70+ Outlook Command Line Switches you Should use Right Away

Outlook is a top-notch email client used by professionals and IT admins. Behind just the normal use of sending and receiving emails is the ability to customize and simplify tasks.

One of the tools you can use to ease your tasks is a command-line switch. These commands allow you to perform a series of tasks without accessing Outlook.

In this guide, we will detail everything you need to know about command-line switches and how to take advantage of them.

What are switches in command line?

Command-line switches are modifiers added to the end of the .exe file of an Office program for automation purposes. They can also be used for troubleshooting, like clearing error messages.

They are only used in the startup of Outlook and any other Office files where they are needed. A standard command-line switch format should be made up of a forward slash and a word showing what the switch does.

An example is the Outlook command-line switch below: outlook.exe /nopreview.

With the switch above, Outlook will open without the Reading pane. Also, there are times when the switch will have additional instructions called parameters to provide detailed information on how the Office program will be opened.

How do I use Outlook switches?

1. Using Run to use a switch once

1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run dialog box.
2. Now, type a quotation mark (“), followed by the path of Outlook.exe on your PC. If you don’t know the path, click the Browse button and navigate to the location of Outlook.exe on your PC.
3. Next, close the quotation mark, then type space, followed by the command-line switch, as shown in the example below: "c:\program files\microsoft office\office15\outlook.exe" /nopreview

With the Outlook command-line switch above, you can open Outlook without showing the Reading page. Note that this works just once, and Outlook will normally open the next time you open it.

To keep using the switch, you will have to repeat the steps above.

If you ever encounter an Outlook script error, follow the solutions in the highlighted guide to fix it.

2. Creating a custom switch

1. Press the Windows key, type outlook, right-click on Outlook, and select Open file location.
2. Right-click the Outlook.exe file and select Send to.
3. Now, choose Desktop (Create shortcut) on the list. This will create an Outlook shortcut on your desktop.
4. Next, right-click the newly created shortcut and select Properties.
5. Click the Shortcut tab at the top.
6. From here, go to the Target field and type space at the end of the path there, followed by the command-line switch, as shown below: "c:\program files\microsoft office\office16\outlook.exe" /nopreview
7. Finally, click the Apply and OK buttons.

With this, you should be able to repeatedly use this custom command-line switch to open Outlook without the Reading page.

Here are some important things you need to know about command-line switches:

• You cannot use multiple switches with Outlook at a time.
• There is no need to worry about letter cases when typing switches, as they are not case-sensitive. The same goes for parameters.
• It is important to always include a blank space before every switch and parameter.
• If you are trying to use a parameter that is a file on your PC, always enclose it in double quotation marks.

Knowing all that, let’s see the complete list of command line switches you may apply to Outlook.

Comprehensive list of command line switches

Other important command line switches

There you are! Now you have a complete list of Outlook command line switches you may use to configure the app to start exactly as you want to.

You may also be interested in reading our guides on how to remove external tags in Outlook or how to remove RSS feeds from Outlook.

If Outlook is now showing the subject, the highlighted guide will help you fix the problem quickly.

For any other questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a message in the comments section below.