Outlook 2010 is always on top of other applications, why?

Question

For some reason Outlook 2010 is "on top" of other applications... Does anybody how to stop this behavior?

Answer 1

Make sure that there are no add-ins installed.
Edit to answer comment, originally from noocyte: You can see all loaded Add-ins in Outlook via "File - Options - Addins". Use Windows Add/remove programs to remove then.

If nothing helps, try to re-install outlook.

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Another simple trick to try:

• Right click on Task Bar
• Click "Lock the taskbar"
• Then again click on "Lock the taskbar"
• Restart Outlook

Answer 2

Disabling the social connector add-in may solve this.

File → Options → Add-ins manage:COM Add-ins
Click on Go.

Uncheck the social connector add-in.

Answer 3

I researched this exact issue after dealing with it for weeks. The only fix I found ended up being extremely simple. Right click on the windows task bar and unlock it (using "Lock the taskbar" option), then relock it. If it is not locked, then lock it, then unlock it, then relock.

Answer 4

In my particular case, this started happening after I installed the Salesforce for Outlook add-in. I uninstalled it and everything was fished again.

Answer 5

This worked for me:

• Click on the start button.
• Type in "regedit"
• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins.
• Then for each sub-folder listed, make sure the "Loadbehavior" file ends in a 2, for example, 0X00000002. If one doesn't double-click that file and change the number to 2. All should have that.

If it has anything else, especially 3 it is suppose to cause the main window to stay on top. One of my folders ended in 8 (0x0000008) and I changed to 2, restarted and works great now.

Previously, I disabled the addins under the Options/add-ins tab, but only briefly fixed the problem. the Lock/Unlock taskbar also did not change anything.

Answer 6

Open regedit and change the load behavior value to 3 for each of your addins in the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins

Restart Outlook.

Answer 7

I had a new Windows 7 32 bit laptop with a factory installed copy of Microsoft Office 2010.

When I would click on new email, the email would always pop up behind the Outlook window. Also when I would click on the Insert Attachement button, selected the file to attach, and clicked OK, no attachment would show up in the body of the email.

I installed Office 2010 service pack 1 and restarted the machine. I then installed a couple of pending Office 2010 security updates and rebooted the machine again.

Following the installation of the security updates both issues resolved themselves without disabling add-ons or making any registry changes.

Answer 8

I had the same problem and I finally found the following thread that helped me. http://www.techtalkz.com/microsoft-outlook/138776-new-mail-window-always-top.html

This might be helpful too in running the command that the above link recommends: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/command-line-switches-HP001003110.aspx

Super easy and it fixed my problem immediately.

Answer 9

Restarting explorer.exe worked for me in Windows 7.

Answer 10

I had this issue after installing Salesforce addin. I solved it as follows:

1. Open the Options under the File tab.
2. In General Settings there is a tick box for Enable Live Preview.
3. Uncheck this and it now behaves as it should.

Answer 11

This is a ridiculously strange workaround.

Open Outlook, click File -> Options. Click OK to close the Options window. Now open a message and notice it opens ON TOP of the main Outlook window.

This must be repeated EVERY TIME Outlook is opened.

Salesforce - seriously, hire someone who can code a proper plugin - pleading ignorance on your site to this obvious and known issue is pathetic.

Examples:

https://success.salesforce.com/questionDetail?qid=a1X30000000fBBdEAM

https://success.salesforce.com/questionDetail?qid=a1X30000000IsT5EAK

Answer 12

In Outlook 2013 the OneNote add-in was what caused this "always on top" behavior. I only needed to disable this extension and the issue was gone. Don't have 2010 to test same fix there.