Since Win 11 upgrade problems with Outlook (in browser) unread/reead message display

Question

Since Win 11 upgrade problems with Outlook (in browser) unread/reead message display

Gulliver Thoday 0

I recently upgraded from Win 10 to Win 11 and ever since when using Outlook in my Chrome browser my unread messages display with a normal font and when I click on them and read them the font changes to bold!!!!

This is of course the polar opposite of how it has worked for the last 20 years where unread messages were bold and only lost the bold formatting when I clicked on them and read them.

It is immensely confusing for the visual system to suddenly do a 180 and work in the opposite way to how it has always functioned (and also works n all other email apps).

I searched everywhere and I cannot find any setting anywhere in outlook that controls this. I tried "conditional formatting" but it says "conditional formatting is not supported for this account", I assume as this is the browser version of outlook.

How on earth do I fix this? It's a ridiculous and infuriating problem!

2 answers

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Answer 1

It seems that the issue you're experiencing with the font display in Outlook on the web after upgrading to Windows 11 is not a typical setting that can be adjusted directly within Outlook. Unfortunately, the Outlook web app does not support conditional formatting, which limits customization options for how unread and read messages are displayed.

This change in font behavior may be related to the browser or the specific version of Outlook you are using. Here are a few suggestions that might help:

Clear Browser Cache: Sometimes, clearing the cache and cookies in Chrome can resolve display issues. You can do this by going to Chrome settings, selecting "Privacy and security," and then "Clear browsing data."
Check for Browser Updates: Ensure that your Chrome browser is up to date, as updates can fix bugs and improve compatibility with web applications.
Try a Different Browser: If the issue persists, try accessing Outlook in a different browser (like Edge or Firefox) to see if the problem is specific to Chrome.
Feedback to Microsoft: Since this seems to be a significant change in behavior, consider providing feedback to Microsoft through the Outlook web app. They may not be aware of this issue and could address it in future updates.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be worth checking Microsoft's support pages for any known issues related to Outlook on Windows 11.

References:

Gulliver Thoday 0 Reputation points

2025-11-14T19:51:00.5466667+00:00

This is not in the slightest bit helpful. I already cleared browser cache as it is something I do pretty often. My browsers are all up to date as the automatically update every time I restart my computer and reboot them. And no changing browser makes no difference, it behaves in the exact same manner in Opera as well as Chrome. The problem is clearly a Microsoft problem as Out;look is a Microsoft application and so is the Win 10 to 11 upgrade. That is the reason I asked this question here, trying to shift the blame to user or browser error is a pretty shameful response rather than accepting responsibility for the problem.

Answer 2

Lucky 5,245 Independent Advisor

Hi Gulliver Thoday, I completely understand how frustrating this must be after years of relying on a consistent visual cue having Outlook suddenly reverse the read/unread formatting feels confusing and disruptive to your workflow.

To fix the reversed font behavior in Outlook Web switch to the classic interface by turning off the Try the new Outlook toggle in Settings use the Outlook desktop app to apply conditional formatting for unread messages check accessibility settings to ensure high contrast or custom fonts arent interfering disable Chrome Force Dark Mode or experimental flags to correct CSS rendering and submit feedback to Microsoft requesting the restoration of bold formatting for unread messages.

When you open Outlook Web in Chrome does the reversed bold behavior also occur in other browsers like Edge or Firefox or is it only happening in Chrome?

Best regards

Lucky Charm

Gulliver Thoday 0 Reputation points

2025-11-15T12:51:22.47+00:00

This is a confusing reply. The middle paragraph especially What does this mean:

"turning off the Try the new Outlook toggle in Settings use the Outlook desktop app to apply conditional formatting for unread messages"I think the lack of punctuation makes it hard to understand.

Regardless, I changed some chrome settings and disabled all my extensions, and to begin with it completely messed up the formatting of Outlook. I then went back into outlook settings and started changing settings and eventually got it back to more or less how it was. Now however both read and unread emails are not in bold, but unread emails now appear blue. This is definitely an improvement as it is less confusing than the bold/normal inverse from before, however it would still be nice to be able to just format unread emails to appear in bold and to drop the blue so it appears as how I've always been used to it. It's very frustrating that there seems to be no setting anywhere in Outlook that lets you just set the formatting of how unread and read messages appear in the list, it's such a basic thing. Maybe that's what "conditional formatting" is supposed to be used for, however it isn't available either in the browser or desktop app version of outlook, so is pretty useless if that's where is can be changed.

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Since Win 11 upgrade problems with Outlook (in browser) unread/reead message display

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