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OlegKazak-2861 avatar image
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OlegKazak-2861 asked JeffYang-MSFT answered

Something steals focus when opening new email in Outlook

Have noticed this a month or so ago. When i first open Outlook in the morning and hit new email or reply first and start typing after a second focus goes somewhere else and it stops typing and i have to click again in the email. Happens only on the first email after Outlook launch. Still annoying. Maybe some add-on is doing that. The only add-in that has updated recently was Zoom Outlook Plugin and i have tried disabling it, but it didn't help. I think this started after one of Office updates in March. Anyone else seeing this?

office-outlook-itpro
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JeffYang-MSFT answered OlegKazak-2861 commented

Hi @OlegKazak-2861,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Considering that you mentioned that you updated Office in March, what's the version of your Outlook? (File > Office Account > About Outlook). Please make sure you have upgraded your Outlook to the latest version.
And if this issue happens on other programs? To test this, you could try to type in a Word file or Excel file to see if the focus disappears.

If this happens only on the outlook client, and considering that you mentioned it might be an add-in, it is suggested that you try to start outlook in safe mode(win+R>type: outlook /safe) to check whether it works normally. If it can run normally in safe mode, you need to disable all the add ins and check which add ins cause it one by one. If there is such a problem in safe mode, you could try to fix the outlook program. If there is still a problem after the outlook program is repaired, considering the possible third-party security programs in the system, it is suggested that you temporarily shut down or uninstall it, and perform a clean boot in Windows to check whether the problem exists.

Hope the above is helpful to you. Please contact us if you have any questions!


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Outlook 16.0.13901.20366 (32-bit). Outlook is updating as a part of Office 365 Suite, which is currently on 2103 (Build 13901.20462). Which is latest in Current channel. Other Office apps has the same version as Outlook.

I haven't noticed similar issue in other Office apps.

The issue happens in safe mode as well.

I will try repairing Office later.

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Hi @OlegKazak-2861,

It has been a while, how is everything going? Can this issue be fixed after repairing your Office installation yet?

If the issue still continues, as I know, a corrupted profile can also lead such performance issue, so please try creating and using a new Outlook profile via Control Panel > Mail > Show profile and see if there is any difference.

Any update, please feel free to post back.

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Hi @OlegKazak-2861,
I am also using Current channel version as well but have not met issues like this yet.
93584-image.png

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I have tried to repair Office (online repair) and also tried new Outlook profile.

Same issue still happens.

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It is even listed as fixed in the latest Office version changelog. And i already have this version, but the issue still happens.

Version 2104: April 29
Version 2104 (Build 13929.20296)

Outlook
• We fixed an issue that could cause users to see the message that they are composing losing the UI focus.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel

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JeffYang-MSFT answered

Hi @OlegKazak-2861,

Thanks for your reply and update. Sorry to hear that your issue still continues.

I did some more researches about your issue in the past few days and found more possible workarounds.

  • Some newer versions of hardware drivers such as mouse drivers may steals focus in Outlook. Please check if you have updated your drivers recently and see if we could get some new discoveries.

  • Editing ForegroundLockTimeout registry key could help some users resolve their similar issue. If necessary, it is suggested for you to try to modify its value as 0 to see if the issue could be better.
    Path: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
    Key: ForegroundLockTimeout
    Value: 0
    (Note: Serious problems can occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before making changes, back up the registry to restore it in case something goes wrong.)
    95583-image.png

Hope this can be helpful.


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