Outlook Emails Show in Groups by Date

Person typing out an Email on Laptop

Outlook Emails Show in Groups by Date

How to Group Emails in Microsoft Outlook by DatePerson typing out an Email on Laptop

In my Productivity Training, I often get asked how to organise and group emails in their Outlook Inbox by the date received.  That is, emails are grouped by the day they arrived. Today, Yesterday, Last Week etc. In Outlook, this is called “Show In Groups”

This is actually the default view in your Microsoft Outlook Inbox, but the view can sometimes be changed inadvertently. When that happens, many people struggle to work out how to get it back. Although it is quite an easy change to make, if you don’t know how, it can be very frustrating.

Recently I received this exact request, so I decided to write a short article showing people how it is done.

Default Outlook Inbox View

The default view in your Microsoft Outlook Inbox is usually as shown in the picture below. (Although you might note that I don’t use any “Preview” options. I only see the Email Subject… but that’s another subject for another day!) Anyway, my Inbox as shown below is “Arranged by Date” (date received) and grouped by the date also….or “Show in Groups”.  (Today/Yesterday/Last Week, Last Month etc).

Default View of Outlook Inbox

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But sometimes, people lose the “Show in Groups” option and their emails are no longer grouped. Their Inbox now looks more like the picture shown below:

Outlook Inbox view - no grouping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now as you can see above, my Email Inbox is “Arranged By Date” (Received) which is good, but my emails are not grouped in any way. This makes it a little harder to manage emails effectively as it is not easy to see exactly when emails have arrived. There are a few ways to change this but I will show you the quickest way this can be done in the first instance.

Inbox Arrange By Options

If you point your mouse cursor at the Heading Row of your Inbox, (on the From, Subject, Received etc row) and Right Mouse Click, you will see the following drop-down menu options appear:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice that in the graphic above, my emails are “Arranged By” Date. (Date is Ticked)

Arranging Emails by the Date received is the normal/default view and the one most people will use. But actually notice you have many other options too. You can arrange your Inbox by “From”, “To”, “Categories” etc…)

Now, to show your emails in groups, you simply scroll down with your Mouse to “Show in Groups” and select that option also as shown below.

View Outlook Email Inbox in Groups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice how now, with the Show in Groups option ticked, my emails are now grouped according to the Arrangement I have selected. In this case, “Date”.

By the way, had I chosen to arrange emails by  “From”…then my emails would be grouped by Sender. That’s how this little handy feature in Microsoft Outlook works.

And here is another way to do this

In Outlook, there is always multiple ways to do things so here’s another way to do the same thing. So if the above did not work for you, try this option:

From your Outlook Inbox view, select the “View” Menu. In the Ribbon, you will see there are a group of “Commands” grouped in a section called “Arrangement” (See below)

Outlook Inbox Arrange By Options under View Tab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If Date is not already selected as shown above, then select “Date”.

Next, Left Mouse Click on the right hand side of the “Arrangement” group of Icons (see the Purple Arrow above) to reveal more options as shown below.

Outlook Email Inbox Group By Options

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, select “Show In Groups” and now emails in your Outlook Inbox will now be organised by Date and “Shown in Groups”.

 

I hope that is easy enough to follow. If you still struggle or have a question, feel free to contact us and ask your question.

 

Geoff Prior – Lingford Consulting, September 2018

Workload & Email Management Training/Coaching. MBTI Consultant

 

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16 Comments
  • Mandy Wu
    Posted at 01:30h, 01 October Reply

    Hi I have set up “Arrange by date and show in conversation”, but the dates are not in descending order and some not in sequential order. Pls advise how to fix it.

    • Geoff Prior
      Posted at 08:25h, 01 October Reply

      Hi Mandy… thanks for your comment. If you left Mouse-Click on the Recieved Column in your Inbox, it will toggle the Ascending/Descending order. As you would in say a Spreadsheet. It should sort ALL your emails in your Inbox in that order. Just check you don’t have the Conversation View option selected as that will show some emails out of order if it is in a Conversation. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me via the web site contact.

  • Adrienne Galbraith
    Posted at 22:28h, 03 December Reply

    I need counts for Today, Yesterday, Last week, etc. How do I get that?

    • admin
      Posted at 07:54h, 04 December Reply

      Hi Adrienne,

      It is possible to do that via Search Folders… I might email you directly regarding that.

  • sam
    Posted at 16:30h, 10 May Reply

    Thank you so much, this worked like a charm – got my emails sorted by Today, Yesterday, Last week

    • admin
      Posted at 16:36h, 10 May Reply

      Excellent Sam…glad it worked and thanks for the feedback! Geoff

  • Katy
    Posted at 05:11h, 13 October Reply

    How do I get a daily count in my status bar in Outlook?

    • admin
      Posted at 20:31h, 14 October Reply

      Hi Katy, thanks for your question. I might email you to get a little more information.

  • Lance R Fennell
    Posted at 05:34h, 25 July Reply

    I lost the heading Today, yesterday last week and now it all starts with Two Weeks Ago. How do I get back Today, Yesterday and Last Week as a group heading?

    • admin
      Posted at 20:53h, 26 July Reply

      Thanks @Lance R Fennell
      I’ve sent you an email and we can perhaps resolve it offline so to speak. 😉

  • carol heick
    Posted at 10:17h, 07 July Reply

    all good but i want to see the RECEIVED (date) to appear as the first column on the left because i read from left to right, then FROM column next as i continue to read from left to right, then SUBJECT as the last column as i really want to know my information in this order: WHEN the email was received, then i want to know WHO sent it, then i want to read the SUBJECT. how do i set this up as it is currently FROM/SUBJECT/RECEIVED. I would like to see it as RECEIVED/FROM/SUBJECT. i was able to change my settings before i updated my software. can you help please.

    • admin
      Posted at 09:49h, 08 July Reply

      Hi Carol, you can order the Columns any way you like. Just left click and drag them to the position/order you desire. RECEIVED/FROM/SUBJECT.
      Unless you are trying the “New Outlook” in which case, this feature is not available yet.

      I’m advising not switch to the New Outlook….even Microsoft agree it’s not yet ready for normal use as of July 2023. OK to use on a different device perhaps, but not your main device.
      Hope this helps

  • Nomsa Matlala
    Posted at 04:30h, 27 October Reply

    Good Day

    I have this problem and I couldnt work trying to find my new emails

    I need counts for Today, Yesterday, Last week, etc. How do I get that on my work outlook

    • admin
      Posted at 11:02h, 03 November Reply

      THanks for reaching out Nomsa, I’ve messaged you directly.

  • Lucas Liu
    Posted at 02:02h, 01 November Reply

    Just choose “Show as Conversation”

    • admin
      Posted at 16:39h, 01 November Reply

      That will also do it Lucas yes…though this post is addressing a slightly different issue. And some people find show as conversation a little tricky to work with, though I love it!

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