The Home Tab on the Ribbon
When you open Outlook, the program automatically displays the Home tab of the ribbon. This is where you send and receive e-mails and where most of the activity in Outlook occurs. The command buttons in the Home tab are arranged into groups. Here’s what you’ll find in each group:
Find Other Commands
In addition to the Home tab of the ribbon, there are several other tabs. Each of these tabs contains commands that are associated with the tab name. There are four tabs other than the Home tab:
The Outlook Ribbon
The Outlook ribbon is a collection of toolbars with several tabs that contain commands to commonly accessed tasks. The ribbon adapts based on what you’re doing in Outlook. For example, if you’re working with e-mail attachments, the Attachment tab appears. Once you’ve sent or downloaded an attachment and moved on to another email, the Attachment tab disappears because it’s no longer needed.
Change the Look of the Ribbon
If the ribbon takes up too much space and you want to see more of the Outlook message area, collapse the ribbon. Select Switch Ribbons (it’s the arrow in the lower-right corner of the ribbon) to collapse or expand the ribbon. When the ribbon is collapsed in Outlook 2019 and Outlook for Microsoft 365, the commands you use the most display for each tab. In previous versions of Outlook, only the tab names display.
