Solved Outlook 2021 reply/forward icons do not show

I'm using IMAP Setting
Issue Description: In Outlook 2021, the reply/forward icons (small arrows) appear in the email list view to indicate whether an email has been replied to or forwarded. However, these icons are updated only when the email is opened in a new window (by double-clicking). If you reply or forward directly from the reading pane without opening the email, Outlook may not update the status icon even if you tried restart outlook.
Does anyone have any idea to solve this issue? It is very frustrating when you forget to open in new window to replied/forward the icon will not showing at all! And you won't know the email has been replied/forwarded unless you check your sent mail...

Replied/Forwarded icons can be added to Outlook2021 via View>Current View>View Settings>Columns>Add>Icon. (which your setting probably already has it added)
However, I have not been able to see the replied/forwarded icons in any imap account. I have worked for months trying to get it to show for my gmail and isp provided accounts (which are all imap). I have tested backwards, forwards, and sideways and the only way it does show is if I change those accounts to pop.

When using a Microsoft exchange account the icons are always seen if I reply or forward.
And yes, it's aggravating the P-waddling-do out of me since my gmail account is the one I do most of my replies and forwards from. So if you happen on a miracle and find a solution, please post it back here.

glasskuter said:

Replied/Forwarded icons can be added to Outlook2021 via View>Current View>View Settings>Columns>Add>Icon. (which your setting probably already has it added)
However, I have not been able to see the replied/forwarded icons in any imap account. I have worked for months trying to get it to show for my gmail and isp provided accounts (which are all imap). I have tested backwards, forwards, and sideways and the only way it does show is if I change those accounts to pop.

When using a Microsoft exchange account the icons are always seen if I reply or forward.
And yes, it's aggravating the P-waddling-do out of me since my gmail account is the one I do most of my replies and forwards from. So if you happen on a miracle and find a solution, please post it back here.

Click to expand...

Yes, my apologies, as I misunderstood that one so deleted my answer.

The fact that there is no indication that an email has been answered or forwarded when using IMAP
is there is simply no way to do so as a myriad of clients or systems could have been used to generate the action.
You'd think there would be a way to indicate that action back to the source but as convenient as IMAP is, it does not have that ability.

are you referring to this?

Here's the kicker. The way Outlook handles imap has changed only in the last few months. It broke for me during the summer but I'm not sure what Office update broke it because it updates every month.. Previously, as soon as I replied to an email in an imap account, I got the reply arrow immediately, the reply showed up in my 'sent items' just like it still does in my Microsoft email account. I had to clean install 24h2 in Oct so re-installed Office at that time and it was still broken. The way it is now, I get neither of those things happening but the receipient does get the reply. It makes managing multiple imap accounts a real pain in the butt if I don't remember which emails I've replied to. I did discover one thing though. If I reply to the same message twice, I do get the reply icon on the second reply, but nothing in the sent folder. The bad thing is the person I'm replying to gets 2 replies.

I had talked to MS support about it previously and didn't get anywhere so I contacted them again today for lack of anything better to do. I got the same old canned answer that the protocol for an exchange account and that of an imap account was handled differently (DUH!!)and that it was the way it was supposed to work. My argument that it had not always worked this way and that for any email app to work this way was ridiculous fell on deaf ears. The rep was courteous but would not escalate the issue.

As a side note here, I can make one of these imap accounts a pop account and everything works. That would be all fine and dandy but where does this leave us come spring when MS discontinues support for pst files in Outlook. (They may or may not decide to fix it so that pop accounts will continue to work.)

Thunderbird is looking more promising every day but I sure do hate to give up my Outlook.

If anyone else out there uses Outlook 2021 to handle imap accounts, I would appreciate it if you would see if yours does what mine and @Winston LIM Outlook does.

^ Mine is 2021. i have 4 imap accounts set up and all display the forward/reply buttons and that notification in my screenshot when i reply to a message. shows whether i open the message in a popout or in the reading pane...

No @dacrone , the reply arrow that shows in the email list when one has replied to a message.

ahh you meant this one..

i dont have this issue, but after looking as to what you were referring to, you can try this (until i find the solution - and i will )

open the email into a popout and close the popout Twice
open the email a Third time and then reply to it. after the reply, your icon will display.
i'll keep looking to find you the actual fix.

ok.. hate double posting but try this (i replicated your error using office 2016 on a diff pc and this worked to populate the icon every time i replied):
View Tab > Add Columns Button and make it reflect this:


then when you reply, use "Reply All" instead. you'll just have to edit the recipients if necessary.

**This is NOT the proper fix, but i am still working to figure it out with "Reply"**

dacrone said:

View Tab > Add Columns Button and make it reflect this:

Click to expand...

Mine was already set that way

dacrone said:

open the email into a popout and close the popout Twice
open the email a Third time and then reply to it. after the reply, your icon will display.

Click to expand...

you are right. What the he**?

dacrone said:

then when you reply, use "Reply All" instead. you'll just have to edit the recipients if necessary.

Click to expand...

No this did not work until I did it 3 times and the receipient got 3 replies.

In neither of these cases does the reply show up in sent messages

glasskuter said:

In neither of these cases does the reply show up in sent messages

Click to expand...

just so i'm tracking what works for you at the moment:

opening 2x and closing followed by a 3rd open & reply DOES show the reply icon?

using REPLY all with IMAP Status in the Show column DOES NOT show the reply icon?

and you're saying that when you reply to those messages the sent replies do not show in your Sent Items folder?

dacrone said:

opening 2x and closing followed by a 3rd open & reply DOES show the reply icon?

Click to expand...

Yes I get the reply icon when I do this

dacrone said:

using REPLY all with IMAP Status in the Show column DOES NOT show the reply icon?

Click to expand...

Only if I do it 3 times. I get the reply icon on the third reply all. But when I do it this way the receipient gets 3 reply emails....

dacrone said:

and you're saying that when you reply to those messages the sent replies do not show in your Sent Items folder?

Click to expand...

I was going to respond back to you that I was wrong...but not wrong at the same time about sent mail. This particular email account I was testing with is a gmail account I rarely use.
Outlook has 2 sent folders in that account..one named sent mail which is hidden until I expand the gmail folder and another named sent items which is a folder in the account. It's this visible sent items where I was checking and found no sent emails.. I expanded "gmail" folder and found the second sent mail folder. I did find all my test emails in that folder. So at least the sent mail was there. Here's a screenshot.

I really appreciate your insights on this. I know it makes little sense with the way it's working. From the looks of that screenshot I need to learn to spell ONE. I fat fingered it,but you can read between the lines. I don't know why my screenshot turned out so big. I did it like I always do but ended up with a giant png.

Hmm ok. I’ll play with it more tomorrow at some point and figure out the correct answer! In the meantime, here is a breakdown of how to make the Gmail node the default for that account in your outlook (meaning it won’t have a Gmail expandable folder, but instead work normally by showing the sent, inbox etc like any other imap account would)

ok got this showing the reply, reply all, forward icons every time (tested with 2 imap accounts in outlook)

for each account:

Home > Quick Steps > Create New > Actions > Reply > Finish

Send a new email from first imap to second imap. When you reply to said email, use the Quick Steps shortcut for Reply and let me know if that populates the icon. (getting closer to the actual solution)




EDIT/UPDATE:
So, i took off the whole "Respond" category on the Home tab for now and edited my Quick Steps box to reflect the below. That way it will not have options on the Ribbon that do not function properly. I have also labeled what works correctly and the options that do not that i have not figured out how to remove yet. I will end up creating a macro to do these functions so that we can place big buttons on the Ribbon, as you cannot individually pin Quick Steps to the Ribbon...

Go to File > Options > Mail > CHECK "Open replies and forwards in a new window"

dacrone said:

ok got this showing the reply, reply all, forward icons every time (tested with 2 imap accounts in outlook)

for each account:

Home > Quick Steps > Create New > Actions > Reply > Finish

Send a new email from first imap to second imap. When you reply to said email, use the Quick Steps shortcut for Reply and let me know if that populates the icon. (getting closer to the actual solution)

View attachment 120308


EDIT/UPDATE:
So, i took off the whole "Respond" category on the Home tab for now and edited my Quick Steps box to reflect the below. That way it will not have options on the Ribbon that do not function properly. I have also labeled what works correctly and the options that do not that i have not figured out how to remove yet. I will end up creating a macro to do these functions so that we can place big buttons on the Ribbon, as you cannot individually pin Quick Steps to the Ribbon...

Go to File > Options > Mail > CHECK "Open replies and forwards in a new window"

View attachment 120361

View attachment 120360

Click to expand...

I think this might solve the issue. I tested it on my account, and it works, but sometimes if I test, reply, or forward too quickly before syncing, the icon may not switch. By the way, so far, after enabling the setting, it’s working. I’ll keep monitoring and see how it goes.

Winston LIM said:

View attachment 120684

I think this might solve the issue. I tested it on my account, and it works, but sometimes if I test, reply, or forward too quickly before syncing, the icon may not switch. By the way, so far, after enabling the setting, it’s working. I’ll keep monitoring and see how it goes.

Click to expand...

thats why, in conjunction with that setting, i listed to use "Quick Steps" for reply/forward. it does work every time. i tested 4 imap accounts from different providers and sent a dozen emails with each. didnt have one that this did not work for. let me know.