Revolutionize Your Outlook Experience: Manage Emails, Calendars, Tasks, and More in One Tabbed Window

In Microsoft Outlook, working with multiple emails, meetings, tasks, contacts, and Outlook windows at the same time can quickly become difficult to manage.

Kutools for Outlook provides a practical Tab Bar feature that organizes Outlook items and windows into one tabbed interface. You can switch between opened items, create new Outlook items, open a new main window, and manage windows more efficiently from the tab bar.

• Why use the Tab Bar in Outlook
• Display all open windows in one tab and easily switch between them
• Create new items such as emails, appointments, tasks, and more from the tab bar
• Create a new main Outlook window from the tab bar
• Close a specific window or multiple windows at once
• Disable the Tab Bar
• Other available operations

After downloading and installing Kutools for Outlook, restart Outlook. A new tab bar will appear below the ribbon, as shown below.

Why use the Tab Bar in Outlook

• 🗂️ Cleaner Outlook workspace – Keep emails, calendars, tasks, appointments, contacts, and other Outlook windows organized in one tabbed interface instead of spreading them across your desktop.
• ⚡ Faster window switching – Switch between opened Outlook items by clicking tabs, so you can move from an email to a task, meeting, or contact without searching through multiple windows.
• 📌 Easy access to the main Outlook window – Keep the main Outlook window fixed on the left side of the tab bar, making it easy to return to your primary mailbox, calendar, or folder view at any time.
• ➕ Quick item creation – Create new emails, appointments, tasks, meetings, contacts, and more directly from the tab bar without navigating through different Outlook menus.
• 🪟 Flexible main window management – Open a new main Outlook window from the tab bar when you need an additional Outlook workspace while keeping your current tabbed window available.
• 🧹 Efficient window cleanup – Close the current window, windows on the left or right, or all opened windows except the main Outlook window from the tab bar context menu.
• 🔧 Customizable window behavior – Use options such as Multi-Window Mode, Show All Windows On The Taskbar, and Prompt When Closing The Main Window to control how Outlook windows are displayed and managed.

Display all open windows in one tab and easily switch between them

When you open or create Outlook items, such as emails, tasks, meetings, appointments, or contacts, the Tab Bar displays these opened windows as tabs in one unified interface. The main Outlook window remains fixed on the left side of the tab bar, so you can quickly return to it and switch between other opened items without searching through separate windows.

Tip: You can also view and switch between opened items by clicking the button on the right side of the tab bar, and then selecting the item you want to open.

Create new items such as emails, appointments, tasks, and more from the tab bar

With the Tab Bar, you can create new Outlook items directly from the tabbed interface. This includes new emails, appointments, tasks, meetings, contacts, and other Outlook items. Click the button on the left side of the tab bar, and then choose the item you want to create from the drop-down menu.

Create a new main Outlook window from the tab bar

Besides creating new Outlook items, the Tab Bar also lets you open a new main Outlook window directly from the tab bar. This is helpful when you want to work in a separate Outlook workspace, such as viewing another mailbox area, calendar, or folder, while keeping your current tabbed Outlook window open.

To create a new main Outlook window, click the button on the left side of the tab bar, and then select New Main Window from the drop-down menu.

Close a specific window or multiple windows at once

Close one window:

To close a specific window, click the tab to activate it, and then click the × icon on the tab.

Close specific windows or all windows:

To close the current window or multiple opened windows at once, right-click any tab in the tab bar, and then choose the option you need from the context menu.

• Close The Window: Closes the current window.
• Close The Right Window: Closes all windows to the right of the current tab.
• Close The Left Window (Except The Main Window): Closes all windows to the left of the current tab, except the main Outlook window.
• Close All Windows (Except The Main Window): Closes all opened windows except the main Outlook window.
• 

Disable the Tab Bar

If you want to turn off the Tab Bar, go to the main Outlook window, and then click Kutools > Tab Bar to disable this feature.

After the Tab Bar is disabled, opened Outlook items will be displayed as separate windows, which is the default Outlook window behavior.

Other available operations

The Tab Bar in Kutools for Outlook also provides several additional options for controlling how Outlook windows are displayed, grouped, closed, and shown on the Windows taskbar. These options are useful when you want a more flexible Outlook workspace for different working habits.

• Prompt When Closing The Main Window
• Multi-Window Mode
• Show All Windows On The Taskbar
• Don't Show This Tab Bar
• Quit Outlook

Prompt When Closing The Main Window:

• If this option is not selected, Outlook will close and exit immediately when you close the main window.
• If this option is selected, a confirmation prompt will appear when you close the main window. To exit Outlook, click Yes. To keep Outlook open, click No.
  

Multi-Window Mode:

• If this option is not selected, all opened Outlook windows are displayed within one consolidated tabbed window.
• If this option is selected, each opened Outlook window is displayed as a separate individual window.
  

Show All Windows On The Taskbar:

• When this option is not selected, all opened Outlook windows are grouped into one consolidated icon on the Windows taskbar.
  
• When this option is selected, each opened Outlook window is displayed as a separate item on the Windows taskbar.
  

Don't Show This Tab Bar: Click this option to hide the Tab Bar and return Outlook windows to the normal separate-window view.

Quit Outlook: Click this option to close Outlook and exit the application immediately.