In new outlook the options for "Reply" "Reply all" and "Forward" are grayed out

Question

In new outlook the options for "Reply" "Reply all" and "Forward" are grayed out

Lazar Ivanov 5

Hi,

I believe recently there was an update in new Outlook and now when I select an email, in the right hand panel I have the options to Reply, Reply all and Forward, but they are grayed out.

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This is maddening - I have to open each email and then the options are available.

To make matters even more inconsistent, when I open in a new window, sometimes the options become available again in the original client window and sometimes not.

The only thing that I can imagine is causing this is that we are using SMIME and all the emails that behave like this are from colleagues that have SMIME signatures. I know that this feature is "new" to the new client (although existed for many many years in the old client, but why is the simplest feature of replying to an email broken because of SMIME as well...

If anyone has a solution or a workaround for this, I'm all years.

Lazar

Anonymous

2025-02-20T07:09:19.76+00:00

Hi @Lazar Ivanov

Just wanted to check if the answer shared below helped. If it helped, then would you please "Accept the answer" as it would be helpful to others in the community as well. Warm thanks！
Morales, Jose (Felipe) 0 Reputation points

2026-03-19T18:15:47.2633333+00:00

I was having the same issue and ran into this forum. What changed it for me is that I have my emails grouped by threads so I was selecting the whole thread. Expanding the thread and selecting only the last email in the thread (The one I intended to reply with a meeting), automatically enabled the options.
Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2026-04-07T07:57:54.2033333+00:00

Hi, this also doesn't resolve the issue for me. I am still unable to reply to emails, whether or not it's a thread or a single email. If it's a signed (SMIME signature), the reply options are not available.
Hornblower409 6,905 Reputation points

2026-04-08T22:08:48.46+00:00
@Lazar Ivanov said

I am still unable to reply to email ... If it's a signed (SMIME signature)

If you mean that the email is S/MIME encrypted, does this Microsoft Support article offer any help?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/open-encrypted-and-protected-messages-1157a286-8ecc-4b1e-ac43-2a608fbf3098

If this doesn't help I would suggest you bring in Microsoft Support to inspect your setup.

Open a browser to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact

Tell us your problem: "Can not reply to S/MIME encrypted emails"

[Get Help] {Scroll down to the bottom of the page} [Sign in to Contact Support]

Sign in with any Microsoft account

Products and services: "Microsoft 365 and Office"

Category: "Outlook"

[Confirm]

Choose a support option -> "Chat with a support agent in your web browser"
Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2026-04-09T06:25:37.8833333+00:00

Hi Hornblower409, the emails are not encrypted, just have a digital signature. They will say "Signed By ******@securosys.com" for example and will have the ribbon for "Digital signature is trusted".

I'll open a case and see how it goes, will report back. Thanks!

3 answers

Your answer

Anonymous

2025-02-20T07:09:19.76+00:00

Hi @Lazar Ivanov

Just wanted to check if the answer shared below helped. If it helped, then would you please "Accept the answer" as it would be helpful to others in the community as well. Warm thanks！
Morales, Jose (Felipe) 0 Reputation points

2026-03-19T18:15:47.2633333+00:00

I was having the same issue and ran into this forum. What changed it for me is that I have my emails grouped by threads so I was selecting the whole thread. Expanding the thread and selecting only the last email in the thread (The one I intended to reply with a meeting), automatically enabled the options.
Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2026-04-07T07:57:54.2033333+00:00

Hi, this also doesn't resolve the issue for me. I am still unable to reply to emails, whether or not it's a thread or a single email. If it's a signed (SMIME signature), the reply options are not available.
Hornblower409 6,905 Reputation points

2026-04-08T22:08:48.46+00:00

@Lazar Ivanov said

I am still unable to reply to email ... If it's a signed (SMIME signature)

If you mean that the email is S/MIME encrypted, does this Microsoft Support article offer any help?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/open-encrypted-and-protected-messages-1157a286-8ecc-4b1e-ac43-2a608fbf3098

If this doesn't help I would suggest you bring in Microsoft Support to inspect your setup.

Open a browser to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact

Tell us your problem: "Can not reply to S/MIME encrypted emails"

[Get Help] {Scroll down to the bottom of the page} [Sign in to Contact Support]

Sign in with any Microsoft account

Products and services: "Microsoft 365 and Office"

Category: "Outlook"

[Confirm]

Choose a support option -> "Chat with a support agent in your web browser"
Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2026-04-09T06:25:37.8833333+00:00

Hi Hornblower409, the emails are not encrypted, just have a digital signature. They will say "Signed By ******@securosys.com" for example and will have the ribbon for "Digital signature is trusted".

I'll open a case and see how it goes, will report back. Thanks!

Answer 1

Kathy Pearlman 5

I have grayed out e-mails- both junk and regular. I've tried uninstalling, going to classic (that works for Outlook, but me other accounts gray out and the whole thing freezes- I have to use Task Manager to close it. NONE of the answers works. In addition, now my calendar gives the wrong time for appointments. And yes, I've tried ALL the suggestions. NONE of them work.

Em v B 0 Reputation points

2025-09-01T09:05:27.1766667+00:00

Can second this. Tried all the possible suggestions mentioned here and in other forums. Indeed NOTHING fixes this problem. However, the issue does not occur if using outlook on the phone or the web app. It also does not occur when using the 'old/classic' outlook. Of course, switching to the old version or running the app elsewhere is not a real solution as it negates the whole need for the new app..

Answer 2

Francisco Marrero 276

This issue can occur for a few reasons. Here's a quick list...

Check Folder: Ensure you're not in the Junk or Deleted Items folder. These folders often restrict the "Reply," "Reply All," and "Forward" options.
Reading Pane: Go to the View tab, click on the Reading Pane dropdown, and select Off. Sometimes, enabling the Reading Pane can cause these options to gray out.

Multiple Selections: If you've selected multiple emails, the options might be grayed out. Try selecting just one email.

Permissions: Ensure you have the necessary permissions to reply or forward emails in the folder you're working in.

Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2025-02-17T14:21:09.8766667+00:00

Hi Fransisco,

Thanks for taking the time to check and reply. I can confirm that these are emails in my personal Inbox folder, from colleagues in the office.

You might be on to something with the multi select, but even single emails that are addressed to groups or emails with attachments (even though the client treats the SMIME cert as an attachment, so all internal emails now have an attachment), also seem to have this issue. But even then, when I expand the thread and I select one in the middle it still is gray.

The other thing you mentioned about the Reading Pane - the thing is I do want to use the Pane as it's designed. If I try to turn it off and back on, it does not seem to resolve it.

Answer 3

Anonymous

Hi @Lazar Ivanov

Welcome to our forum!

Does the issue occur recently on Outlook Desktop Client? Do you have any specific operation before the issue occurred?

To further confirm if the issue is more related to Outlook desktop client, if possible, please log in to your web mail and do the same test to check if the issue persists.

In addition, here are some steps you may want to take:

Check SMIME Settings: Ensure that your SMIME settings are correctly configured. Sometimes, incorrect settings can cause issues with email functionalities.
Open Replies and Forwards in a New Window: Ensure that the option to open replies and forwards in a new window is enabled. This can sometimes resolve the issue with grayed-out buttons.
Repair Office: You can try repairing your Office installation. Go to Control Panel>Programs and Features>select Microsoft Office>Change>Then select Repair.
Uninstall and Reinstall: If it doesn't work, it's suggested that you could try to uninstall and reinstall to check if there're any differences.

Hope it helps.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our [documentation] to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Anonymous

2025-02-18T03:08:43.17+00:00

Hi @Lazar Ivanov

Thanks for your response.

I have to open the emails in a new window to read it and then I have the option to reply.

As a workaround, you may open the emails in a new window to display the grey options, If you open them in a new window, the reply options are still grayed out, it is recommended that you go to the web version to check whether the corresponding email reply options are grayed out, if they are also greyed out, I am afraid you do not have enough permission to reply or forward.

If the corresponding email options in the web version are displayed normally, maybe you need to consider uninstalling and reinstalling the New Outlook, by going to Settings>Apps>Installed Apps>Outlook (new)>Advanced options>Reset/Repair, if Reset/Repair does not work, please uninstall and reinstall to see if there are any differences.

Hope it helps.

(The above content is based on the update after the OP's reply, please ignore the misleading display time.)
Anonymous

2025-02-18T05:07:14.42+00:00

Hi @Lazar Ivanov

I have updated the above comment based on your reply, please feel free to refer to it.

If the answer is helpful, please click on ACCEPT ANSWER as it could help other members of the Microsoft Q&A community who have similar questions and are looking for solutions.

Warm thanks!
Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2025-02-18T07:32:05.75+00:00
Hi Joan,

Thanks for your reply - going down the list of your suggestions.

My SMIME settings seem pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary (in fact web client still doesn't show any options for client but local does and it's as standard as it gets).

Not sure what this option is exactly, but the point is that I can't select the reply buttons in the right pane, I have to open the emails in a new window to read it and then I have the option to reply.

At my workplace we use "Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise" so I don't really have the option to repair just Outlook.

I'll re-install everything eventually I imagine, but at the moment I'm still suspicious that it's something else.

One thing you are right though is that the web client does have the reply buttons on the right pane by default, which I was surprised to see. So the fact that the web client doesn't have any SMIME options again points that it was somehow related to the update of the local client.
Lazar Ivanov 5 Reputation points

2025-02-20T07:37:56.19+00:00

Hi, unfortunately, even all the way down to a re-install it didn't help. The options are still gray and it only happens to the thread emails with SMIME. I'm now convinced it's something that MS rolled out and it's interfering with the client. Thanks for all the help, lets hope MS fixes this soon.

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In new outlook the options for "Reply" "Reply all" and "Forward" are grayed out

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