Tip 1085: Stop showing contact photos in Outlook

How do I get rid of those placeholder photos in Outlook? When I open an email I see that dumb place-holder photo under Reply. Is there a way to get rid of that photo and the other two photos on the bottom right of the window?

The top one is a contact photo. Go to File, Options, People and uncheck Show user photographs when available (requires restarting Outlook) to turn off photos. You'll probably also want to change the setting for Display online status next to name. This setting affects the presence icon (the little white or colored bar next to the photo).

This screenshot shows the contact photo in the message header and the presence icons (showing online status in Skype or Lync). The presence icon is bar to the left of the photo or a small square when a photo is not used. (Both persons on this email sample are "presence unknown", as indicated by the white presence icon.)

The bottom images are from the Social Connector. You can turn off the people pane in View tab, People Pane > Off. You can’t show the people pane and hide the photo placeholders in the people pane.

Published May 7, 2013. Last updated on May 7, 2013.

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