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Outlook Focused Inbox and the legacy Clutter folder

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Outlook Focused Inbox and the legacy Clutter folder

How Focused Inbox separates important mail from the rest, and what happened to its predecessor Clutter.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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01

How Focused Inbox works

When mail arrives at the mailbox, Exchange Online's machine learning model classifies it as Focused or Other based on:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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02

Where Focused Inbox shows up

Users can turn off Focused Inbox per-client and just see a single inbox.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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03

The legacy Clutter folder

Before Focused Inbox, Microsoft had Clutter — a server-side feature that moved likely-unimportant mail into a Clutter folder rather than splitting the inbox into two tabs. Clutter was retired in 2020 and replaced by Foc…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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04

Admin controls

Focused Inbox can be configured tenant-wide via PowerShell:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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05

How it differs from Junk Mail

Junk Mail is a separate filter — server-side anti-spam from EOP that moves likely-spam into the Junk Email folder. Focused Inbox is post-spam-filter classification: it works on mail that has already cleared the spam fil…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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06

Tips for getting good Focused-Inbox sorting

Focused Inbox is one of those quiet features that gets better the more you use it. The instinct to turn it off in the first week is often regretted.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/outlook-focused-inbox-and-clutter

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