![Diane Poremsky [Outlook MVP]](http://www.outlook-tips.net/images/2014/MVP_BlueOnly.png)
As Outlook updates are installed this week I'm seeing a lot of questions that go something like this:
Overnight, Outlook changed dramatically. There is way too much white space between the messages in my inbox and the To/CC and subject area in new messages is huge. What happened and how do I get rid of all that annoying white space?
This is due to some changes to the "new" Outlook interface, in part to make it more touch friendly, with elements farther apart and more padding. Fortunately, Microsoft included an option to reduce the wasted space.
Look in the View tab for Use Tighter Spacing. When Tighter spacing is enabled, the button will be highlighted. (It's turned off in these screenshots.)
This will remove the padding around the To, CC, and Subject fields and also in the Message list, returning the header area to the original size, although without the outlines around the To, CC, and Subject fields.
This screenshot shows the new message header with wider spacing, the header with tighter spacing on, and the older message header for comparison.
With Use Tighter Spacing enabled, more messages display in the message list.
If you want to revert to an older version, set this registry key to drop to the semi-annual channel. You'll won't get the new features every month and can avoid the new design for a few months.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\officeupdate REG_SZ: updatebranch Value: Broad
Broad will get you new updates every 6 months, in Jan and July. You can use Targeted instead, to get the same updates a little earlier, in March and September instead.
It is also useful to not display the "From:" line (you know you are sending the email) and the Bcc line, unless you need Bcc.
Those are found in the compose window's Options menu.
Even so, there is still too much white space.
This is exactly what I needed. THANKS! Now, can you tell us how to bring back more visible buttons (To, CC, BCC, etc) and borders around their fields? For some reason, the design geniuses at MS seem to think it's "cool" to make everything hard to see. They either don't understand, or more likely don't CARE that people over age 50 need higher contrast interfaces. Not B&W, but not light-grey-on-white or dark-grey-on-black either. What happened to letting us choose or even design our own skins? Also, when someone SENDS us an email, how can we see which of many email… Read more »
On the borders: you would need to rollback one build (and stay there forever). On skins: the only difference between the really old versions of Outlook and now is the "skin" colors: we had better colors before (green, blue, black compared to white, gray, black, or 'colorful'). Because the colors for all elements is so interconnected, i don't think we'll ever have the ability to 'skin' Office apps. >> Also, when someone SENDS us an email, how can we see which of many email addresses we have they sent it to? >> I recommend using categories & a rule. Have… Read more »
Thank you - very useful!