outlook for macOS Report Message plug-in inactive/disabled?

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