Reading Pain

One of the “features” that I absolutely abhor about Outlook 2003 is the Reading Pane, and the fact that whenever you create a new mail profile, the reading pane is turned on by default.

Having had to go through this again this weekend, I rediscovered an old trick and learned a new one. Here they are:

Permanently Turning Off the Reading Pane:

1. Open the properties of the shortcut used to open Outlook (I modify the shortcut in the QuickLaunch toolbar)

2. In the “Target” field, add “/nopreview” to the end of the string used to launch Outlook.
3. Click Apply, then click OK.

Whee! No more reading pane!

Permanently Turning Off Grouping
[WARNING: the following describes a modification to the registry. Improper editing in the Registry can lead to a dead machine. If you don't know what you're doing in the registry, stay out. You have been warned.]

1. From Start->Run, type “outlook /cleanviews” and press Enter (Outlook should not already be open first).

2. Quit Outlook as soon as it comes up.
3. Open regedit and navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Setup.
4. Create a new DWORD named AutoArrangeViews and set it to 0 (zero).
5. Close regedit and launch Outlook. No more arranged in groups!