Quick answer: Classic Outlook shows “You are not responding to the latest message in this conversation. Click here to open it.” when you click Reply on a message that is not the newest one in its thread. It is a warning, not an error, and nothing is broken. Click the bar to open the newest message and reply to that one instead, or ignore the warning if you meant to answer the older message.
Why Outlook shows this message
Outlook groups emails into conversations using the subject line and the thread information hidden in each message. When you reply, it checks whether a newer message already exists in the same conversation (even one you sent yourself). If it finds one, it shows the yellow infobar so you do not answer an out-of-date email by accident.
How to fix it
- Reply to the newest message. Click the infobar, and Outlook opens the latest message in the conversation. Reply from there so everyone sees the complete thread. This is the right fix in most cases.
- Ignore it if you meant to reply to the older message. Sometimes you want to answer a specific earlier question. The warning does not stop your email from being sent.
- Change a word in the subject line. Outlook then treats your email as a new conversation and the warning disappears. The downside is that it starts a separate thread for your recipients, so only do this when you really are starting a new topic.
Can I turn the warning off?
No. Classic Outlook has no setting to disable this infobar, and turning off conversation view (View › Show as Conversations) does not stop it either.
How to enable “You are not responding to the latest message” in new Outlook
If you have switched to the new Outlook for Windows (or you use Outlook on the web), you may have noticed that this warning is gone. Many people miss it. At the time of writing there is no setting to turn it back on in new Outlook. There are two practical options:
- Make the newest reply easy to spot: go to Settings › Mail › Layout › Message organization, choose Show email grouped by conversation, and set the order to Newest on top. The latest message is then always the first one in the thread, so you can reply to it.
- Go back to classic Outlook: if the warning matters to you, classic Outlook still has it. Turn off the New Outlook toggle in the top-right corner, if your organization allows it.
The warning opens an unrelated email
Sometimes clicking the infobar opens a message that has nothing to do with the thread, often spam with a common subject such as “Invoice” or “Meeting”. Outlook has grouped the two messages because they look alike. Reply to the email you meant to answer. In that case the warning is safe to ignore.
Still stuck with Outlook?
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