External Email Banner Project

FAQs

I use the email list preview feature to preview my email content. Why can I only see the external email banner notice and not the email content?

The external email notification banner helps users spot suspicious messages by placing a notice at the top of emails from external senders. While effective, it could also mean that the preview text for external emails is limited to just the banner text:

External email banner with preview feature

In the above instance, we see the external email notification text instead of the email’s content because Outlook only displays one line of text in the email preview by default.

The external email banner notification limits what I can see in my email previews. How do I increase the length of my email previews to address this?

Depending on the application you use to access your University of Toronto email, you can increase the length of your email preview to view more of your message.

Outlook for Windows

If you use a desktop version of Outlook on a Windows device, increasing the size of your email preview is easy:

  1. Open your Outlook application.
  2. Click the email tab in the bottom left corner of your window.
    • Email symbol screenshot
  3.  In the main menu, click View.
    • Screenshot of View tab in the main menu
  4. Click Message Preview.
  5. Under message preview, the number of lines will be set to 1 line by default. Change it to 2 lines or 3 lines to see additional message content in your email previews.
  6. A dialog box will pop up. Click All mailboxes to apply the email preview rule to your Outlook experience.
    • Screenshot of how to change preview setting in all mailboxes
  7. You will now see more content in your email previews. Before setting change:
    • Screenshot of preview before change

After setting change:

    • Screenshot of after preview change

Outlook for Mac
Outlook for Mac does not currently have an option that enables increased email preview size.

Outlook Online
Outlook Online does not currently have an option that enables increased email preview size, but Microsoft reports that this functionality is currently in development. This page will be updated with instructions when the feature is implemented.

Apple Mail
To adjust the size of your email preview in Mail, follow these steps:

  1. Open your Mail
  2. Click on the Mail tab in the top menu and then select Preferences.
    • Screenshot of Preferences found under the Mail menu
  3. Select Viewing and then click on the dropdown menu under List Preview.
    • Screenshot of Viewing and List Preview, along with number of lines
  4. Select your desired number of lines. Increase the number of displayed lines to see additional message content in your email previews.
  5. The change will be applied to your inbox automatically. You will now see more content in your email previews.

Can I delete the external email banner when I reply to emails?

Yes, you can delete the external email banner in your email replies. Simply highlight the email banner in your reply and click Delete on your keyboard.