How to customize the Navigation Pane in Outlook

The ‘Outlook Navigation Pane’ is an interface in Outlook which is displayed on the left-hand side; it allows users to switch between different Outlook areas such as Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. Additionally, users can add folders to the ‘Favorite’ section, change the view of the navigation pane and customize the icons on the bottom of the navigation pane.

How to customize Outlook Navigation Pane

To customize your Outlook navigation pane, follow the methods below to get the look you want.

Launch Outlook
Customize the Favorite section
Customize the view of the navigation pane
Customize the buttons on the bottom of the navigation pane
Finally restart Outlook.
Launch Outlook.
On the left of the Outlook window, you will see the navigation pane.

You can add any folder to the navigation pane by right-clicking on any of the folders in the navigation pane. For example, to add the Outbox folder, right-click on it and select “Add to the navigation pane.”

A context menu will pop up displaying some options; select the Add to favorites option.

The folder you right-clicked will be added to the Favorite section.

If you delete an item from a folder in the Favorites section, it will also be deleted from that folder in the navigation pane.

You can also drag a folder from the navigation pane to the Favorite section.
To remove a folder from your Favorites, right-click it and select Remove from Favorites.
The view of the navigation pane can be customized in Outlook.
To customize the view of the navigation pane, click the View tab on the menu bar.
Then click the Folder Pane button in the Layout section, then choose an option from the list.
When you choose to click the “Minimized” option, the navigation pane will only display the “Drafts” and “Inbox” folders.
If you choose to select Off, the navigation pane will disappear.
Click Normal to return the navigation pane to the original view.

Other features in Outlook can be found at the bottom of the navigation pane, such as Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks.

You can choose how many buttons to display, the order they are in, and if you want them to be displayed as icons or words.

To do this procedure, go to the View tab on the menu bar.
Then click the Folder Pane button in the Layout section, then click Option.
A Navigation Options dialog box will appear.

In the “Maximum Number of Visible Items” section, use the increase or decrease arrow buttons to input the number you want.

To make the icons become words, remove the tick from the Compact Navigation checkbox.
There is a list box below to place the buttons in the order you want.
Click the button you want to move and click either the Move Up or Move Down
Then OK.

You’ll see that the buttons are placed in the order you arrange them to be, and they’re turned into words instead of icons.

Option two: to click the three dots next to the button and select the Navigation Option from the menu.

To return the buttons to their default view, go to the View tab, click the Folder Pane button, select Options, or click the three dots beside the buttons and select Navigation Options.

When the ‘Navigation Options’ dialog box appears, click ‘Reset’, then tick the ‘Compact Navigation’ checkbox. Finally, click ‘OK’.

The buttons on the bottom of the navigation pane will return to the default.