How to Delete and Mute an Outlook Thread

Delete yourself from group messages in Outlook to mute all notifications

By
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
  • University of Vienna
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Updated on March 25, 2022
Reviewed by
Jon Fisher
Jon Fisher headshot
Reviewed by Jon Fisher
  • Wichita Technical Institute
Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek.
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What to Know

  • To mute, open message, go to Message > Delete > Ignore Conversation > Ignore Conversation.
  • To unmute, go to Deleted Items folder > open message to unmute > Message > Ignore > Stop Ignoring Conversation.
  • After unmuting a conversation, Outlook will recover the message in the Deleted Items folder.

This article explains how to mute and unmute Outlook conversations. Instructions apply to Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2010.

How to Mute Outlook Conversations

Follow these steps to delete a conversation and prevent future messages from appearing in your Outlook inbox.

  1. Open a message from the group or thread that you want to silence and delete.

    To open a message in a new window, double-click the message in the email pane.

  2. In the email window, go to the Message tab.

    email with Meeting tab selected

  3. In the Delete group, choose the Ignore Conversation button.

    If the message is selected in the message list and is not displayed in its own window, go to the Home tab and select Ignore in the Delete group.

    Ignore in Delete group of Message tab

  4. A dialog box opens and warns you that the selected conversation and all future messages will be moved to the Deleted Items folder.

  5. Select Ignore Conversation.

    Select the Don't Show This Message Again checkbox to avoid this step in the future.

Ignoring a message does not permanently delete the message or other emails from the sender. It also does not block those email addresses or set up email filters. It only ignores messages in one specific thread or group message.

Unmute a Conversation in Outlook

You can recover a conversation from the Deleted Items folder and make sure future messages in the thread appear in your Outlook inbox by unmuting the conversation.

  1. Open the Deleted Items folder.

    Deleted Items folder

  2. Open a message that belongs to the conversation you want to recover.

    deleted message with Message tab selected

  3. Go to the Message tab and select Ignore in the Delete group.

    If the message is selected in the message list and is not displayed in its own window, go to the Home tab and select Ignore in the Delete group.

    Stop Ignoring Conversation message

  4. Select Stop Ignoring Conversation.

    Select the Don't Show This Message Again checkbox to avoid this step in the future.

Unmuting a conversation recovers the messages in the Deleted Items folder that belong to that specific thread.

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