Show email date, not "Yesterday" Outlook for Mac

Question

Show email date, not "Yesterday" Outlook for Mac

Mark L 0

I want to see the date of the email in my inbox, not the word "Yesterday". I can't believe how frustrating this is.

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Brett Bowers 0 Reputation points

2026-10-10T14:27:56.2333333+00:00

These "today" and "yesterday" terms appear to be Microsoft trying to be cute and folksy. Outlook is used in business, and in business, dates are very important. I'm using Outlook for sending contracts, proposals, etc., not cookie recipes. Get the actual date to appear in the email message.

2 answers

Brett Bowers 0 Reputation points

2026-10-10T14:27:56.2333333+00:00

These "today" and "yesterday" terms appear to be Microsoft trying to be cute and folksy. Outlook is used in business, and in business, dates are very important. I'm using Outlook for sending contracts, proposals, etc., not cookie recipes. Get the actual date to appear in the email message.

Answer 1

Outlook for Mac typically displays email dates in a relative format, such as "Yesterday" or "Today," instead of showing the actual date. Unfortunately, there is no built-in option to change this display setting directly in Outlook for Mac. However, you can try the following workaround:

Change the View Settings: Sometimes, adjusting the view settings can help. Go to the "View" menu and select "Change View". You can try different views like "Compact" or "Single" to see if they display the dates differently.
Use the Web Version: If you need to see the exact dates, consider accessing your email through Outlook on the web, where the date format may be more straightforward.
Feedback to Microsoft: If this is a feature you would like to see, consider providing feedback to Microsoft through the Outlook app. They often take user feedback into account for future updates.

If these options do not resolve your issue, you may need to wait for future updates from Microsoft that could potentially address this display preference.

Answer 2

Hello Mark L, thanks for posting this in our community.

There is currently no built-in setting to force Outlook for Mac to always show the full date in the message list. This is a limitation of the new interface.

One workaround is to switch back to Legacy Outlook for Mac. In the top-right corner of Outlook, look for the toggle to switch back to Legacy Outlook. Legacy Outlook supports showing full dates and times in the inbox. After switching, go to View > Arrange By > Date Received and make sure the Received column is visible by opening View Settings, selecting Columns, and adding “Received.”

Another option is to adjust the view settings in the New Outlook. Go to View and choose Change View, then select Compact or Single view. These views sometimes display more detailed date information, although results may vary.

Kind regards,

John Oli