2008-01-30

Add Outlook 2007 Icon to the Desktop

Back in the old days of Office 2000 and XP microsoft used to automatically put the Outlook icon on the desktop, and you could right-click it to get to profile and account settings. A very handy feature. Now with Office 2003, 2007 they've given up doing that following their 'clean desktop' trend. I understand that but sometimes I need users to be able to get to Outlook easily and to manage their profiles without having to go to control panel - if I even allow them to go there!

I had to search hard to find this one but I found it in the end. Here's the key needed to add Outlook 2007 back to the desktop:

Open regedit and browse to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
Then add a new key (not a new value) with the following name:
{00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

Then refresh your desktop and your Outlook icon will appear (or disappear if you deleted the key).
Here's the code if you want to put it in a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]

I can confirm this works on Windows 7 Pro x86. It does not seem to work on Enterprise edition.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, yours is the only in the top google results that says it's for 2007, rock on...

Anonymous said...

This works for outlook 2007. Thanks so much.

Anonymous said...

Worked great on Vista for Outlook 207. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Nice one, cheers. Worked on Vista and 2007.

Anonymous said...

Excellent work. Thank you very much. Worked fine with Windows Vista Enterprise SP1 and Outlook 2007 SP1.

The Clog In My Blog said...

FINAALY The Outlook icon! IE 8 and Windows 7! Now of someone could only do the for Internet Explorer in Windows 7!

Regards,
Chuck Billow
cwbillow@componentics.com

Anonymous said...

thanks for Outlook icon is works in XP. :-)
"Chuck Billow" for explorer try this:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel] "{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}"=dword:00000000

hdawg said...

This also works for Outlook 2010. Thank you again!

NiXC said...

Thanks for the info on it working in 2010, I'll update the article! Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't work on Windows 7!

Anonymous said...

It does work on Windows 7 however if you delete it and try to do it again it does not work. You can save the reg key as a text file then rename it to Outlookdesktop.reg and it will enter it for you

Anonymous said...

I already knew about this fix and have used it many times in Windows XP, however, it did not work for me on Windows 7 Enterprise.

Mark said...

i tried this in win 7 home premium and only a folder appeared on my desktop..not an outlook icon. it wouldnt let me view properties on it either. what have i done wrong?

Anonymous said...

Please check out my post on the technet site concerning this. I managed to get the icon on the desktop, and it successfully launches Outlook, but the "Properties" don't work. I am looking for more help to figure this out.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/office2007deployment/thread/eca683e2-6b90-4f3a-b632-5ca70db51da4

Timothy D. said...

I believe I have found the resolution for 64 bit Windows 7. Please go to the above link to my social.technet forum post for the registry file.