Disable Shopping Website Link Promotion in Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft has started showing shopping related websites links promotions in message header when a user opens an email in Outlook.com account page. In this article, we’ll discuss how to get rid of these unwanted link promotions and advertisements from Outlook.com email account.

Almost all of us use Microsoft’s Outlook.com website to access our email account such as @hotmail.com, @outlook.com, @live.com, @msn.com, etc. Today when I opened my Outlook.com email account and clicked on a new email message to read it, I was surprised to see a big link promotion banner at the top of the email message.

Following screenshot shows the website link promotion in message header in Outlook.com email account page:

Sender_Website_Link_Promotion_Advertisement_Message_Header_Microsoft_Outlook.png

The email was from ICICI bank containing a monthly bill and Outlook automatically identified it as a shopping website (which was incorrect) and displayed ICICI bank website link banner above the actual message. The link contained an “Info” (i) icon and when I clicked on the Info icon, it displayed following information:

Content may be personalized based on your search and browsing history. Microsoft may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking a link in the header.

The advertisement also contained a feedback message containing “Useful” and “Not useful” options.

I was sure it was a new feature in Outlook as I never saw such kind of link promotions in Outlook in past. I opened Outlook Settings and found a new option to disable or turn off this new promotional feature.

If you also want to disable or remove website link promotions and advertisements in your Outlook email account, following steps will help you:

STEP 1: Log into your Outlook.com email account and click on Settings (cog wheel) icon present on the top-right corner of Outlook webpage.

STEP 2: Select Mail section in left-side pane and then click on “Message handling” section.

STEP 3: In right-side pane, scroll down a little and you’ll see a new “Shopping” section.

STEP 4: Uncheck or disable “For shopping-related messages, show a sender logo and relevant links in the message header” option.

Disable_Remove_Shopping_Website_Link_Promotion_Advertisement_Microsoft_Outlook.png

STEP 5: Click on Save button and close Settings dialog box.

Outlook will display a confirmation prompt box “You’ve made changes to this option. Would you like to save or discard your changes?”. Click on Save button again to apply the changes.

That’s it. You can reload or refresh the Outlook.com account page and Outlook will stop displaying website link promotions in your email account.

It’s not the first time when Microsoft displayed advertisements and promotions in Outlook email account page. Check out following articles to learn about other promotional features in Microsoft Outlook:

Microsoft Displaying “Microsoft Start Newsletter” Ad Banner on Outlook Website

Is Microsoft Testing Ads in Email Messages List of Outlook?

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