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Outlook uses a lot of icons throughout the program and it's hard to remember what each icon means. Help lists some icons but finding them is a daunting task for many users. On these next pages, you'll find all of the icons and a short description when needed. When possible, icons from older versions of Outlook and Outlook 2003/2007 are included. In many cases the icon used in Outlook 2003/2007 is just nicer looking, but in a few cases, the icon is different.

I tried to include the larger version (32x32) of both the old and new style icons for better visibility. Note that Outlook 2003/2007 often uses the old icon for the large icon, this is why many of the icon in the New column are smaller. The smaller version is 16x16 is very similar, as seen in the samples of the meeting request icons:

This page shows some of the icons that many people are not familiar with along with some of the new icons used on folders in Outlook 2007. Visit the individual pages to see all of the icons for a specific form or folder type. Why isn't there a page for Notes icons? Because there aren't any icons, other than the Note icon.

In most cases, the Outlook 2003 icon is used in Outlook 2007. When the icon is different, it will be in the Outlook 2007 column.

Icons			Description
Old	Outlook 2003 and up	Outlook 2007
			Journaled item. All journaled items have the small clock on the icon, in this example, the task item is journaled.
			Conflict. A conflict occurred during synchronization with Exchange server or a PDA. Open the message and follow the instructions to resolve.
			Recurring Appointment. The recurring arrows are also used for Tasks. A slash through the arrows indicates a broken occurrence.
			Encrypted, Signed,  Signed with warnings.
			Signed and Encrypted
			Reminder

 

These icons are used on folders in Outlook 2007.

Icons	Description
	"Default" permissions group (Exchange server) has at least Folder Visible permission on the folder. All folders that are shared will have the hand on the folder.
	The two-way arrow indicates the folder is from a source outside your mailbox and linked to Outlook, such as SharePoint libraries and Internet calendars.
	SharePoint Discussion library linked to Outlook.

Outlook 2007 SP2 places a "closed but still loaded" icon in the navigation tray when you click File, Exit or the X button to close Outlook. This icon stays in the tray as long as the outlook.exe file is still loaded after clicking close.

How did I get these icons?

Why are there strips of icons from previous versions of Outlook at the top of some of the pages but none from Outlook 2003? And why are some strips shorter than others?

Because these strips of icons (in BMP format) were in the exe's and dlls. There are a few strips of Outlook 2003 icons, but they generally only have a few icons, not all of the icons used in a folder. If you follow the instructions at "How did I get these icons?" and extract the image files, you'll see all of the icon strips available.

 

Mail | Calendar | Tasks | Contacts | Journal |Toolbars