New Outlook Adds Per-Folder Unread or Total Message Counts on Windows and Web

What's changing​

The roadmap entry says that you can now pick whether each folder in your folder pane shows the unread count or the total item count. Microsoft also admits where things stood before: until now, Outlook only displayed unread counts, but sometimes you need to see how many items are in a folder overall.

The workflow is simple. Just right-click any folder and choose whether to show the total or unread count. Microsoft says it gives you more control over how you keep track of your email without changing how anything else works. The entry carries the #newoutlookforwindows tag, so new Outlook for Windows is clearly the main target.

Here is what the current roadmap record lists:

The entry has been around for a while. Merill Fernando's message center tracker shows it was published May 21, 2026 with a status of "In development." The HandsOnTek M365 Admin archive recorded an earlier version that listed only Platform Web. The current record lists both Desktop and Web and has moved to "Rolling out," so the scope appears to have grown since May.

One caveat: Microsoft calls roadmap dates estimates that can change. "Rolling out" means the feature is being delivered in stages, not that every tenant has it yet. If you don't see it today, that doesn't mean it isn't coming.

Section summary: New Outlook and Outlook on the web are getting a per-folder choice between unread and total counts, set from the right-click menu. Rollout is staged, starting with Preview in September 2026 and GA estimated for October 2026, and it covers commercial and government clouds.

Why people wanted this​

Couldn't new Outlook already show totals? Sort of. Microsoft Support's page on folder counts says that in new Outlook for Windows, by default most folders in Outlook display the number of unread messages after the name of the folder. To see a total, you hover over the folder or right-click it. Either way, Outlook shows the total number of messages followed by the unread count in parentheses. The same page describes the same behavior for Outlook on the web and Outlook.com.

Those methods let you check a total, but they don't keep it on screen. You have to do something every time you want the number, which is a nuisance if you treat folders as work queues. On Microsoft Q&A, one user said that having the number of items displayed automatically is more useful to me than the number of unread, since I work with folders like "work in progress", "awaiting response". In February 2026, another wrote that they used the count for a quick glance of how many pending/open requests I have sorted to a specific folder.

Before this change, the standard answer was that new Outlook had no built-in option yet to switch it to display the total number of messages. The only alternative was going back to classic Outlook. Nobody should have to downgrade their mail client to see a number.

Section summary: New Outlook could already show totals on demand. What it couldn't do was keep the total visible next to a folder. This feature fixes that.

How it compares with classic Outlook​

Classic Outlook for Windows has had a per-folder total-count setting for a long time. According to Microsoft Support:

1. Right-click a folder, and then select Properties.
2. On the General tab, select Show total number of items.

The catch: Multiple folders can't be changed at the same time. Repeat these steps for each folder you want to change. The setting also follows the folder into Favorites. If you switch Inbox to totals, it shows totals in both Favorites and the Folder list. In classic Outlook, the Drafts and Junk E-mail folders, and the For Follow Up Search Folder each display the total number of items by default.

Power users who didn't want to click through dozens of folders turned to VBA. Slipstick Systems has long published a macro for this, noting that if you have a large number of folders to change, this task can take a lot of time as you need to change the property on each folder one at a time. You can speed this up using a VBA macro. New Outlook doesn't support VBA, so that shortcut won't work there.

The new feature skips the Properties dialog and puts the choice right on the right-click menu. The roadmap describes it as a per-folder setting, so expect to set folders one at a time. Microsoft hasn't mentioned a global switch.

Section summary: Classic Outlook buries the option in Folder Properties and makes you change folders one by one. New Outlook moves it to the right-click menu and still appears to work per folder.

How to use it once it reaches you​

Here's what the roadmap and Microsoft's documentation support. I'm not guessing at exact menu labels.

1. In new Outlook for Windows or Outlook on the web, find the folder in the folder pane.
2. Right-click it.
3. Choose to show either the total count or the unread count.
4. What success looks like: the number next to the folder name stays on whichever count you picked. Only the display changes. Messages keep their read or unread status.

If the option isn't there, check these:

• The rollout hasn't reached you yet. Delivery is staged, and Preview gets it before GA.
• You're in classic Outlook. Microsoft Support says that if the new Outlook steps don't work, you may not be using new Outlook for Windows yet. Select Classic Outlook and follow those steps instead. In classic Outlook, use the Properties method above.
• It's a Group folder. For new Outlook and the web, Microsoft Support says the folder display option isn't available with Groups. Microsoft hasn't said whether the new feature changes that.
• It's a folder that already shows totals. In new Outlook and on the web, Drafts, Notes and Junk show totals by default.

Microsoft hasn't published a build number, tenant control or manual switch for this feature, so don't go looking for a registry tweak. There isn't a documented one.

Analysis: small change, real parity win​

This is not a big launch. It won't get a keynote demo, and it has nothing to do with Copilot. But small things like this decide whether people are happy to stay on new Outlook or keep looking for a way back to classic. Every missing classic-era habit is another reason for an organization to put off migrating. People who sort work into folders and treat the count as a to-do list have been doing without this since the switch.

It's fair to note the limits. Hover and right-click already showed totals, so users who just want an occasional number aren't gaining much. The win is the at-a-glance view. Admins should also be careful about promising a date. Microsoft says the roadmap reflects estimates, and staged rollouts often take weeks to reach every tenant, including GCC, GCC High and DoD.

If you're helping a team move to new Outlook, add this to your "things that work now" list once it shows up in your tenant. In the meantime, the hover and right-click checks still work.