How to Minimize Outlook to System Tray in Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8

If you use Microsoft Outlook 2013 on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, as your default email client, then you may have noticed that, when you minimize Outlook, it minimizes to the taskbar and continues to occupy space. This can create a problem if you have too many programs open in the taskbar. If you have it open all the time, then rather than having it sit in the taskbar, you may wish to minimize Outlook to the system tray or notification are. If this is the case, you can do it as follows.

Minimize Outlook to System Tray

Using UI


To minimize outlook to system tray, right-click on the system tray icon of Outlook. Next, select Hide When Minimized from the menu offered.

When you do this, Outlook will disappear from the taskbar and stay minimized in the notification area only. If you wish to open Outlook again, simply double-click on the Outlook system tray icon and it will open.

Using Registry

If you wish to make the change by editing the Windows Registry. After you have created a system restore point, open regedit to open the Registry Editor, and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Preference

In the right pane, give MinToTray DWord, a value as follwos:
-0 Will minimize Outlook to the Taskbar
-1 Will minimize Outlook to the System Tray
A small but useful tip!