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up vote 16 down vote favorite
5

When clicking the X button or ALT+F4, how can I get Outlook to minimze to the tray instead of close?

Several programs have this behavior, and it's annoying that Outlook behaves different...

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I'm taking this issue to the next level here: stackoverflow.com/questions/3947038/… – Tom Wijsman Oct 16 '10 at 0:38
Still haven't developed that hook yet, perhaps I could look into writing an Outlook add-in as another option. Other solutions are still welcome though, I seem to become used to minimizing but still closing it instead with hot-keys would take less effort (unless I create one for minimizing)... :) – Tom Wijsman May 5 '11 at 7:13
Tom, please see meta.superuser.com/questions/6723 – Karan May 2 at 15:17

5 Answers

up vote 15 down vote

I wrote a free plugin to minimize outlook instead of closing it. I only have outlook 2007 so that is all it has been tested with.

Anyone who wants to contribute to the project is free to do so

https://sourceforge.net/projects/keepoutlook/

Installation

  1. Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package 32-bit and 64-bit (both required for x64 Windows)
  2. Download KeepOutlookRunning.dll
  3. Start Outlook as Administrator (right click on it in Start Menu)
  4. Go to File -> Options -> Add-Ins
  5. At the bottom: Manage [COM-Addins] press [Go...]
  6. [Add...] the KeepOutlookRunning.dll file downloaded in step 2
  7. Restart Outlook as a normal user
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1  
keep outlook plugin worked for me on 64 bit machine, 32 bit outlook 2010. I had to run outlook as administrator to get the add-on to install. – Joe Jun 1 '11 at 21:29
It worked for me though. Win7 SP1 32 bit + Outlook 2010 32 bit. Also I have checked "Hide When Minimized" options in tray icon. – Anindya Chatterjee Jan 4 '12 at 20:54
@TomWijsman, If I install the 32bit Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable package I don't get that error but it just returns to the dialog without adding it. I'm running 64bit. – Sam Hasler Jun 26 '12 at 16:21
Does work for me on Outlook 2010 ran on Windows 7 64-bit SP1. Wonderful job! – Ken Apr 19 at 16:36
up vote 3 down vote

You'll have to use a third party tool like OLKeeper

alt text

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Is there a free alternative to this? :-( – Tom Wijsman Sep 17 '10 at 23:11
I doubt, let me check. – Sathya♦ Sep 17 '10 at 23:28
6  
Wow, that is so expensive for what it does. – paradroid Oct 4 '10 at 15:01
up vote 3 down vote

You may use Minime at http://www.saphua.com/minime/minime.aspx. It's free & open source.

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But then opening it takes extra effort... :-( – Tom Wijsman Oct 4 '10 at 14:55
Right & agree! I myself dislike the way Minime to restore the apps. Prefer to see them in system tray - not in Minime menu :) – Nam G. VU Oct 4 '10 at 20:20
up vote 3 down vote

Hit ALT+Spacebar+N. I do that every day, and it is an easy combination.

This can work with, or without, the "Hide When Minimized" option selected.

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Interesting, I will probably map this under an easier to press combination. Perhaps ALT+F2 for minimize and ALT+F3 for maximize... – Tom Wijsman Jun 15 '11 at 23:15
up vote 2 down vote

With "Hide when minimized" active (not hard to find, just right click on the "O" icon in the tray)

  1. Open outlook

  2. Minimize outlook

  3. Open outlook again (not from the tray, just do it the way you did it in step 1)

You can close that window with alt+f4 or the X or whatever and outlook will still be in the tray.

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That does not mean "Hide when closed". Thus step 2 is invalid and your last sentence is false... – Tom Wijsman Oct 21 '11 at 0:31
Well, @Tom, after all these steps, it WILL be hidden on close. This solution works well for me, it is exactly what I wanted. – Shedal Jun 21 '12 at 12:55
@Shedal: This clearly reads hide when minimized and does not work when closing it. – Tom Wijsman Jun 21 '12 at 22:00
@TomWijsman, have you tried it? As I said, it works for me. After performing the three above steps, when I close the window with the X, the window becomes minimized and hidden. I can still open it from the tray, since it's not actually closed. I believe that's what you want. – Shedal Jun 22 '12 at 0:38
1  
@Shedal This doesn't really allow Outlook to close to the tray, just keeps an extra copy running in the background. Hence, not really what the OP was after. – Hannele Jul 30 '12 at 15:30

protected by Tom Wijsman Oct 21 '11 at 0:25

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