No Check box next to emails

Question

No Check box next to emails

Mary Ann Fearer 0

Check box my next to email has disappeared and been replaced with a blue line. Want to eliminate the blue line

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Welcome Mary Ann Fearer,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand that the checkboxes next to your emails in Outlook.com have disappeared and been replaced with a blue line, and you want to remove the blue line.

To help narrow this down, could you please confirm:

Does the blue line appear only on unread messages, or on every message in the list, including the one you have selected?
Does the same thing happen if you open Outlook.com in a different browser or in a private (InPrivate or Incognito) window?

Please make sure you already tried the Q&A Assist steps. In addition, please try the following:

1, Mark the messages as read, since a blue bar on the left edge usually marks unread messages.

Right-click the message with the blue line and select Mark as read.
To mark the whole folder at once, right-click the folder name in the left pane and select Mark all as read.

2, Change when messages are marked as read.

Select Settings, then Mail, then Message handling.
Under Mark as read, select Mark items as read when viewed in the reading pane, then select Save.

3, Reset the browser zoom and window size.

Press Ctrl and 0 together to reset the zoom to 100 percent.
Maximize the browser window, because a narrow window can hide the checkbox area.

4, Clear the browser cache and cookies.

In Microsoft Edge, select Settings, then Privacy, search, and services, then Clear browsing data, and choose Cookies and other site data plus Cached images and files.
Close and reopen the browser, then sign in to Outlook.com again.

Looking forward to your update.

Answer 2

In Outlook.com, change the message-list layout to Checkboxes to restore the boxes beside messages and replace the current blue selection indicator.

Select the Settings gear in the upper-right corner.
Select Mail → Layout.
Find the message-list appearance setting, shown in some versions under Message list or How do you want messages to appear in the message list?
Select Checkboxes instead of Sender images or Name only.
Close Settings; the checkboxes should now appear beside individual messages. This setting has restored the missing boxes for other Outlook.com users.^1^ Microsoft also documents Settings → Mail → Layout as the location for Outlook.com display controls.^2^

If Checkboxes is not available:

Select the Select icon—the box near the right side of the folder name—to enter selection mode and display the checkboxes.^3^
If sender pictures or initials are displayed, move the pointer over one; it should temporarily become a checkbox. Selecting it enters selection mode and lets you select additional messages.^1^

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