When you open an email in Outlook and then reply/forward, after the email is sent, the original email remains open until you close it yourself.
This is fine if you are replying to 1 or 2 emails a day (which I’m sure is not the case with most of us), but image if you have several emails to reply, having to close the email each time you do a reply and that to for no good reason is such a pain and a waste of time.
Here is how you can set Outlook so that the email is closed automatically after you reply/forward an email (saving you from an additional click each time):
In Outlook 2010
- Click on File on the menu > Options
- On the Left-pane, click Mail > go to the Replies and forwards section
- Tick the checkbox for “Close original message window when replying or forwarding”
- Click OK
In Outlook 2007 and 2003:
- Click Tools > Options
- Under Preferences tab > click E-mail Options…
- On the E-mail Options screen > tick the checkbox for “Close original message window on reply or forward”
- Click OK
Now when you reply or forward an email, the original email which was opened will also close automatically.
Related Post
If you’re a user of QuickFile for Outlook, it is possible to close the original email and file it along with the reply to a chosen folder.
You can refer to our earlier post Outlook Can Automatically File Reply Emails with the Original (as the reply is sent) to learn how QuickFile can file the original and the reply email in the same folder.
