How to Turn Off Suggested Replies in Outlook Web & More?
Do you find Outlook’s “Suggested Replies” distracting or unhelpful? You are not alone. Many others like you have felt that auto-generated responses (e.g., “Sounds good!”, “Yes, I can.”) are too casual or not required at all. Maybe your organization is just not comfortable letting an AI decide the communication route/read the confidential emails. So, we have come up with step-by-step instructions on how to turn off suggested replies in Outlook across all major platforms.
Start by identifying your Outlook version and jump straight to the instructions to reclaim response control.
How to Turn Off Suggested Replies: Step-by-Step User Guides?
Below are the instructions for the specific Outlook version you are using. As Outlook (in Microsoft 365 plans) is synced with the cloud, not only your messages but also your email settings remain the same, so you only need to change them once.
Steps to Turn Off Suggested Responses in Outlook (OWA/Outlook.com)
- Open Outlook.com on any browser.
- Log in and click on the settings gear in the top-right corner.
- Optional: While here, you might explore other useful settings or learn how to save emails from the Outlook Web App for archiving.
- In the Settings box, select Mail > Smart suggestions
- Uncheck the box next to Show suggested replies.
- Then, press Save.
Close the settings, open any mail, and click on reply to check whether the suggested replies appear.
Here is How you Turn Off Suggested Replies in Outlook (OWA/Outlook.com)?
- Click on your profile icon.
- Tap the settings gear at the bottom of your screen.
- In the Settings menu, select Mail.
- Open Suggested Replies (under the Compose section).
- Tap the switch next to your email account to toggle it to the off position. It should change from blue to colorless/grey.
- Use your mobile’s back button (or Outlook’s built-in back arrow icon at the top right) to return to the inbox.
- Then, repeat the check by simulating a reply to any email.
If you still see an AI-generated reply, make sure you’ve turned off suggested replies for that specific email account, as Outlook settings apply to each account separately.
Disable Response Recommendation Feature in Outlook Desktop App (Windows – Classic)
- Open the Outlook application.
- Go to the “File” tab in the top left corner.
- Select “Options” from the bottom of the left-side pane.
- In the “Outlook Options” window, switch to “Mail” from the left sidebar.
- Scroll down in the right pane to the “Replies and forwards” section.
- Uncheck the box labeled “Show suggested replies.”
- Click “OK.”
Stop the New Outlook Desktop App From Suggesting Replies
The steps in the New Outlook version largely overlap with the web version due to the similarity in design. Regardless, there are some minute differences in details shown through the instruction set below:
- Launch the new Outlook desktop app.
- Click on the settings gear at the top right corner of your screen.
- Emails > Smart suggestions
- Disable the check box and Hit Save.
Use PowerShell to Revoke Recommended Responses Organization-Wide
In an organization where an admin needs to turn off this feature in bulk for all users, they can use the PowerShell commands. More specifically, the -WebSuggestedRepliesDisabled flag. The steps are as follows:
Open a new PowerShell instance in admin mode.
Set up a connection with the cloud. Type
Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName youradmin@yourdomain.com
Fill in your password.
Then, check the current status of the -WebSuggestedRepliesDisabled flag by tping
Get-OrganizationConfig | FL WebSuggestedRepliesDisabled
If you receive False as the response type in this command
Set-OrganizationConfig -WebSuggestedRepliesDisabled $true
It will switch the flag and turn off the suggested responses for all users in your domain.
Note: If you want a more precise user on/off status, you need to construct a custom policy and add users to it.
Why Do You Want to Keep This Feature Off?
Freedom from constant distractions: These sudden prompts break the flow of your email reading.
Prevent accidental replies. As the AI replies appear after a small delay, users may misclick and send a reply they did not intend to. So it’s safer to turn off this feature permanently.
Accuracy Issues: The AI-recommended reply can’t grasp the communication that happened out of mail, and the reply it gives is superficial.
Forms Clutter Visual: Users can struggle in viewing the actual mail content. Especially in the mobile app version, where screen size and viewing area are a premium.
Preference for control: People still want some degree of control over their communication. Moreover, unlike useful features you enable yourself, like configuring an out-of-office notification, suggested replies can feel intrusive.
How to Keep Email Writing Efficient Without Suggested Replies?
Users may second-guess their decisions as they might be using the recommended replies without even realizing it. However, disabling it does not mean your email communication will become any less efficient. Here are some tips you can follow after disabling the setting.
Outlook Quick Steps: These are another built-in setting with a greater degree of control over what happens to your mail. Especially useful in automating repetitive tasks (e.g., categorize, move to folder, forward, reply with template).
Use Outlook Templates (.oft) These are prewritten templates you can keep saved in Outlook Classic. Like sending mails to new hires, informing about a product release, etc.
Text Prediction: The switch to this setting is present alongside the suggested reply section in many Outlook versions. It is a different feature that allows Outlook to predict what you are writing and fill in the word for you, making email drafts faster.
Conclusion
You’ve successfully learned how to turn off suggested replies in Outlook. This will simplify your interface and help you take back control over the conversation.
Here, we covered the detailed steps for web, desktop (both classic and new), and mobile apps. Moreover, we also taught how admins can remove these suggested responses for all users in the organization.
Disabling suggested replies is an easy way to keep email conversations pure. However, you must also ensure the safety of your conversions. For that, you can create an independent backup of your Office 365 emails.
This protects you against accidental deletion, retention policy gaps, or ransomware threats. Use our state-of-the-art SysTools Office 365 Backup and Restore Toolkit to make the job easy.
For more ways to master Outlook and Office 365, explore how to recover deleted Outlook contacts or browse numerous other guides only on the SysTools blog.
