How to stop delete key from deleting the entire email in outlook?

Hello Papoušek Vít

Good day. Thank for posting in the community.

We've received your query and you can expect to receive response from one of our community moderator accordingly.

At this point, we appreciate your patience and cooperation. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Community moderator

Hi Papoušek Vít,

Thank you for posting this case in the Microsoft Community!

To change the behavior of the delete key in Outlook, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Outlook and click on the "File" tab in the top left corner.

2. Click on "Options" in the left-hand menu.

3. In the Outlook Options window, click on "Advanced" in the left-hand menu.

4. Scroll down to the "Outlook panes" section and click on "Reading Pane".

5. In the Reading Pane settings, you will see an option for "Single key reading using space bar". Uncheck this option.

6. Click "OK" to save your changes.

This should change the behavior of the delete key in Outlook so that it only deletes the immediate text, rather than the entire email.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Please note that our initial response may not always resolve the issue right away. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Sincerely

Microsoft Community Moderator

Hi Eleni,

Tried the above. Problem persists.

Cheers,

Adrian

Same for me. This is so frustrating, the only workaround I've found is to open the email in a new window. Ugh! Please provide a fix ASAP!

This does not help. This is an INSANE bug! Delete is as common as backspace, please help us fix this!

Hello, has anyone actually solved this issue yet? These instructions are incorrect and do not help (i.e. mine was already unchecked and I have the issue).

Is there a solution to this problem, or is it just one of those problems we have to live with because no ones cares about fixing it?

Disabling "Single key reading using space bar" doesn't help.

Hi Papoušek Vít,

Thank you for posting this case in the Microsoft Community!

To change the behavior of the delete key in Outlook, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Outlook and click on the "File" tab in the top left corner.

2. Click on "Options" in the left-hand menu.

3. In the Outlook Options window, click on "Advanced" in the left-hand menu.

4. Scroll down to the "Outlook panes" section and click on "Reading Pane".

5. In the Reading Pane settings, you will see an option for "Single key reading using space bar". Uncheck this option.

6. Click "OK" to save your changes.

This should change the behavior of the delete key in Outlook so that it only deletes the immediate text, rather than the entire email.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Please note that our initial response may not always resolve the issue right away. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Sincerely

Microsoft Community Moderator

These steps do not work.

In Outlook (classic) for Windows, I unchecked the "Single key..." option as shown and saved

Despite doing this, I still cannot use the Delete key on my keyboard with Outlook (classic) when editing a reply being composed inside the main Outlook window. When pressing Delete, instead of it deleting the character to the right of the cursor, it deletes the entire email. I then move the email draft out from the Deleted items back to Drafts, then instead of editing the email directly from the Drafts folder I have to open the draft email in its own, separate window. The Delete key works as expected if the email is in its own window. I can't recall exactly when it started behaving like this, but I would say late May to June.

If this is a bug, it needs to be fixed. If there's an option to configure the Delete key's action, what is the option?

Windows 10 22H2

Outlook Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126 Click-to-Run Current Channel)

Thanks

Same problem for me. Started today.
A quick resolution much appreciated!

POSSIBLE SOLUTION (worked for me)

Since I could not reproduce the delete key issue on a 2nd computer (delete key correctly deleted characters instead of deleting the email), it occurred to me that my affected computer's keyboard is a Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard. I considered replacing batteries (only 6mo old), but before that I took a spare USB keyboard and plugged it in. The USB keyboard's delete key worked correctly, and before I unplugged it, I confirmed the Bluetooth keyboard's delete key started to work correctly as well. I disconnected the USB keyboard and, without replacing the batteries, the Bluetooth keyboard has been functioning correctly for 2 days.

Try this:

• Do you have another computer to test on, and if so can you reproduce the issue on another computer?

• Do you have another keyboard (USB) to try? Plug it in to see if it can reproduce the issue. If no other keyboard, try unplugging/replugging it, or unpairing/pairing it (and reseating the USB dongle if you use that too).

• If your keyboard is wireless, try changing the batteries

• If your keyboard is Bluetooth, try deleting and pairing it. If wireless via a USB dongle, try reseating the USB dongle

I hope these suggestions help