How to set Outlook to open a specific default account

Outlook for desktop is one of the most popular email applications used worldwide. For this reason, people often use it for multiple email accounts. However, if you have a primary email account that you use most often, you'll want to select it as your default email account.

The default email account in Outlook is the inbox that opens when you launch Outlook for the first time on the desktop. Configuring that default account is not that simple, but you can follow it with the tips below.

Set default account in Outlook

To force Outlook to open the default email account, there are two steps. First, you need to set a default account, then you need to configure the default data file.

To set the default account, select File> Account Settings , then Account Settings from the drop-down menu.

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In the Account Settings window, select the account you want to set as the default and select Set as Default .

This will set the default account in Outlook to send email. Now, when you compose a new email, the default account will show up under the From field .

Next, you need to configure the default data file to use whenever you open Outlook. To do this, in the Account Settings window, select the Data Files tab . Select the data file for the email account you want to set as the default and click Set as Default .

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Now, Outlook will automatically open this data file every time you open the application. To check this, close Outlook and then reopen.

To see if the correct default email has been set, open a new email to compose and check that the From field in the email has been set to the email account you set as the default.

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Setting the most commonly used email account as the default will save you time. You will not have to constantly change accounts in the From field every time you send a new email.

Set the default inbox folder to open

If you want a specific inbox folder to open automatically when you first open Outlook, there's an additional setting to update.

Select the File menu and click Options.

In the Outlook Options menu, select Advanced from the navigation tab. In the Outlook start and exit section , select the Browse button near the Start Outlook field in this folder .

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View the email account details you want to set as your default inbox, then select the Inbox section inside the account. Click OK to continue.

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Click OK to close the Outlook Options window .

Now, close Outlook and reopen. When Outlook opens, you'll see that the email account inbox you've selected as the default has opened.

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As you can see, configuring Outlook so that it uses the default email account requires a few different steps. But once you complete these steps, you'll never have to open an account in Outlook again.

Set a default sending account in Outlook.com

Outlook online does not have many default account settings. However, you can configure it to use the default email account while composing a new email. To do this, log in to your Outlook Online account. In the upper right corner of the browser window, select the Outlook Online installation icon.

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At the bottom of the Settings menu , select View All Outlook Settings .

In the Settings window , select Mail from the left navigation bar, then select 'Sync email' from the submenu. In the Sync email window, scroll down to Set default From address . In the drop-down box, select the email account you want to use whenever you are composing a new email.

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Select Save to finish. Now, whenever you compose a new email using Outlook Online, the email address you set as the default will show up in the From field .

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Unfortunately, you cannot set Outlook Online to open your default email account inbox. The accounts are sorted in the default order that you cannot change.

If you use Outlook for the desktop, you have more options when configuring the default accounts to use and which inbox will open automatically.

Hope you are succesful.