When responding to an email, it’s often helpful to include conversation history for added context. But Mac users who updated Microsoft Outlook to its latest version simply lost this feature. The issue was introduced in version 16.110, build 26061317, released on June 16.
Before the update, when Outlook for Mac users responded to an email, they could see the original email thread. According to tech news publication The Register, after the update, this was no longer the case. The area where a reply is written is now left blank, no longer showing the original email.
A Microsoft representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A qualified external Microsoft staff moderator posted an article about the issue on Microsoft Learn, Microsoft’s official documentation and learning platform. The representative said the only current solution is to revert to version 16.109.3 or earlier. To do this, you need to remove the current version of Outlook 16.110 and install an older version.
“Forwarding is just as important for responding,” one Outlook user wrote on Microsoft Learn. “When forwarding a message, we obviously want to forward the message. But when the original message is not included, it defeats the purpose of the forwarding. Yes, this should be fixed as soon as possible.”
Once you have version 16.109.3 or earlier, you need to turn off automatic updates so that Outlook does not update to the version that contains the bug. Go to the Help drop-down list, click Check for updates, and then uncheck Automatically keep Microsoft apps up to date. Remember to go back and select the latter option once the bug is finally fixed.
If you’re using an employer-managed device, you may need to wait until Microsoft rolls out an official patch. No timetable for this has been announced.