marking a recurring task complete adds dashes to the body

Question

This is not a big deal, but a question none the less.

I am using windows 10 Pro (version 22H2 Build 19045.4291 64 bit) and Outlook version 16.0.0.17425 64 bit (part of Microsoft 365).

My tasks are saved in a local PST. When I mark a recurring task as complete that has any text in the body, the body of the next task occurrence includes one blank line and dashes at the top; see below (double quotes are not in the body text). This happens even for a profile with no email account. i have had this issue for at least several years, to include on multiple PCs with different profiles. I don't think this matters, but my current PC is a Microsoft Surface Pro 7+.

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this appears to describe the issue, but there never was a final answer.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/outlook-inserts-row-of-hyphens-in-the-body-of/f4250248-8199-4670-91a2-09ed4525cd2d

Any ideas ?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi @I'm on the pc- hotmail.com ,

According to my research, when you complete a recurring task that has any text in the body, Outlook creates a new occurrence of the task and inserts a row of hyphens at the top of the body text. This is a design choice by Microsoft to indicate the separation between different occurrences of the task.

Unfortunately, there’s no built-in option in Outlook to prevent this behavior.

Some user has already submitted this feedback in a dedicated portal, and you can vote for it:

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/437f5641-b921-ee11-a81c-002248510ddf

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