MS Outlook Focused vs Other: A Guide to Organizing Your Emails

MS Outlook Focused mode is a game-changer for email management. It allows you to view only the most important emails in your inbox, helping you stay focused on what matters most.

By default, Focused mode filters out low-priority emails, such as newsletters and promotional emails, and moves them to a separate folder. This means you can quickly scan your inbox and prioritize urgent messages.

With Focused mode, you can also use the "Move to Focused" feature to manually move emails from other folders into your Focused view. This helps keep your inbox organized and clutter-free.

By using these features, you can significantly reduce email overwhelm and increase your productivity.

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Configuring your Inbox for Focused Inbox is a breeze. To turn Focused Inbox on in classic Outlook, select the View tab, then select Show Focused Inbox.

The Focused and Other tabs will appear at the top of your mailbox, keeping you informed about email flowing to Other. You can switch between tabs any time to take a quick look.

To turn on Focused Inbox in Outlook on the web or Outlook.com, open Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or Outlook on the web, and select Settings > Mail > Layout.

In the Focused Inbox section, select the option to Sort messages into Focused and Other to turn it on, or Don't sort my messages to turn it off. If you made a change, select Save.

You can switch between the Focused and Other tabs at the top of your mailbox, in the email messages list, any time to take a quick look.

If you've turned off Clutter, you can still try Focused Inbox. As soon as you enable Focused Inbox, you'll see the Focused and Other tabs at the top of your Inbox, and the more you use it, the smarter it gets about how it organizes your messages.

Focused Inbox won't work in a shared mailbox - it's not designed for that.

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To turn on Focused Inbox in Outlook, you can follow these steps: in classic Outlook, select the View tab and then select Show Focused Inbox, or in Outlook on the web or Outlook.com, go to Settings > Mail > Layout and select the option to Sort messages into Focused and Other.

You can also keep using Clutter instead of Focused Inbox for now, but eventually, Clutter will be replaced by Focused Inbox. If you've already turned off Clutter, you can still try Focused Inbox and it will work as expected.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to turn on Focused Inbox in different versions of Outlook:

Focused Inbox will replace Clutter, so any email messages that were set to move to Clutter will now be moved to Other.

Focused Inbox is a feature in Outlook that helps you manage your emails by sorting them into two tabs: Focused and Other. You can turn it on in Outlook.com or Outlook on the web by selecting Settings > Mail > Layout and choosing the option to sort messages into Focused and Other.

To use Focused Inbox in Outlook on the web, you need to follow these steps: Open Outlook.com, select Settings > Mail > Layout, and then select the option to sort messages into Focused and Other. If you made a change, select Save. You can also switch between the Focused and Other tabs at the top of your mailbox.

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Focused Inbox works with Clutter, but it will eventually replace it. Any email that was set to move to Clutter will now be moved to Other. If you're using a shared mailbox, Focused Inbox won't work, which is by design.

You can still try Focused Inbox even if you turned off Clutter. As soon as you enable Focused Inbox, you'll see the Focused and Other tabs at the top of your Inbox. The more you use Focused Inbox, the smarter it gets about how it organizes your messages.

To turn on Focused Inbox in classic Outlook, select the View tab and choose Show Focused Inbox. The Focused and Other tabs will appear at the top of your mailbox. You can switch between tabs any time to take a quick look.

Here's a summary of the steps to turn on Focused Inbox:

You can also keep using Clutter for now, but eventually, it will be replaced by Focused Inbox.

You might think, "If this is happening automatically, why should I bother?" But the truth is, this is a "machine" learning, and like any person who is learning, it will make a few mistakes.

Some important mails may land up in the Other folder. If you don't notice those, you will not respond to those important mails. This is a crucial point to keep in mind.

At the top of Focused inbox, it shows the mails which were recently moved to the Other folder. Just keep noticing them.

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You can't use the "Focused & other" filter as a command in Outlook, it's actually a filter. This is because it's not an available command, as one user pointed out.

There is no way to move items between Focused and Other without right-clicking, according to another user. However, in Outlook on the Web, you can access the "Move" menu with left-clicking.

The "Move" menu contains options to move items between Focused and Other, but only when accessed with right-clicking on your computer.

If you're looking for an alternative to Inbox, you might want to consider Clutter. Clutter is a feature that helps sort your less-important emails, but it will eventually be replaced by Focused Inbox.

You can keep using Clutter for now, but keep in mind that it will be phased out in favor of Focused Inbox. This means that any emails that were set to move to Clutter will now be moved to the Other tab in your inbox.

If you've already turned off Clutter, don't worry - you can still try out Focused Inbox. In fact, enabling Focused Inbox will give you the Focused and Other tabs at the top of your inbox, where you can start sorting your emails.

However, if you're using a shared mailbox, Focused Inbox won't work. This is a deliberate design choice, so you'll need to stick with Clutter or explore other alternatives.

Here's a quick rundown of your options:

You can change how your messages get organized in Outlook by moving them between the Focused and Other tabs.

To move a message from Focused to Other, select Move > Move to Other inbox, and if you want all future messages from the sender to be delivered to the Other tab, select Always move to Other inbox.

To move a single message from Other to Focused, select Move > Move to Focused inbox, and if you want all future messages from the sender to be delivered to the Focused tab, select Always move to Focused inbox.

The Focused Inbox REST API provides Microsoft 365 mailbox message classification and training to help users sort their email efficiently, but this API isn't supported for the Microsoft 365 Shared mailbox.

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Outlook's AI software decides what goes into the Focused vs Other folder.

This software observes the way you handle or don't handle your emails and makes decisions based on that.

It learns quite fast, typically within a few weeks of installation, and becomes smart enough to decide.

Once it understands your behavior, less important emails go to the Other folder.

You can change how your messages get organized in Outlook by using the Focused and Other tabs.

To move a message from Focused to Other, select Move > Move to Other inbox. If you want all future messages from the sender to be delivered to the Other tab, select Always move to Other inbox.

To move a single message from Other to Focused, select Move > Move to Focused inbox. If you want all future messages from the sender to be delivered to the Focused tab, select Always move to Focused inbox.

Focused Inbox is available only for Microsoft 365, Exchange, and Outlook.com accounts in Outlook for Windows. If you don't see Focused and Other in your mailbox, you might have a Clutter folder instead.

The Focused Inbox REST API provides Microsoft 365 mailbox message classification and training to help users sort their email efficiently. However, this API isn't supported for the Microsoft 365 Shared mailbox.

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You can also reverse the rule by moving a message from Focused to Other or vice versa. If you feel some particular mail is not important, but it has landed in the Focused inbox, choose Move to Other (exception for this only) or Always move to Other (this is like a rule which will apply to all similar messages).

If you don't like the AI-based segregation into Focused and Other, you can deactivate the feature. Go to Inbox – open the View Tab (menu) and deactivate Show Focused Inbox. Depending upon the version of Outlook, it may be a checkbox or a toggle button as shown here.

If you're moving a single message from Focused to Other, select Move > Move to Other inbox. Select Always move to Other inbox if you want all future messages from the sender to be delivered to the Other tab.

Here are the steps to move a message from Focused to Other:

Similarly, to move a single message from Other to Focused, select Move > Move to Focused inbox. Select Always move to Focused inbox if you want all future messages from the sender to be delivered to the Focused tab.

Outlook has a smart piece of software running behind-the-scenes called AI (Machine Learning) that observes the way you handle (or don't handle) mails and decides whether to keep a mail in Focused or dump it in Other folder.